The leaf came nearer; but it proved to be not a leaf at all, but a beautiful sledge drawn by four black crickets. On the box, sat a speckled coachman and, beside him, the footmen--centipedes, while, behind, nestled a most beautiful lady, all wrapped up in the green and black fur of a butterfly caterpillar. The little bells were ringing on the horses and the coachman snapped his whip as they approached the Hamster. The lady, leaning out of the sledge and shaking her finger at Little Tom, said, »You wanderer. Where are you going now? For a long time I have been looking for you. Everyone is expecting you and here you are, running around with such an underground monster. Come at once and sit down. You will go with me.« The Hamster buried himself still deeper in the snow, but Tom bowed and said, »Dear Queen, the Hamster is my good friend. He helped me to take care of my beloved Chrysomela. I can not go where he may not, for I will not be untrue to him«. The Queen smiled at the Hamster. »Look at this. Sometimes, even the Hamsters have good hearts. But now don't trouble about him. Hamster, go to your den, and when the time comes, speak and we will open to you.« Tom said good-by to the Hamster, took his seat in the sledge, the Queen wrapped him up in her fur cloak, and soon they were flying and disappearing through the whirling flakes into the realm of Queen Fairy. [Illustration] * * * * * TRANSCRIBER NOTES Page 15 « removed after "when she had cleaned it, there was the horseshoe." Page 27 extra r removed from measurring: "measuring out the paths" Page 31 typo corrected: Godmocher to Godmother in "when his Godmother saw him" Page 53 changed , to . in "ride upon around the garden.« Before" Page 59 replaced desieved with deceived in "punished for having deceived his Grandmother." Page 67 corrected typo: of to if in "if you want to see what God's world is like," Page 67 inserted space between valour and but in "She did not give much thought to his valour but" Page 68 inserted space between monster and darted in "Then the great monster darted" Page 69 mill corrected to milk in "drunk some milk," Page 70 blosoom corrected to blossom in "push right into the blossom." Page 74 space removed from the middle of today. "It is a miracle that you did not die today." Page 81 smellimg corrected to smelling in "sweet-smelling mint by the water." Page 90 typo corrected from Axterl to After in "After he had dismounted" Page 93 hin corrected to him in "Mirmex came to him and said:" Page 94 healty corrected to healthy in "knowing that he is creating strong and healthy descendants" Page 94 Readheads corrected to Redheads in "This the Redheads well know" Page 95 duplicate "and" deleted in "defeated the Redheads and driven them away"