When I was a little boy, what joy it was to see My second waiting at the door for Willy and for me; And how we trotted off to bring ripe apples from the farm, And piled our bags on Nellie's back, nor felt the least alarm. But when I was a little boy, I had an ugly dream, A huge black bear was in my bed, I gave a dreadful scream, And roused the house; they brought in lights, and put my whole to flight, Since then I made a vow to eat no supper late at night. [A] The answers will be given in the "Letter-Box" for May, 1878. WISE CATHERINE AND THE KABOUTERMANNEKEN. BY HOWARD PYLE. In old times, there was once a quaint little dwarf, who was known as the Kaboutermanneken of Kaboutermannekensburg. In the very ancient times of good King Broderic and Frederic Barbarossa, he constantly lived above ground, and many times was seen trudging along through the moonlit forest with a bag over his shoulder. What was in the bag nobody exactly knew, but most people supposed it to be gold. The Kaboutermanneken was a peppery little fellow, and at the slightest word his rage would fire up hotly. Since he was quite able, small as he was, to thrash the strongest man, he was very generally avoided. It is a well-assured fact that, as churches increase, dwarfs and elfin-folk diminish; so, at last, when the town of Kaboutermannekensburg was founded, and a church built, the Kaboutermanneken was fairly driven to the wall, or, rather, into the ground, where he lived in the bowels of the earth, and only appeared at intervals of a hundred years. But, upon the last day that terminated each of these series of a hundred years, he would re-appear in his old haunts, and, I believe, continues the practice to the present day, in spite of railroads, steam-engines, and all the paraphernalia of progress, so destructive to fairy lore. I.--THE GOLDEN CUP.