Sure enough, thump! bump! thump! she went. She fell off the desk to the floor, leaving the marks of her little black feet behind her. “Oh! oh! oh!” cried all the Ink-Bottle Babies together, “somebody pick her up! Somebody pick her up!” The teacher was so scared that she went out of the room. Pretty soon all the children went home. What do you suppose happened next? The Fairy Ink-Bottle Mamma came down from the window sill and picked up her baby! [Illustration: “_Picked up her baby_”] She said, “You are too little to go to school; you had better come with me.” Then the other Ink-Bottle Babies set up a cry, “May we come, too, Ma? May we come, too?” The Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Creep down quietly from the desks and you may all come.” Then all the Ink-Bottle Babies crept down and followed their Mamma out of the door. They walked a little way until they came to their home in the woods. “I am so sleepy,” said the first Ink-Bottle Baby. “I am so sleepy,” said the second Ink-Bottle Baby. Then all but one of the twenty-five Ink-Bottle Babies said, “I am so sleepy!” One Ink-Bottle Baby said, “I am not sleepy at all. I rolled off the desk and I feel wide-awake!” This little Baby’s name was Molly. The Ink-Bottle Mamma put all of her babies to bed except Molly, and Molly said, “I am wide-awake as if it were day, I’ll sit on the parlor rug and play.” The Ink-Bottle Mamma was so sleepy herself that she did not know what to do. Pretty soon she said, “Listen, Molly, and I will tell you a fairy tale.” Then Molly cried, “I must wake Polly up to hear the fairy tale.” Polly was Molly’s twin sister. Will you believe it? Before the Ink-Bottle Mamma could say “No!” Molly had gone upstairs and had waked all the Babies up before she found Polly! The Ink-Bottle Babies looked so much alike it was hard to tell them apart! All the Ink-Bottle Babies woke up and cried, “We want to hear the fairy tale, Ma! Please tell us all a fairy tale!” Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “Get back into bed, every one of you, and I will tell you a story.” Then the Babies all crept back into bed and their Mamma told them the story of the Magic Pitcher. Here is the story she told: Once there was a little dwarf who lived alone in the woods. He lived in a little blue house with a red chimney. He was very proud of his red chimney. He painted the chimney every spring. The little dwarf was very good-natured except when he started to cook. He could not cook a decent meal to save his life. He went about all day humming a little song: “I can live without clothing and live without books, But how is a fellow to live without cooks?” One day as he passed by a little brook he sang this song, and the brook said, “If you take the pebbles from out this brook, I will try to help you find a cook!” Then the little dwarf stooped down and began to pick the pebbles out of the brook.