“I was going along humming a little tune, when I saw a fierce little dwarf,” continued the princess. “Oh, oh, oh,” cried the Babies, “we met him, too! We met him, too!” “The dwarf talked in rhyme,” said the princess. Then all the Babies nodded their heads. The princess said, “The dwarf would not let me have any flowers unless I gave him a cookie, and when I did give him a cookie, he said, “‘Pick all the flowers you like to-day, But after sundown do not stay!’” Then the Ink-Bottle Babies set up a shout, for those were the very words the little dwarf had said to them. The princess said, “I was so happy gathering flowers that I forgot what the little dwarf said, and after sundown I began to sink, down and down, until I came to this magic tower.” The princess shook her head and said, “All the doors and windows are fastened. Besides, we are under the sea.” The Ink-Bottle Babies looked out of the window, and sure enough, fishes were swimming past. Suddenly the princess said, “Hush, the little dwarf is coming. Run Babies, and hide, every one of you!” Then the Ink-Bottle Babies ran upstairs. Click, click, went the key in the door, and the door opened and the little dwarf came in stamping and scolding. He came into the room where the princess was, and said, “Silver and gold have I none; How many skeins have you spun?” The princess went to her spinning wheel, and showed the dwarf that she had spun two skeins of thread. The little dwarf stamped his foot and cried, “If out of the tower you want to go, You will spin one hundred skeins you know!” Then he looked very cunning indeed, and he opened the door to his storeroom. “There are one thousand bundles of flax,” said he. “You must spin all of this.” Then he said, “How soon do you really want to go, In about a hundred years or so?” The princess laughed gaily and said, “At sundown if you care to call, Perhaps you’ll find I’ve spun it all!” The little dwarf was so surprised at this answer that he looked cross-eyed, but he did not answer the princess. Next he drew from his pocket a pitcher and a spoon. Then he went and got a rocking-chair that he had brought with him, and he said, “I’ll leave these treasures under the sea; Some day they’ll be of use to me.” Then whisk! bound! he was off and away and the princess began to sing softly, “Round and round the big wheel goes, Spin, spin, spin; Merrily the spring wind blows, Spin, spin, spin.” The Ink-Bottle Babies came in dancing and singing for they had heard every word that had been said. They cried, “We are so glad Ma taught us to spin.” The Ink-Bottle Babies looked in the garret and they found twenty-five little spinning wheels. They all sat down and began to spin as hard as they could. Suddenly Molly stopped spinning and Polly stopped spinning and then all the Babies stopped spinning, and they ran to the place where the chair and spoon and pitcher were.