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Updated: June 13, 2025
"A little dwarf whom I met in the woods proposed it to me." "Oh!" cried the Dryad; "now I see through it all. It is the scheme of that vile Echo-dwarf your enemy and mine. Where is he? I should like to see him." "I think he has gone away," said Old Pipes. "No he has not," said the Dryad, whose quick eyes perceived the Echo-dwarf among the rocks. "There he is.
"What a funny little fellow you are!" she said. "Any one would think you had been condemned to toil from morning till night; while what you really have to do is merely to imitate for half an hour every day the merry notes of Old Pipes's piping. Fie upon you, Echo-dwarf! You are lazy and selfish; and that is what is the matter with you.
Then you will go and bring your mother to the tree; she will open it, and everything will be as you wish. Is not this a good plan?" "Excellent!" cried Old Pipes; "and I will go instantly and search more diligently for the Dryad." "Take me with you," said the Echo-dwarf. "You can easily carry me on your strong shoulders; and I shall be glad to help you in any way that I can."
When I was old myself, I did not notice how very old my mother was; but now it shocks me to see how feeble and decrepit her years have caused her to become; and I am looking for the Dryad to ask her to make my mother younger, as she made me." The eyes of the Echo-dwarf glistened. Here was a man who might help him in his plans.
Old Pipes thrust the Echo-dwarf into the tree; the Dryad pushed the door shut; there was a clicking sound of bark and wood, and no one would have noticed that the big oak had ever had an opening in it. "There," said the Dryad; "now we need not be afraid of him. And I assure you, my good piper, that I shall be very glad to make your mother younger as soon as I can.
When I was old myself, I did not notice how very old my mother was; but now it shocks me to see how feeble and decrepit her years have caused her to become; and I am looking for the Dryad to ask her to make my mother younger, as she made me." The eyes of the Echo-dwarf glistened. Here was a man who might help him in his plans.
Your business with the Dryad is more important than mine; and you need not say anything about my having suggested your plan to you. I am willing that you should have all the credit of it yourself." Old Pipes put the Echo-dwarf upon the ground, but the little rogue did not go away.
The Echo-dwarf did not stop to break the key of the tree. He was too happy to be released to think of any thing else, and he hastened as fast as he could to his home on the rocky hill-side. The Dryad was not mistaken when she trusted in the piper. When the warm days came again he went to the oak-tree to let her out. But, to his sorrow and surprise, he found the great tree lying upon the ground.
When the Echo-dwarf heard that this was the man whose pipes he was obliged to echo back every day, he would have slain him on the spot had he been able; but, as he was not able, he merely ground his teeth and listened to the rest of the story. "I am looking for the Dryad now," Old Pipes continued, "on account of my aged mother.
And I was let out of my tree by the good old man who plays the pipes to call the cattle down from the mountain. And it makes me happier to think that I have been of service to him. I gave him two kisses of gratitude, and now he is young enough to play his pipes as well as ever." The Echo-dwarf stepped forward, his face pale with passion.
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