The road between Nuremberg and Leipsic ran in former times, in one part, along the edge of a dark forest, which stretched into the country far over the mountains. In the middle of this forest the rocks enclosed a deep green valley, bordered by almost impenetrable hedges, so that neither man nor beast could enter it. Here dwelt at that time the merry little people of the Rootmen. They were pretty little creatures, in form and look like human beings,-the tallest about six inches high, and the smallest as long as your little finger. In summer they lived in mossy bowers and under the leaves of the tall fern; in winter they nestled among the roots of trees, in the holes of some gnarled old trunk, and crept into the clefts in the rocks.