The supper was served at midnight--and such a supper! The mountains
of pink and white ices, and the cakes with sugar castles and
flower-gardens on the tops of them, and the charming shapes of gold
and ruby-colored jellies! There were wonderful bonbons which even the
Mayor's daughter did not have every day; and all sorts of fruits,
fresh and candied. They had cowslip wine in green glasses, and
elderberry wine in red, and they drank each other's health. The
glasses held a thimbleful each; the Mayor's wife thought that was all
the wine they ought to have. Under each child's plate there was a
pretty present; and every one had a basket of bonbons and cake to
carry home.

At four o'clock the fiddlers put up their fiddles and the children
went home; fairies and shepherdesses and pages and princesses all
jabbering gleefully about the splendid time they had had.

But in a short time what consternation there was throughout the city!
When the proud and fond parents attempted to unbutton their children's
dresses, in order to prepare them for bed, not a single costume would
come off. The buttons buttoned again as fast as they were unbuttoned;
even if they pulled out a pin, in it would slip again in a twinkling;
and when a string was untied it tied itself up again into a bow-knot.
The parents were dreadfully frightened. But the children were so tired
out they finally let them go to bed in their fancy costumes, and
thought perhaps they would come off better in the morning. So Red
Riding-hood went to bed in her little red cloak, holding fast to her
basket full of dainties for her grandmother, and Bo Peep slept with
her crook in her hand.