to little Gluck, who was left to mind the roast, that he was to
let nobody in and give nothing out. Gluck sat down quite close
to the fire, for it was raining very hard and the kitchen walls
were by no means dry or comfortable-looking. He turned and
turned, and the roast got nice and brown. "What a pity,"
thought Gluck, "my brothers never ask anybody to dinner. I'm
sure, when they've got such a nice piece of mutton as this, and
nobody else has got so much as a piece of dry bread, it would do
their hearts good to have somebody to eat it with them."

Just as he spoke there came a double knock at the house door, yet
heavy and dull, as though the knocker had been tied up--more like
a puff than a knock.

"It must be the wind," said Gluck; "nobody else would venture to
knock double knocks at our door."

No, it wasn't the wind; there it came again very hard, and, what
was particularly astounding, the knocker seemed to be in a hurry
and not to be in the least afraid of the consequences. Gluck
went to the window, opened it, and put his head out to see who
it was.

It was the most extraordinary-looking little gentleman he had
ever seen in his life. He had a very large nose, slightly brass-
colored; his cheeks were very round and very red, and might have
warranted a supposition that he had been blowing a refractory
fire for the last eight-and-forty hours; his eyes twinkled
merrily through long, silky eyelashes; his mustaches curled twice
round like a corkscrew on each side of his mouth; and his hair,