[Tevildo]

Daisy held her breath as her brother inserted the key in the lock, slowly turned it, and pushed the door open. The children trooped into the room, with Lil leading the way. After that, they began to rummage through the satchels and drawers, inspecting the belongings of the occupants. "Some of the big folk!" whispered Tom triumphantly as he drew out two pairs of oversize heavy boots from the closet and tried them on one at a time.

Daisy sat miserably in the corner and refused to join her siblings in the general pillaging, squirming uncomfortably while glaring at her brother. Tom was always going off on some madcap scheme, but this did not feel like a prank. It felt downright uncomfortable. Daisy kept hearing echoes of her mother in her ear. saying how disappointed she was that her children were acting just like young ruffians. The young lass wished she was anywhere but here. She even considred running out the door and back down the corridor and then going to the room to speak with her mother. But the others would never forgive her. And, as much as she wanted to do what was right, she did not want to face the disapproval of her brother. He would never forgive her if she ratted on him.

The children were sitting cross legged in the middle of the room and were inspecting the trinkets that they had managed to pilfer. Despite Tom's assurance that they would turn up many treasures and jewels, their pickings looked extremely thin. There were several farm implements tossed in the middle of the circle, along with a few vest coats and a somewhat withered looking apple. Several of the younger ones were grumbling to Tom about not finding any candy or goodies.

Daisy stood up and went over to the door, pushing it slightly ajar. She squinted through the crack and surveyed the hall from one end to another. She saw one of the dwarves stamp through the corridor carrying an interesting assortment of weapons plus an oversized satchel. He stopped in front of one room and disappeared inside, closing the door firmly behind him. An interesting thought flashed across the girl's mind: where there were dwarves, there was always treasure. Daisy had always been told that it wasn't right to steal candies or pennies. But no one had ever mentioned anything about treasure: coats of armor, axes, swords, or sparkling piles of jewels and gold. In the stories ma told, there were always little boys and girls who made off with such marvelous things, and nobody scolded them when they returned home. She expected that removing things from a dwarf's bedroom wasn't too different than taking them from a dragon's lair. Squinting intently down the hall, she saw the door open again and the dwarf leave, bearing only a large mace in his hand.

Turning to the others, she proudly exclaimed, "You ninnies. If you want real treasure, you can't go into the room of some old farmer. You'll just get junk. You must find a warrior and treasure hunter. And I happen to know where there is one." She motioned for them to join her at the doorway. "You see right there...that room. I just saw a dwarf go inside and then leave. He was carrying weapons and a big bag, probably filled with gold and jewels that he stole from some dragon. I think most of it is still in the room. Let's go there and hunt for treasure." Daisy snatched up the key where Tom had laid it down on the table and indicated that the others should follow her. The children slipped out into the hallway. They left the room behind them a horrible mess, with nothing missing but things strewed everywhere across the bed and floor.