Long ago, there lived a Cabinetmaker named Gregorio with his wife, Atalaya, and their little son, Sacco. There was one other resident in this family's cozy little cottage and that was an elusive fairy named Understump. For reasons none of them could figure out, Understump had decided to help the family by taking care of some of their household chores. He would sweep up all the sawdust from the floor of the Cabinetmaker's workroom and clean and put away all the dishes in Atalaya's kitchen. Sacco's room was always tidy, which could only have been the result of a fairy's intervention.
     For all the work that he did, no one had ever seen Understump and, sometimes, the family would play at trying to describe him to each other.
     "I expect he must be very fast to clean as quickly as he does," Gregorio guessed. "So, I suppose he probably has very long legs so he can run quickly."
     "Perhaps he doesn't need to run," said his wife, "Maybe he has wings?"
     "Since he never shows himself," the Cabinetmaker continued, "He is probably very ugly, with a long, pointed nose, bulging eyes, and a warty face."
     "I imagine him as very handsome, with an honest little face and fancy clothes," countered Atalaya. "He's far too good to us to be as ugly as you say."
     Little Sacco would listen to his parents argue about their unseen helper and everything they said seemed pretty reasonable to him. He nodded a lot during these conversations.