It was a surprise, but there she was, and all of a sudden, it made perfect sense.  After 258 years as the only gnome on the continent, Tom Griswold was losing his composure.  It was the autumn of 1727 when Gnome Tom left Germany and his family to follow the Kinsers to America.  From the start he has been like a force of nature, even in the center of Pennsylvania delighting, and confusing people and animals as it suits him.

Gnome Tom Griswold is the only truly whimsical creature in the world; like fog or a tornado, he comes unexpectedly and does what he does.  There's no explaining it.

Well, no one understands a gnome like another gnome, and almost before Tom Griswold got to noticing that he hadn't seen others of his kind for centuries, Sweetcakes winged in.

Sweetcaskes is the baker of the family, and carries a recipe card to acquaint you with her idea of home cooking.  All the relatives flock to Sweetcakes' kitchen.  Thaddeus P.J. Bear, who depends on caviar to keep up his strength, insists that a frozen rainbow from Sweetcakes' own recipe is the only perfect dessert, and Big Dumb Bill Troll, who regularly feeds on slow-moving mosquitoes, would much rather let Sweetcakes surprise him with some new variety of vegetable.  Do you know how hard it is for a mere mortal to get a troll to eat broccoli?

But Gnome Tom Griswold, Sweetcakes' reason to be, appreciates more than her cooking; in the bright cotton of her dresses and apron, he sees the glorious colors of the rainbow, and is forever fascinated by her equally colorful translucent organdy wings, delicate like a butterfly's.

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