Once upon a time there was a woodman and his wife who had so many
children that they did not know how to find food for them. So one
night, when they were all in bed, the father told his wife that he
thought they had better take them into the forest and lose them
there. The youngest child, who was so very small that he was called
Hop o' my Thumb, overheard his father, and as he was a very clever
boy he made up his mind to find his way home again. So he went down
to the brook very early the next morning, and filled his pocket with
large smooth pebbles as white as snow. Bye-and-bye the woodman and
his wife told the children that they might go with them into the wood
to have a good game of play. They were all glad except Hop o' my
Thumb who knew what his father intended. So they set out; the woodman
and his wife first, then the boys, and last Hop o' my Thumb, who
sprinkled pebbles all the way they went.
They spent a merry day; but bye-and-bye the parents stole away, and
left the children all by themselves. They were very much frightened
when they missed their father and mother, and called loudly for them;
but when Hop o' my Thumb told them what he had heard, and how they
could find their way home by following the track of the pebbles,
which marked the way they had come, they set out, and reached home
safely, and their father and mother pretended to be very glad to see
them back.
But soon after they again resolved to lose their children, if
possible, in the forest. This time all the boys feared that they
should be left behind, and the eldest brother said he would take some
peas to sprinkle, to mark the pathway that led home. By-and-bye the
cruel parents stole away, and left the little ones in the dark wood.
At first they did not care, for they thought that they could easily
find their way home; but, alas! when they looked for the line of peas
which they had sprinkled, they found they were all gone--the
wood-pigeons had eaten them up, and the children were lost in the
wood. Holding each-others' hands and crying sadly they walked on to
seek a place to sleep in. By-and-bye they came to a giant's castle,
where they were taken in, and told that they might sleep in the
nursery with the seven baby daughters of the giant, who were lying
all in a row in one bed, with gold crowns on their heads. Hop o' my
Thumb thought it was strange that the giant should be so kind, as he
had been told that the ogres eat children. So in the night he got up
softly and took off the little giantesses' crowns and put them on his
brothers' heads and his own, and lay down again. It was lucky for him
that he did so, for in the night the giant came up in the dark to
kill the boys, that they might be ready for the next day's breakfast.
He felt the beds, and finding the crowns on the boy's heads took them
for his own children, left them and went to the other bed and cut off
the heads of his daughters instead. Then he went back to bed.
Directly he was gone, Hop o' my Thumb and his brothers got up, stole
down stairs, opened the door and fled away from the castle. But they
did not go far. Hop o' my Thumb knew that the giant would come after
them in his seven-league boots. So they got into a hole in the side
of a hill and hid. Very soon after, they saw the giant coming at a
great pace in his wonderful boots; but he took such long steps that
he passed right over their heads. They were afraid to move out till
they had seen him go home again. So they remained quietly where they
were.
By-and-bye the giant, who had been many miles in an hour, came back
tired, and lay down on the hill-side and fell asleep. Then Hop o' my
Thumb got out of the hole, and pulled off the giant's seven-league
boots, and put them on his own feet. They fitted him exactly, for
being fairy boots they would grow large or small just as one liked.
He then got his brothers out of the hole, took them in his boots,
marched for home, and although it was a great distance, got there in
almost no time, but when he arrived at the house his father and
mother were not there. He then hastened to make inquiries for them,
and found they had been suspected of murdering their children,--who
had all disappeared suddenly--that they had owned to leaving them in
the wood, and that they were to be put to death for their crime. "We
must go and save them," he said. So he took his brothers into the
seven-league boots, and set out to the place where their parents were
in prison. They arrived only just in time, for the guards were
bringing out the woodsman and his wife to put them to death. Hop o'
my Thumb took off the boors, and all the children called out, "We are
alive! we are alive! Do not kill our mother and father."
Then there was great joy. The woodman and his wife were set free, and
embraced their children. They had repented their wickedness, and were
never unkind and cruel any more; and Hop o' my Thumb kept them all in
comfort by going on errands for the king in his seven-league boots.
[Illustration: Tom Thumb Chased By Cat.]