THUMBLING

There was once a poor peasant who sat in the evening by the hearth and

poked the fire, and his wife sat and span. Then said he, "How sad it is

that we have no children! With us all is so quiet, and in other houses

it is noisy and lively."

"Yes," replied the wife, and sighed, "even if we had only one, and it

were quite small, and only as big as a thumb, I should be quite

satisfied, and we would still love it with all our hearts." Now it so

happened that their wish was granted and a child was given them, but

although it was perfect in all its limbs, it was no longer than a thumb.

Then said they, "It is as we wished it to be, and it shall be our dear

child;" and because of its size, they called it Thumbling. They did not

let it want for food, but the child did not grow taller, but remained as

it had been at the first, nevertheless it looked sensibly out of its

eyes, and soon showed itself to be a wise and nimble creature, for

everything it did turned out well.

One day the peasant was getting ready to go into the forest to cut wood,

when he said as if to himself, "How I wish that there was any one who

would bring the cart to me!" "Oh, father," cried Thumbling, "I will soon

bring the cart; rely on that; it shall be in the forest at the appointed

time." The man smiled and said, "How can that be done; you are far too

small to lead the horse by the reins?" "That's of no consequence,

father, if my mother will only harness it, I will sit in the horse's

ear, and call out to him how he is to go." "Well," answered the man,

"for once we will try it."

When the time came, the mother harnessed the horse, and placed Thumbling

in its ear, and then the little creature cried, "Gee up, gee up!"

Then it went quite properly as if with its master, and the cart went the

right way into the forest. It so happened that just as he was turning a

corner, and the little one was crying, "Gee up," two strange men came

towards him. "My word!" said one of them. "What is this? There is a cart

coming, and a driver is calling to the horse, and still he is not to be

seen!" "That can't be right," said the other, "we will follow the cart

and see where it stops." The cart, however, drove right into the forest,

and exactly to the place where the wood had been cut. When Thumbling saw

his father, he cried to him, "See, father, here I am with the cart; now

take me down." The father got hold of the horse with his left hand, and

with the right took his little son out of the ear. Thumbling sat down

quite merrily on a straw, but when the two strange men saw him, they did

not know what to say for astonishment. Then one of them took the other

aside and said, "Hark, the little fellow would make our fortune if we

exhibited him in a large town, for money. We will buy him." They went to

the peasant and said, "Sell us the little man. He shall be well treated

with us." "No," replied the father, "he is the apple of my eye, and all

the money in the world cannot buy him from me." Thumbling, however, when

he heard of the bargain, had crept up the folds of his father's coat,

placed himself on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. "Father, do

give me away; I will soon come back again." Then the father parted with

him to the two men for a handsome bit of money. "Where do you want to

sit?" they said to him. "Oh, just set me on the rim of your hat, and

then I can walk backwards and forwards and look at the country, and

still not fall down." They did as he wished, and when Thumbling had

taken leave of his father, they went away with him. They walked until it

was dusk, and then the little fellow said, "Do take me down; I want to

come down." The man took his hat off, and put the little fellow on the

ground by the wayside, and he leapt and crept about a little between the

sods, and then he suddenly slipped into a mouse-hole which he had sought

out. "Good-evening, gentlemen, just go home without me," he cried to

them, and mocked them. They ran thither and stuck their sticks into the

mouse-hole, but it was all lost labor. Thumbling crept still farther in,

and as it soon became quite dark, they were forced to go home with their

vexation and their empty purses.

When Thumbling saw that they were gone, he crept back out of the

subterranean passage. "It is so dangerous to walk on the ground in the

dark," said he; "how easily a neck or a leg is broken!" Fortunately, he

knocked against an empty snail-shell. "Thank God!" said he. "In that I

can pass the night in safety," and got into it. Not long afterwards,

when he was just going to sleep, he heard two men go by, and one of them

was saying, "How shall we contrive to get hold of the rich pastor's

silver and gold?" "I could tell you that," cried Thumbling, interrupting

them. "What was that?" said one of the thieves in a fright; "I heard

some one speaking." They stood still listening, and Thumbling spoke

again and said, "Take me with you, and I'll help you."

"But where are you?" "Just look on the ground, and observe from where my

voice comes," he replied. There the thieves at length found him, and

lifted him up. "You little imp, how will you help us?" they said. "A

great deal," said he; "I will creep into the pastor's room through the

iron bars, and will reach out to you whatever you want to have." "Come,

then," they said, "and we will see what you can do." When they got to

the pastor's house, Thumbling crept into the room, but instantly cried

out with all his might, "Do you want to have everything that is here?"

The thieves were alarmed, and said, "But do speak softly, so as not to

waken any one!" Thumbling, however, behaved as if he had not understood

this, and cried again, "What do you want? Do you want to have everything

that is here?" The cook, who slept in the next room, heard this and sat

up in bed, and listened. The thieves, however, had in their fright run

some distance away, but at last they took courage, and thought, "The

little rascal wants to mock us." They came back and whispered to him,

"Come, be serious, and reach something out to us." Then Thumbling again

cried as loudly as he could, "I really will give you everything, only

put your hands in." The maid who was listening, heard this quite

distinctly, and jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. The thieves

took flight, and ran as if the Wild Huntsman were behind them, but as

the maid could not see anything, she went to strike a light. When she

came to the place with it, Thumbling, unperceived, hid himself in the

granary, and the maid, after she had examined every corner and found

nothing, lay down in her bed again, and believed that, after all, she

had only been dreaming with open eyes and ears.

Thumbling had climbed up among the hay and found a beautiful place to

sleep in: there he intended to rest until day, and then go home again to

his parents. But he had other things to go through. Truly there is much

affliction and misery in this world! When day dawned, the maid arose

from her bed to feed the cows. Her first walk was into the barn, where

she laid hold of an armful of hay, and precisely that very one in which

poor Thumbling was lying asleep. He, however, was sleeping so soundly

that he was aware of nothing, and did not awake until he was in the

mouth of the cow, who had picked him up with the hay. "Ah, heavens!"

cried he, "how have I got into the fulling mill?" but he soon discovered

where he was. Then it was necessary to be careful not to let himself go

between the teeth and be dismembered, but he was nevertheless forced to

slip down into the stomach with the hay. "In this little room the

windows are forgotten," said he, "and no sun shines in, neither will a

candle be brought." His quarters were especially unpleasing to him, and

the worst was, more and more hay was always coming in by the door, and

the space grew less and less. Then, at length in his anguish, he cried

as loud as he could, "Bring me no more fodder, bring me no more fodder."

The maid was just milking the cow, and when she heard some one speaking,

and saw no one, and perceived that it was the same voice that she had

heard in the night, she was so terrified that she slipped off her stool,

and spilt the milk. She ran in the greatest haste to her master, and

said, "Oh, heavens, pastor, the cow has been speaking!" "You are mad,"

replied the pastor; but he went himself to the byre to see what was

there. Hardly, however, had he set his foot inside than Thumbling again

cried, "Bring me no more fodder, bring me no more fodder." Then the

pastor himself was alarmed, and thought that an evil spirit had gone

into the cow, and ordered her to be killed. She was killed, but the

stomach, in which Thumbling was, was thrown on the midden. Thumbling had

great difficulty in working his way out; however, he succeeded so far as

to get some room, but, just as he was going to thrust his head out, a

new misfortune occurred. A hungry wolf ran thither, and swallowed the

whole stomach at one gulp. Thumbling did not lose courage. "Perhaps,"

thought he, "the wolf will listen to what I have got to say," and he

called to him from out of his stomach, "Dear wolf, I know of a

magnificent feast for you."

"Where is it to be had?" said the wolf.

"In such and such a house; you must creep into it through the

kitchen-sink; you will find cakes, and bacon, and sausages, and as much

of them as you can eat," and he described to him exactly his father's

house. The wolf did not require to be told this twice, squeezed himself

in at night through the sink, and ate to his heart's content in the

larder. When he had eaten his fill, he wanted to go out again, but he

had become so big that he could not go out by the same way. Thumbling

had reckoned on this, and now began to make a violent noise in the wolfs

body, and raged and screamed as loudly as he could. "Will you be quiet,"

said the wolf; "you will waken up the people!" "Eh, what," replied the

little fellow, "you have eaten your fill, and I will make merry

likewise," and began once more to scream with all his strength. At last

his father and mother were aroused by it, and ran to the room and looked

in through the opening in the door. When they saw that a wolf was

inside, they ran away, and the husband fetched his axe, and the wife the

scythe. "Stay behind," said the man, when they entered the room. "When I

have given him a blow, if he is not killed by it, you must cut him down

and hew his body to pieces." Then Thumbling heard his parents' voices,

and cried, "Dear father, I am here; I am in the wolf's body." Said the

father, full of joy, "Thank God, our dear child has found us again," and

bade the woman take away her scythe, that Thumbling might not be hurt

with it. After that he raised his arm, and struck the wolf such a blow

on his head that he fell down dead, and then they got knives and

scissors and cut his body open, and drew the little fellow forth. "Ah,"

said the father, "what sorrow we have gone through for your sake." "Yes,

father, I have gone about the world a great deal. Thank heaven, I

breathe fresh air again!" "Where have you been, then?" "Ah, father, I

have been in a mouse's hole, in a cow's stomach, and then in a wolf's;

now I will stay with you." "And we will not sell you again; no, not for

all the riches in the world," said his parents, and they embraced and

kissed their dear Thumbling.