By this different road,
He dropt crumbs all along, that had certainly showed
Very well the way back, as had been his intention,
But for one little fact I am going to mention :-
That the thrush and the blackbird, the woodlark and linnet
Discovered this strewing of bread in a minute,
And alighting at once, ate up all of the crumbs,
And ruined this plan of poor Hop o' my Thumb's !
Now the boys didn't mind
If they _were_ left behind,
Thinking Hop o' my Thumb would the road for them find.
But, alas ! when they thought
It was late, and they ought
To get home, and he failed to find out what he sought,
A pretty to-do
And a frightened "bohoo ! "
Was set up all at once by the terrified crew.
T was useless to search ;
They were left in the lurch,
They were lost in the forest as safe as the church.
What a terrible plight !
It was getting t'wards night,
And although there might _not_ be (so whispered their fright)
Wild beasts in the forest about,--yet there might !
The sun adown the western sky in dying glory rolled,
And turned the forest's topmost leaves to fluttering flecks of gold ;
The twilight shadows deepened round
And filled the violet sky,
Till, springing out of depths profound,
The stars were in the sky.
A purple pall
Fell over all ;
The last ray faded soon.
And, like a galley far and small
Appeared the thread of moon.
All noises died
Save winds that sighed
Among the sombre trees.
And nightingale's sad song, allied
In melody to these !
Huddling shoulder to shoulder,
And not growing bolder.
As the breezes moaned louder, the moon shone out colder,
Those poor little brothers in terrors the sorest,
Went wandering on through the gloom of the forest.
Free from dismay,
Gallant and gay,
Hop o' my Thumb, marching first, led the way ; '
But _they_ hadn't got the same spirit--not they !
At last he espies
A trunk of huge size ;
Said he, "In the world this will give me a rise-
I can see by ascending it how the land lies."
So without wasting time
He hastes to the climb. '
His own elbows and knees,
With some limbs of the trees,
Assisting him up to the top by degrees,
He contrives on a bough very lofty to sit him,
And views all the darkness of night will permit him,
While his brothers conjure him to tell what he sees.
[Illustration: 137]
"Far away
Shines a single ray,
But what it may be I can't venture to say ;
It looks rather far,
But since here we are
Without any voice
In the matter or choice,
Whatever the distance we ought to rejoice-
For whether the night be a melter
Or pelter-
If it's muggy as beer or it rains helter-skelter-
We mustn't make light of a light that means shelter!"
On went the children, still shoulder to shoulder,
As frightened as bricks, and-than stones vastly colder,
And much more alarmed, for a stone is oft bowlder !
Arm-in-arm,
In alarm,
Expecting some harm,
In a terror no words of their brother's could charm,
They walked t'wards the light
Gleaming out through the night,
And as fearful to turn as if playing at Fright.
Through brake and through mire,
Beginning to tire,
Trudged the sorrowful sons of a sorrowful sire.
On wandered they
In pursuit of a ray
(Though girls more than boys think of dress, so they say) ;
Till at length at the great
Front-door, postern-gate
(Or whatever 't was called at that very vague date),
Of a castle, or mansion, a building gigantic,
Designed on the model of dwellings romantic-
You queer little crew
Gothic, solid, and strong,
That lasts ever so long-
Not sham Gothic run up on that very bad plan, tick !
'T was terribly high ;
It wearied the eye
To follow its turrets up into the sky,
How many feet .
I don't care to repeat,-
I 'm a bad hand at figures, of which to be sparing,
T was as high as the Grosvenor, or Langham, or Charing. *
They none of them knew what course to pursue,
Till Hop o' my Thumb found a horn--which he blew ;
Whereon some one the bolts, bars, and fastenings withdrew,
And came out with a light
Very vivid and bright,
On the top of the steps at the head of the flight,
And they saw, to their joy,
Not a man--nor a boy-
But one of a sex for which terms we employ
Of a tenderer sort ;
In short, one to court-
"In short" ? Not at all--but a tall one, in short !
For she was a giantess, being in figure
Than Chang the tremendous, _An_-actually bigger.
[Illustration: 140]
"Who are you, you queer little crew ? "
Said Hop o' my Thumb, "Madam, pray how d' ye do ?
* The poet who sighed (he's depicted as thin)
The warmest of welcomes to find at an inn
Might equal in panting
The sighs of a Banting
To learn that these inns are prepared, in kind thrift,
To give to those guests who are poorest--a lift !
We people so small
Have come for a call :
We want a night's lodging and supper, that's all ! "
"Alas !" said the dame,
"I can't promise that same,
Though your lonely condition to pity lays claim.
But to grant your entreaty were really a sin-
In receiving you here, I should take you all in ! "
"Please, madam, do ! "
Said the terrified crew,
Who fancied each moment much darker it grew,
And gazing with awe,
Believed that they saw
Wild beasts coming after with ravenous maw
(Not to mention such trifles as jaw, paw, or claw),
And spectres enough all their marrow to thaw ;
So closer and closer together they drew,
Repeating the chorus of "Please, madam, do ! "
"My poor children !" said she,
"I've a husband, and he
Is an Ogre as savage as savage can be ;
His appetite's great, and when hungry he's sweet on boys ;
So board, lodging, and clothing
He 'll give you for no-thing, *
Besides education--because you 'll be Eton, boys ! "
These words they don't like,
But the terror they strike
Not being so near
As the darkness they fear,
They beg her once more to their prayer to give ear.
* Pray pardon the rhyme, which, it's terribly clear,
Is a rhyme to the eye, not a rhyme to the ear.
If in thus fitting clothing you fancy I fail, or
Am making a botch--say 't was done by a tailor.
"By arm, leg, or head,
He dragged all the urchins from under the bed"
"Please, madam, do ! "
Said the terrified crew ;
"We're prepared to be eaten, we're in such a stew!
Besides, ma'am, you might
Put us out of his sight ;
We only want shelter and food for the night.
Let our prayers, and our tears, and our woes your heart soften ;
Some supper provide us,
And hide us--please hide us,-
We 're quite used to it, father has done it so often.''
Moved by their tears, she flung open the door,
And gave them some food ; but in five minutes more,
Ere they'd finished their bread
And Gloster, she said,
"Here's the Ogre approaching--get under the bed !
Unless you feel gridiron-like or stewpan-ish,
Or would like to be fried with the onions called Spanish !
They were off in a jiffy,
As promptly as if he
Were Colonel Stodare and had said to them, "Vanish!"
But scarce were they hidden away, I declare,
Than the giant came in with a curious air.
All his wife's kind precautions were very well meant,
But he, like a Jew
Who is going to do
A bill, was not easily sent off the scent.
"Fee, faw, fum ! "
Said he, "there are some
Little children about--yes, I nose there are, mum ! "
No sooner said,
Than by arm, leg, or head,
He dragged all the urchins from under the bed.
[Illustration: 144]
Each began to entreat him
To please not to eat him,
But the Ogre replied he'd be happy to me_a_t him ;
So he sharpened his knife
To take every life-
As he would have done had it not been for his wife,
Who showed him the supper she'd got--"Wasn't _that_ enough
If so, she was willing
To feed up for killing
The children, who now he could see were not fat enough.
Said the Ogre, "That's true-
The supper will do.
We 'll fatten the brats for a week--or p'rhaps two.
Meanwhile, since late hours make them tasteless and flabby,
Let them all go to bed--without waking the babby ! '
Away they all sped
And hurried to bed,
For fear his opinion should change on that head.
But Hop o' my Thumb, while his brothers were weeping,
Everywhere peeping,
Stealthily creeping,
Found seven young Ogrelings cozily sleeping
In the very next bed on a pillow of down,
And each of them wearing a little gold crown.
Cried Hop o' my Thumb, on perceiving those bright caps,
"We've not been accustomed to sleep without nightcaps!"
So he took the gold circlets away from the others,
And put them instead on himself and his brothers.
By and bye
The Ogre so sly
(Who had made up his mind to a little boy-pie
For his breakfast) comes up in the dead of the night
With his very sharp knife, but without any light,
And so in the dark (as pitched as the ark)
Begins fumbling and feeling about for his mark,-
Comes to the bed,
But feels on Hop's head
A crown, so goes off to his children instead,
And at once--for at slaughter you see he a dab is-
He cuts all the throats of his slumbering babbies.
(For which, since here, Reader, you coroner are, dict-
-Ate, "S_a_rve him right"--it's the usual verdict.)
Hop o' my Thumb
Heard all, but kept mum ;
And as soon as the first streak of daylight was come,
And the dawn "breaking fast" in the heavens he saw
(The night was quite done, if the morning was raw),
Woke his brothers at once; and they all crept downstairs,
Climbed up to a window by aid of some chairs,
Got easily out through a large broken pane,
Jumped down on the grass, and were free once again !
Off went each urchin,
And left quite the lurch in
The Ogre, who still his bed slept like a church in.
And well may they run,
For as sure as a gun
The Ogre will wake and find out what he's done,
And at once setting forth from his castle to catch 'em,
In spite of their start will be sure to outmatch' 'em.
They may run like the wind--but the horrible brute s
Possessed of a pair of charmed Seven League Boots !
Yes ! dread and fear ! -
Already they hear
The giant pursuing them--coming more near :-
They must try to conceal themselves closely, that's clear.
They endeavour to save
Themselves in a cave :
The Ogre approaches, and even the brave
Little Hop o' my Thumb feels a tremor of dread
When the giant, who suffers most frightful fatigues
From striding across at each step seven leagues,
Sits down on the rock that is over their head ;
But it's not long before
He's beginning to snore,
And Hop o' my Thumb plucks up courage once more.
"Now while he's asleep
We must quietly creep
From our hiding, and bolt like a parcel of sheep ! ''
Out scramble the boys
Without making a noise,
And while this way or that way each rapidly shoots off,
Hop o' my Thumb takes the Seven League Boots off.
[Illustration: 149]
With the boots was our hero at once in his glory.
He returned at full speed to the house of the giant,
And finding the wife to his orders compliant,
Made her hand him more treasure at once from the coffer
Than the whole Bank of England is able to offer,
And took it straightway to his parents, by which
He made, like a 'tickler good joke, the poor rich.
So his and his brothers'
And father's and mother's
Good fortune he made--not to name any others. .
And as for the Ogre, what chanced to become of him
I know not--I never asked Hop o' my Thumb of him ;
But one can't but suppose
That such giants as those
Which in nursery legends and stories one knows,
By defaming the race must inflict quite a pang
On the large hearts of giants like Anak and Chang,
"While this way or that way each rapidly shoots off
Hop o' my Thumb takes the Seven League Boots off
(Though, their size for their suffering some remedy gives,
Since one learns the more patience the longer one lives).
So we 'll trust that this giant,
So fierce and defiant,
Got punished. Indeed, on one fact I'm reliant-
His gold was all taken by Hop o' my Thumb !
And so being left with a very small sum,
Namely, nothing, 't is likely ere long he began
To fall in arrear--and so sank to a van,-
A poor sort of coop
In which he'd to stoop
(E'en the greatest must bow if their fortunes will droop).
Then at revels and fairs he'd be shown as a sight-
As "A Giant"--see handbills--"unrivalled in height,
Allowed on all sides to be taller than any
That ever existed. Admission, one penny.
N.B. Babies in arms free of charge are admitted."
In which case e'en a monster like that's to be pitied.
l'envoi.
Five Favourite Fairy Fables old,-
The efforts of a muse, which eke
Are efforts to amuse,--are told,
And my farewell 't is time to speak,
Since ended now this book of mine is,
With one more "f" for't--adding
FINIS.