_No matter how much trouble we may be in, there is always a good
way out._
We left Tom Thumb inside the cow. More hay kept on coming down
until Tom cried out: “Don’t send any more hay! Don’t send any more
hay!” The cook was milking just at that time, and hearing the noise
inside the cow she was so astonished that she fell off the stool
and spilled all the milk.
She ran to the farmer and exclaimed:
“The cow is bewitched! She is talking aloud and says she doesn’t
want any more hay!” The farmer ran to the barn and listened to the
voice inside the cow.
“Mercy on me!” he cried. “Surely the cow is bewitched. We must kill
her at once!” So he took an ax and cut her all to pieces, and threw
the stomach with Tom inside out into the road.
Before Tom could get out a wolf came along and swallowed the
stomach without chewing it a bit, he was so hungry, and so Tom was
now inside a wolf, and not much better off than before. But he was
not at all discouraged and began to talk to the wolf.
“I can tell you where you can get some fine things to eat--fresh
meat, ham and some chickens,” said he to the wolf. The wolf was
eager to hear about the place, and Tom described the place and how
to get into the kitchen where all those things were. The wolf did
not know that Tom was describing his own home and planning to get
the wolf into trouble.
“That suits me exactly,” said the wolf, and that very night he ran
to the farmer’s house and squeezed into the kitchen through a drain
pipe. He could do this easily for he was very thin from eating so
little for a long time. Once in, he ate and ate until his sides
stuck out like a balloon that had been blown up.
When the wolf had eaten all there was, Tom set up a great shout and
woke up the cook. The cook came in, and seeing the wolf ran to wake
up the farmer and his wife.
The farmer ran with his ax, his wife brought the scythe, and the
cook seized the big meat knife. The wolf ran to the drain pipe and
started to get through, but he had eaten so much he stuck half way.
Then they fell upon him and began to hack him to pieces.
“Look out! I am inside here!” shouted Tom.
“Heaven be praised!” said his father. “That’s Tom’s voice!” and he
soon had the wolf cut half in two and Tom jumped out, and into his
mother’s arms. They were glad to see their little son home again.
Tom told them all his adventures, after which he had plenty to eat
and a clean suit of clothes, for those he had on were hardly fit to
be worn any more.