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Once upon
a time...
There was a man and his wife, fagot-makers by trade, who had
several children, all boys. The eldest was but ten years old, and
the youngest only seven.
They were very poor, and their seven children incommoded them
greatly, because not one of them was able to earn his bread. That
which gave them yet more uneasiness was that the youngest was of a
very puny constitution, and scarce ever spoke a word, which made
them take that for stupidity which was a sign of good sense. He was
very little, and when born no bigger than one's thumb, which made
him be called Little Thumb.
The poor child bore the blame of whatsoever was done amiss in the
house, and, guilty or not, was always in the wrong; he was,
notwithstanding, more cunning and had a far greater share of wisdom
than all his brothers put together; and, if he spake little, he
heard and thought the more.
There happened now to come a very bad year, and the famine was so
great that these poor people resolved to rid themselves of their
children. One evening, when they were all in bed and the fagot-maker
was sitting with his wife at the fire, he said to her, with his
heart ready to burst with grief:
"Thou seest plainly that we are not able to keep our children, and I
cannot see them starve to death before my face; I am resolved to
lose them in the wood to-morrow, which may very easily be done; for,
while they are busy in tying up fagots, we may run away, and leave
them, without their taking any notice."
"Ah!" cried his wife; "and canst thou thyself have the heart to take
thy children out along with thee on purpose to lose them?"
In vain did her husband represent to her their extreme poverty: she
would not consent to it; she was indeed poor, but she was their
mother. However, having considered what a grief it would be to her
to see them perish with hunger, she at last consented, and went to
bed all in tears.
Little Thumb heard every word that had been spoken; for observing,
as he lay in his bed, that they were talking very busily, he got up
softly, and hid himself under his father's stool, that he might hear
what they said without being seen. He went to bed again, but did not
sleep a wink all the rest of the night, thinking on what he had to
do. He got up early in the morning, and went to the river-side,
where he filled his pockets full of small white pebbles, and then
returned home.
They all went abroad, but Little Thumb never told his brothers one
syllable of what he knew. They went into a very thick forest, where
they could not another at ten paces distance. The fagot-maker began
to cut wood, and the children to gather up the sticks to make
fagots. Their father and mother, seeing them busy at their work, got
away from them insensibly, and ran away from them all at once, along
a by-way through the winding bushes.
When the children saw they were left alone, they began to cry as
loud as they could. Little Thumb let them cry on, knowing very well
how to get home again, for, as he came, he took care to drop all
along the way the little white pebbles he had in his pockets. Then
he said to them:
"Be not afraid, brothers; father and mother have left us here, but I
will lead you home again, only follow me."
They did so, and he brought them home by the very same way they came
into the forest. They dared not go in, but sat themselves down at
the door, listening to what their father and mother were saying.
The very moment the fagot-maker and his wife reached home the lord
of the manor sent them ten crowns, which he had owed them a long
while, and which they never expected. This gave them new life, for
the poor people were almost famished. The fagot-maker sent his wife
immediately to the butcher's. As it was a long while since they had
eaten a bit, she bought thrice as much meat as would sup two people.
When they had eaten, the woman said:
"Alas! where are now our poor children? they would make a good feast
of what we have left here; but it was you, William, who had a mind
to lose them: I told you we should repent of it. What are they now
doing in the forest? Alas! dear God, the wolves have perhaps already
eaten them up; thou art very inhuman thus to have lost thy
children."
The fagot-maker grew at last quite out of patience, for she repeated
it above twenty times, that they should repent of it, and that she
was in the right of it for so saying. He threatened to beat her if
she did not hold her tongue. It was not that the fagot-maker was
not, perhaps, more vexed than his wife, but that she teased him, and
that he was of the humour of a great many others, who love wives to
speak well, but think those very importunate who are continually
doing so. She was half-drowned in tears, crying out:
"Alas! where are now my children, my poor children?"
She spoke this so very loud that the children, who were at the gate,
began to cry out all together:
"Here we are! Here we are!"
She ran immediately to open the door, and said, hugging them:
"I am glad to see you, my dear children; you are very hungry and
weary; and my poor Peter, thou art horribly bemired; come in and let
me clean thee."
Now, you must know that Peter was her eldest son, whom she loved
above all the rest, because he was somewhat carroty, as she herself
was. They sat down to supper, and ate with such a good appetite as
pleased both father and mother, whom they acquainted how frightened
they were in the forest, speaking almost always all together. The
good folks were extremely glad to see their children once more at
home, and this joy continued while the ten crowns lasted; but, when
the money was all gone, they fell again into their former
uneasiness, and resolved to lose them again; and, that they might be
the surer of doing it, to carry them to a much greater distance than
before.
They could not talk of this so secretly but they were overheard by
Little Thumb, who made account to get out of this difficulty as well
as the former; but, though he got up very early in the morning to go
and pick up some little pebbles, he was disappointed, for he found
the house- door double-locked, and was at a stand what to do. When
their father had given each of them a piece of bread for their
breakfast, Little Thumb fancied he might make use of this instead of
the pebbles by throwing it in little bits all along the way they
should pass; and so he put the bread in his pocket.
Their father and mother brought them into the thickest and most
obscure part of the forest, when, stealing away into a by-path, they
there left them. Little Thumb was not very uneasy at it, for he
thought he could easily find the way again by means of his bread,
which he had scattered all along as he came; but he was very much
surprised when he could not find so much as one crumb; the birds had
come and had eaten it up, every bit. They were now in great
affliction, for the farther they went the more they were out of
their way, and were more and more bewildered in the forest.
Night now came on, and there arose a terribly high wind, which made
them dreadfully afraid. They fancied they heard on every side of
them the howling of wolves coming to eat them up. They scarce dared
to speak or turn their heads. After this, it rained very hard, which
wetted them to the skin; their feet slipped at every step they took,
and they fell into the mire, whence they got up in a very dirty
pickle; their hands were quite benumbed.
Little Thumb climbed up to the top of a tree, to see if he could
discover anything; and having turned his head about on every side,
he saw at last a glimmering light, like that of a candle, but a long
way from the forest. He came down, and, when upon the ground, he
could see it no more, which grieved him sadly. However, having
walked for some time with his brothers toward that side on which he
had seen the light, he perceived it again as he came out of the
wood.
They came at last to the house where this candle was, not without an
abundance of fear: for very often they lost sight of it, which
happened every time they came into a bottom. They knocked at the
door, and a good woman came and opened it; she asked them what they
would have.
Little Thumb told her they were poor children who had been lost in
the forest, and desired to lodge there for God's sake.
The woman, seeing them so very pretty, began to weep, and said to
them:
"Alas! poor babies; whither are ye come? Do ye know that this house
belongs to a cruel ogre who eats up little children?"
"Ah! dear madam," answered Little Thumb (who trembled every joint of
him, as well as his brothers), "what shall we do? To be sure the
wolves of the forest will devour us to-night if you refuse us to lie
here; and so we would rather the gentleman should eat us; and
perhaps he may take pity upon us, especially if you please to beg it
of him."
The Ogre's wife, who believed she could conceal them from her
husband till morning, let them come in, and brought them to warm
themselves at a very good fire; for there was a whole sheep upon the
spit, roasting for the Ogre's supper.
As they began to be a little warm they heard three or four great
raps at the door; this was the Ogre, who had come home. Upon this
she hid them under the bed and went to open the door. The Ogre
presently asked if supper was ready and the wine drawn, and then sat
himself down to table. The sheep was as yet all raw and bloody; but
he liked it the better for that. He sniffed about to the right and
left, saying:
"I smell fresh meat."
"What you smell so," said his wife, "must be the calf which I have
just now killed and flayed."
"I smell fresh meat, I tell thee once more," replied the Ogre,
looking crossly at his wife; "and there is something here which I do
not understand."
As he spoke these words he got up from the table and went directly
to the bed.
"Ah, ah!" said he; "I see then how thou wouldst cheat me, thou
cursed woman; I know not why I do not eat thee up too, but it is
well for thee that thou art a tough old carrion. Here is good game,
which comes very quickly to entertain three ogres of my acquaintance
who are to pay me a visit in a day or two."
With that he dragged them out from under the bed one by one. The
poor children fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but they
had to do with one of the most cruel ogres in the world, who, far
from having any pity on them, had already devoured them with his
eyes, and told his wife they would be delicate eating when tossed up
with good savoury sauce. He then took a great knife, and, coming up
to these poor children, whetted it upon a great whet-stone which he
held in his left hand. He had already taken hold of one of them when
his wife said to him:
"Why need you do it now? Is it not time enough to- morrow?"
"Hold your prating," said the Ogre; "they will eat the tenderer.
"But you have so much meat already," replied his wife, you have no
occasion; here are a calf, two sheep, and half a hog."
"That is true," said the Ogre; "give them their belly full that they
may not fall away, and put them to bed."
The good woman was overjoyed at this, and gave them a good supper;
but they were so much afraid they could not eat a bit. As for the
Ogre, he sat down again to drink, being highly pleased that he had
got wherewithal to treat his friends. He drank a dozen glasses more
than ordinary, which got up into his head and obliged him to go to
bed.
The Ogre had seven daughters, all little children, and these young
ogresses had all of them very fine complexions, because they used to
eat fresh meat like their father; but they had little grey eyes,
quite round, hooked noses, and very long sharp teeth, standing at a
good distance from each other. They were not as yet over and above
mischievous, but they promised very fair for it, for they had
already bitten little children, that they might suck their blood.
They had been put to bed early, with every one a crown of gold upon
her head. There was in the same chamber a bed of the like bigness,
and it was into this bed the Ogre's wife put the seven little boys,
after which she went to bed to her husband.
Little Thumb, who had observed that the Ogre's daughters had crowns
of gold upon their heads, and was afraid lest the Ogre should repent
his not killing them, got up about midnight, and, taking his
brothers' bonnets and his own, went very softly and put them upon
the heads of the seven little ogresses, after having taken off their
crowns of gold, which he put upon his own head and his brothers',
that the Ogre might take them for his daughters, and his daughters
for the little boys whom he wanted to kill.
All this succeeded according to his desire; for, the Ogre waking
about midnight, and sorry that he deferred to do that till morning
which he might have done over-night, threw himself hastily out of
bed, and, taking his great knife,
"Let us see," said he, "how our little rogues do, and not make two
jobs of the matter."
He then went up, groping all the way, into his daughters' chamber,
and, coming to the bed where the little boys lay, and who were every
soul of them fast asleep, except Little Thumb, who was terribly
afraid when he found the Ogre fumbling about his head, as he had
done about his brothers', the Ogre, feeling the golden crowns, said:
"I should have made a fine piece of work of it, truly; I find I
drank too much last night."
Then he went to the bed where the girls lay; and, having found the
boys' little bonnets,
"Ah!" said he, "my merry lads, are you there? Let us work as we
ought."
And saying these words, without more ado, he cut the throats of all
his seven daughters.
Well pleased with what he had done, he went to bed again to his
wife. So soon as Little Thumb heard the Ogre snore, he waked his
brothers, and bade them all put on their clothes presently and
follow him. They stole down softly into the garden, and got over the
wall. They kept running about all night, and trembled all the while,
without knowing which way they went.
The Ogre, when he awoke, said to his wife: "Go upstairs and dress
those young rascals who came here last night."
The wife was very much surprised at this goodness of her husband,
not dreaming after what manner she should dress them; but, thinking
that he had ordered her to go and put on their clothes, she went up,
and was strangely astonished when she perceived her seven daughters
killed, and weltering in their blood.
She fainted away, for this is the first expedient almost all women
find in such cases. The Ogre, fearing his wife would be too long in
doing what he had ordered, went up himself to help her. He was no
less amazed than his wife at this frightful spectacle.
"Ah! what have I done?" cried he. "The wretches shall pay for it,
and that instantly."
He threw a pitcher of water upon his wife's face, and, having
brought her to herself, said:
"Give me quickly my boots of seven leagues, that I may go and catch
them."
He went out, and, having run over a vast deal of ground, both on
this side and that, he came at last into the very road where the
poor children were, and not above a hundred paces from their
father's house. They espied the Ogre, who went at one step from
mountain to mountain, and over rivers as easily as the narrowest
kennels. Little Thumb, seeing a hollow rock near the place where
they were, made his brothers hide themselves in it, and crowded into
it himself, minding always what would become of the Ogre.
The Ogre, who found himself much tired with his long and fruitless
journey (for these boots of seven leagues greatly fatigued the
wearer), had a great mind to rest himself, and, by chance, went to
sit down upon the rock where the little boys had hid themselves. As
it was impossible he could be more weary than he was, he fell
asleep, and, after reposing himself some time, began to snore so
frightfully that the poor children were no less afraid of him than
when he held up his great knife and was going to cut their throats.
Little Thumb was not so much frightened as his brothers, and told
them that they should run away immediately toward home while the
Ogre was asleep so soundly, and that they should not be in any pain
about him. They took his advice, and got home presently. Little
Thumb came up to the Ogre, pulled off his boots gently and put them
on his own legs. The boots were very long and large, but, as they
were fairies, they had the gift of becoming big and little,
according to the legs of those who wore them; so that they fitted
his feet and legs as well as if they had been made on purpose for
him. He went immediately to the Ogre's house, where he saw his wife
crying bitterly for the loss of the Ogre's murdered daughters.
"Your husband," said Little Thumb, "is in very great danger, being
taken by a gang of thieves, who have sworn to kill him if he does
not give them all his gold and silver. The very moment they held
their daggers at his throat he perceived me, and desired me to come
and tell you the condition he is in, and that you should give me
whatsoever he has of value, without retaining any one thing; for
otherwise they will kill him without mercy; and, as his case is very
pressing, he desired me to make use (you see I have them on) of his
boots, that I might make the more haste and to show you that I do
not impose upon you.
The good woman, being sadly frightened, gave him all she had: for
this Ogre was a very good husband, though he used to eat up little
children. Little Thumb, having thus got all the Ogre's money, came
home to his father's house, where he was received with abundance of
joy.
There are many people who do not agree in this circumstance, and
pretend that Little Thumb never robbed the Ogre at all, and that he
only thought he might very justly, and with a safe conscience, take
off his boots of seven leagues, because he made no other use of them
but to run after little children. These folks affirm that they are
very well assured of this, and the more as having drunk and eaten
often at the fagot-maker's house. They aver that when Little Thumb
had taken off the Ogre's boots he went to Court, where he was
informed that they were very much in pain about a certain army,
which was two hundred leagues off, and the success of a battle. He
went, say they, to the King, and told him that, if he desired it, he
would bring him news from the army before night.
The King promised him a great sum of money upon that condition.
Little Thumb was as good as his word, and returned that very same
night with the news; and, this first expedition causing him to be
known, he got whatever he pleased, for the King paid him very well
for carrying his orders to the army. After having for some time
carried on the business of a messenger, and gained thereby great
wealth, he went home to his father, where it was impossible to
express the joy they were all in at his return. He made the whole
family very easy, bought places for his father and brothers, and, by
that means, settled them very handsomely in the world, and, in the
meantime, made his court to perfection.
Little Thumb
from the Blue Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
