"How lonely it is," said he, "for you and me to sit here by ourselves without any children to play about and amuse us."

"What you say is very true," said his wife, as she turned her wheel. "How happy should I be, if I had but one child. If it were ever so small, if it were no bigger than my thumb, I should be very happy and love it dearly."

Now it came to pass that the good woman had her wish, for some time afterward she had a little boy who was healthy and strong, but not much bigger than her thumb. So they said:—

"Well, we cannot say we have not got what we wished for, and, little as he is, we will love him dearly!" and they called him Tom Thumb. They gave him plenty to eat, yet he never grew bigger. Still his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself to be a bright little fellow, who always knew what he was about.

One day the woodman was getting ready to go into the wood to cut fuel, and he said:—

"I wish I had some one to bring the cart after me, for I want to make haste."

"O father," cried Tom, "I will take care of that. The cart shall be in the wood by the time you want it." The woodman laughed and said:

"How can that be? You cannot reach up to the horse's bridle."

"Never mind that, father. If my mother will only harness the horse, I will get into his ear, and tell him which way to go."

"Well," said the father, "we will try for once."

When the time came, the mother harnessed the horse to the cart, and put Tom into his ear. There the little man sat and told the beast how to go, crying out, "Go on," and "Stop," as he wanted. So the horse went on just as if the woodman were driving it himself.

It happened that the horse fell to trotting too fast, and Tom called out, "Gently, gently." Just then two strangers came up.

"How odd it is," one of them said. "There is a cart going along, and I hear a carter talking to the horse, but I see no one."

"That is strange," said the other. "Let us follow the cart and see where it goes." They went on into the wood, and came at last to the place where the woodman was. The cart drove up and Tom said:—

"See, father, here I am with the cart, safe and sound. Now, take me down."

So his father took hold of the horse with one hand, and lifted his son down with the other. He put him on a little stick, where he was as merry as you please. The two strangers looked on and saw it all, and did not know what to say for wonder. At last one took the other aside and said:—

"That little chap will make our fortune if we can get him, and carry him about from town to town as a show. We must buy him." Then they went to the woodman and asked him what he would take for the little man. "He will be better off with us than with you," they said.

"I'll not sell him at all," said the father. "My own flesh and blood is dearer to me than all the silver and gold in the world."

But Tom heard what was said, and crept up his father's coat to his shoulder, and spoke in his ear:—

"Take the money, father, and let them have me. I'll soon come back to you." So the woodman at last agreed to sell Tom Thumb to the strangers for a large piece of gold.

"Where do you like to sit?" one of them asked Tom.

"Oh, put me on the rim of your hat; that will be a nice place for me. I can walk about there and see the country as we go along."

They did as he wished. Tom took leave of his father, and went off with the two strangers. They kept on their way till it began to grow dark. Then Tom said:—

"Let me get down, I am tired." So the man took off his hat, and set him down on a lump of earth in a ploughed field, by the side of the road. But Tom ran about among the furrows, and at last slipped into an old mouse-hole.

"Good-night, masters. I'm off," said he. "Look sharp after me next time." They ran to the place and poked the ends of their sticks into the mouse-hole, but all in vain. Tom crawled farther in. They could not get him, and as it was now quite dark they went away very cross.