Page 8 - Little Thumb...... (3)-已轉檔

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.