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 spoke 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; fore while they are busy in tying up the fagots, we may run away and leave them, without their taking any notice."
"Ah!" cried out 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 see one another at ten paces distance. The fagot-maker began to cut wood and the children to gather up the sticks and 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 talking.
The very moment the fagot-maker and his wife were got home the lord of the manor sent them 10 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 humor of a great many others, who love wives who 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 10 crowns lasted; but when the money was all gone they fell again; and that they might be the surer of doing it, to carry them to a much greater distance than before.
The 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 betimes 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, he 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 it 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 further 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 terrible 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.
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 was 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," asked 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 a good game, which comes very luckily 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 savory sauce. He then took a great knife, and coming up to these poor children, whetted it upon a great whetstone which he held in his left hand. He had already taken hold of one of them when his wife said to him:
"What 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 gray 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 such 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 overnight, 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 bed where the little boys lay, and who were every should 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 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 ogress 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—
"Give me quickly," cried he, "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 first 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 her 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 a good as his word, and returned that very same night with the news; and this first expedition causing hem 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 this 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 mean time made his court to perfection.