the least idea of where they were
going.

When the ogre woke up he said to his wife:

'Go upstairs and dress those little rascals who were here last night.'

The ogre's wife was astonished at her husband's kindness, never doubting
that he meant her to go and put on their clothes. She went upstairs, and
was horrified to discover her seven daughters bathed in blood, with
their throats cut.

She fell at once into a swoon, which is the way of most women in similar
circumstances.

The ogre, thinking his wife was very long in carrying out his orders,
went up to help her, and was no less astounded than his wife at the
terrible spectacle which confronted him.

'What's this I have done?' he exclaimed. 'I will be revenged on the
wretches, and quickly, too!'

He threw a jugful of water over his wife's face, and having brought her
round ordered her to fetch his seven-league boots, so that he might
overtake the children.

He set off over the countryside, and strode far and wide until he came
to the road along which the poor children were travelling. They were not
more than a few yards from their home when they saw the ogre striding
from hill-top to hill-top, and stepping over rivers as though they were
merely tiny streams.

Little Tom Thumb espied near at hand a cave in some rocks. In this he
hid his brothers, and himself followed them in, while continuing to keep
a watchful eye upon the movements of the ogre.

Now the ogre was feeling very tired after so much fruitless marching
(for seven-league boots are very fatiguing to their wearer), and felt
like taking a little rest. As it happened, he went and sat down on the
very rock beneath which the little boys were hiding. Overcome with
weariness, he had not sat there long before he fell asleep and began to
snore so terribly that the poor children were as frightened as when he
had held his great knife to their throats.

Little Tom Thumb was not so alarmed. He told his brothers to flee at
once to their home while the ogre was still sleeping soundly, and not to
worry about him. They took his advice and ran quickly home.

Little Tom Thumb now approached the ogre and gently pulled off his
boots, which he at once donned himself. The boots were very heavy and
very large, but being enchanted boots they had the faculty of growing
larger or smaller according to the leg they had to suit. Consequently
they always fitted as though they had been made for the wearer.

He went straig