ad. After this Jack
and his mother lived very happily, and Jack was a great comfort to
her in her old age.

[Page 33--Boy Land]

Hop O' My Thumb

Once upon a time there was a woodman and his wife who had so many
children that they did not know how to find food for them. So one
night, when they were all in bed, the father told his wife that he
thought they had better take them into the forest and lose them
there. The youngest child, who was so very small that he was called
Hop o' my Thumb, overheard his father, and as he was a very clever
boy he made up his mind to find his way home again. So he went down
to the brook very early the next morning, and filled his pocket with
large smooth pebbles as white as snow. Bye-and-bye the woodman and
his wife told the children that they might go with them into the wood
to have a good game of play. They were all glad except Hop o' my
Thumb who knew what his father intended. So they set out; the woodman
and his wife first, then the boys, and last Hop o' my Thumb, who
sprinkled pebbles all the way they went.

They spent a merry day; but bye-and-bye the parents stole away, and
left the children all by themselves. They were very much frightened
when they missed their father and mother, and called loudly for them;
but when Hop o' my Thumb told them what he had heard, and how they
could find their way home by following the track of the pebbles,
which marked the way they had come, they set out, and reached home
safely, and their father and mother pretended to be very glad to see
them back.

But soon after they again resolved to lose their children, if
possible, in the forest. This time all the boys feared that they
should be left behind, and the eldest brother said he would take some
peas to sprinkle, to mark the pathway that led home. By-and-bye the
cruel parents stole away, and left the little ones in the dark wood.
At first they did not care, for they thought that they could easily
find their way home; but, alas! when they looked for the line of peas
which they had sprinkled, they found they were all gone--the
wood-pigeons had eaten them up, and the children were lost in the
wood. Holding each-others' hands and crying sadly they walked on to
seek a place to sleep in. By-and-bye they came to a giant's castle,
where they were taken in, and told that they might sleep in the
nursery with the seven baby daughters of the giant, who were lying
all in a row in one bed, with gold cr