red, as she was herself.

They sat down to table, and ate with an appetite which pleased both
father and mother, to whom they told how frightened they were in the
forest, nearly all speaking at once. The good folk were delighted to see
their children once more, and this joy continued while the ten crowns
lasted. But when the money was all spent, they fell again into their
former uneasiness, and resolved to lose their children again. And, that
they might be the surer of doing it, they determined to take them much
farther than before.

They could not talk of this so secretly but they were overheard by
Little Thumb, who laid his plans to get out of the difficulty as he had
done before; but, though he got up very early to go and pick up some
little pebbles, he could not, for he found the house-door double-locked.
He did not know what to do. Their father had given each of them a piece
of bread for their breakfast. He reflected that he might make use of the
bread instead of the pebbles, by throwing crumbs all along the way they
should pass, and so he stuffed it in his pocket. Their father and mother
led them into the thickest and most obscure part of the forest, and
then, stealing away into a by-path, left them there. Little Thumb was
not very much worried about 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 a single
crumb: the birds had come and eaten them all.

They were now in great trouble; for the more they wandered, the deeper
they went into the forest. Night now fell, and there arose a high wind,
which filled them with fear. They fancied they heard on every side the
howling of wolves coming to devour them. They scarce dared to speak or
turn their heads. Then it rained very hard, which wetted them to the
skin. Their feet slipped at every step, and they fell into the mud,
covering their hands with it so that they knew not what to do with them.

Little Thumb climbed up to the top of a tree, to see if he could
discover anything. Looking on every side, he saw at last a glimmering
light, like that of a candle, but a long way beyond 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 discovered
it again as he came out of the wood.

They ar