"What an odd thing that is!" said one, "there is a cart going along,
and I heard a carter talking to the horse but can see no one." "That
is strange," said the other; "let us follow the cart and see where it
goes." So they went on into the wood, till at last they came to the
place where the woodman was. Then Thumbling, seeing his father, cried
out, "See, father, here I am, with the cart, all right and safe; now
take me down." So his father took hold of the horse with one hand, and
with the other took his son out of the ear; then he put him down upon
a straw, where he sat as merry as you please. The two strangers were
all this time looking on, and did not know what to say for wonder. At
last one took the other aside and said, "That little urchin will make
our fortune if we can get him, and carry him about from town to town
as a show; we must buy him." So they went to the woodman and asked him
what he would take for the little man: "He will be better off," said
they, "with us than with you." "I won't sell him at all," said the
father, "my own flesh and blood is dearer to me than all the silver
and gold in the world.
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