" But Thumbling, hearing of the bargain they
wanted to make, crept up his father's coat to his shoulder, and
whispered in his ear, "Take the money, father, and let them have me;
I'll soon come back to you."
[Illustration]
So the woodman at last agreed to sell Thumbling to the strangers for
a large piece of gold. "Where do you like to sit?" said one of them.
"Oh! put me on the rim of your hat, that will be a nice gallery for
me; I can walk about there, and see the country as we go along."
So they did as he wished; and when Thumbling had taken leave of his
father, they carried him away with them. They journeyed on till it
began to be dusky, and then the little man said, "Let me get down,
I'm tired." So the man took off his hat and set him down on a clod of
earth in a ploughed field by the side of the road, But Thumbling ran
about amongst the furrows, and at last slipped into a mouse-hole.
"Good-night, masters," said he, "I'm off! mind and look sharp after me
the next time." They ran directly to the place, and poked the ends
of their sticks into the mouse-hole, but all in vain; Thumbling only
crawled further and further in, and at last it became quite dark, so
they were obliged to go their way without their prize, as sulky as you
please.
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