The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault 12

The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault 12

The poor child bore the blame of whatsoever was done amiss in the

house, and guilty or not was always in the wrong; he was,

notwithstanding, more cunning and had a far greater share of wisdom

than all his brothers put together, and if he spake little he heard

and thought the more.

 

There happened now to come a very bad year, and the famine was so

great, that these poor people resolved to rid themselves of their

children. One evening, when they were all in bed and the faggot-maker

was sitting with his wife at the fire, he said to her, with his heart

ready to burst with grief:

 

"Thou see'st plainly that we are not able to keep our children, and I

cannot see them starve to death before my face; I am resolved to lose

them in the wood to-morrow, which may very easily be done; for while

they are busy in tying up the faggots, we may run away, and leave

them, without their taking any notice."

 

"Ah!" cried out his wife, "and can'st thou thyself have the heart to

take thy children out along with thee on purpose to lose them?"

 

In vain did her husband represent to her their extreme poverty; she

would not consent to it; she was, indeed poor, but she was their

mother. However, having considered what a grief it would be to her to

see them perish with hunger, she at last consented and went to bed all

in tears.

 

Little Thumb heard every word that had been spoken; for observing, as

he lay in his bed, that they were talking very busily, he had got up

softly and hid himself under his father's stool, that he might hear

what they said, without being seen. He went to bed again, but did not

sleep a wink all the rest of the night, thinking on what he ought to

do. He got up early in the morning, and went to the river side, where

he filled his pockets full of small white pebbles, and then returned

home. They all went abroad, but Little Thumb never told his brothers

one syllable of what he knew. They went into a very thick forest,

where they could not see one another at ten paces distance. The

faggot-maker began to cut wood, and the children to gather up sticks

to make faggots. Their father and mother seeing them busy at their

work, got from them by degrees, and then ran away from them all at

once, along a by-way, thro' the winding bushes.

 

[Illustration: "HE BROUGHT THEM HOME BY THE VERY SAME WAY THEY CAME"]

 

When the children saw they were left alone, they began to cry as loud

as they could. Little Thumb let them cry on, knowing very well how to

go home again; for as he came he had taken care to drop all along the

way the little white pebbles he had in his pockets. Then said he to

them:

 

"Be not afraid, brothers, father and mother have left us here, but I

will lead you home again, only follow me." They did so, and he brought

them home by the very same way they came into the forest. They dared

not to go in, but sat themselves down at the door, listening to what

their father and mother were saying.

 

The very moment the faggot-maker and his wife were got home, the lord

of the manor sent them ten crowns, which he had owed them a long

while, and which they never expected. This gave them new life; for the

poor people were almost famished. The faggot-maker sent his wife

immediately to the butcher's. As it was a long while since they had

eaten a bit, she bought thrice as much meat as would sup two people.

Having filled their bellies, the woman said:

 

"Alas! where are now our poor children? They would make a good feast

of what we have left here; but then it was you, William, who had a

mind to lose them; I told you we should repent of it: what are they

now doing in the forest? Alas! dear God, the wolves have, perhaps,

already eaten them up: thou art very inhuman thus to have lost thy

children."

 

The faggot-maker grew at last quite out of patience, for she repeated

this above twenty times, that they should repent of it, and she was in

the right of it for so saying. He threatened to beat her, if she did

not hold her tongue. It was not that the faggot-maker was not,

perhaps, more vexed than his wife, but that she teized him, and that

he was of the humour of a great many others, who love wives who speak

right, but think those very importunate who are always in the right.

She was half drowned in tears, crying out:

 

"Alas! where are now my children, my poor children?"

 

She spake this so very loud, that the children who were at the door,

began to cry out all together:

 

"Here we are, here we are."

 

She ran immediately to open the door, and said, hugging them:

 

"I am glad to see you, my dear children; you are very hungry and

weary; and my poor Peter, thou art horribly bemired; come in and let

me clean thee."

 

Now, you must know, that Peter was her eldest son, whom she loved

above all the rest, because he was somewhat carrotty, as she herself

was. They sat down to supper, and ate with such a good appetite as

pleased both father and mother, whom they acquainted how frightened

they were in the forest; speaking almost always all together. The good

folks were extremely glad to see their children once more at home,

and this joy continued while the ten crowns lasted; but when the money

was all gone, they fell again into their former uneasiness, and

resolved to lose them again; and, that they might be the surer of

doing it, to carry them at a much greater distance than before. They

could not talk of this so secretly, but they were overheard by Little

Thumb, who made account to get out of this difficulty as well as the

former; but though he got up betimes in the morning, to go and pick up

some little pebbles, he was disappointed; for he found the house-door

double-locked, and was at a stand what to do. When their father had

given each of them a piece of bread for their breakfast, he fancied he

might make use of this bread instead of the pebbles, by throwing it in

little bits all along the way they should pass; and so he put it up

into his pocket.

 

Their father and mother brought them into the thickest and most

obscure part of the forest; when, stealing away into a by-path, they

there left them. Little Thumb was not very uneasy at 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 so much as one crumb; the birds had

come and eaten it up every bit. They were now in great affliction, for

the farther they went, the more they were out of their way, and were

more and more bewildered in the forest.

 

Night now came on, and there arose a terrible high wind, which made

them dreadfully afraid. They fancied they heard on every side of them

the houling of wolves coming to eat them up; they scarce dared to

speak, or turn their heads. After this, it rained very hard, which wet

them to the skin; their feet slipped at every step they took, and they

fell into the mire, whence they got up in a very dirty pickle; their

hands were in a sorry state.

 

Little Thumb climbed up to the top of a tree, to see if he could

discover any thing; and having turned his head about on every side, he

saw at last a glimmering light, like that of a candle, but a long way

from 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 towards that side on which he had seen the

light, he perceived it again as he came out of the wood.

 

They came at last to the house where this candle was, not without

abundance of fear; for very often they lost sight of it, which

happened every time they came into a bottom. They knocked at the door,

and a good woman came and open'd it; she asked them what they wished.

 

Little Thumb told her they were poor children who had been lost in the

forest, and desired to lodge there for God's sake. The woman seeing

them so very pretty, began to weep, and said to them:

 

"Alas! poor babies, whither are ye come? Do ye know that this house

belongs to a cruel Ogre, who eats up little children?"

 

"Ah! dear Madam," answered Little Thumb (who trembled every joint of

him, as well as his brothers) "what shall we do? To be sure, the

wolves of the forest will devour us to-night, if you refuse us to lie

here; and so, we would rather the gentleman should eat us. Perhaps he

will take pity on us, especially if you please to beg it of him."

 

The Ogre's wife, who believed she could conceal them from her husband

till morning, let them come in, and brought them to warm themselves at

a very good fire; for there was a whole sheep upon the spit roasting

for the Ogre's supper.

 

As they began to be a little warm, they heard three or four great raps

at the door; this was the Ogre, who was come home. Upon this she hid

them under the bed, and went to open the door. The Ogre presently

asked if supper was ready, and the wine drawn; and then he sat himself

down to table. The sheep was as yet all raw and bloody; but he liked

it the better for that. He sniffed about to the right and left,

saying, "I smell fresh meat."

 

"What you smell so," said his wife, "must be the calf which I have

just now killed and flayed."

 

"I smell fresh meat, I tell thee once more," replied the Ogre, looking

crossly at his wife, "and there is something here which I do not

understand."

 

As he spake these words, he got up from the table, and went directly

to the bed.

 

"Ah!" said he, "I see how thou would'st cheat me, thou cursed woman; I

know not why I do not eat up thee too; but it is well for thee that

thou art a tough old carrion. Here is good game, which comes very

luckily to entertain three Ogres of my acquaintance, who are to pay me

a visit in a day or two."

 

With that he dragged them out from under the bed one by one. The poor

children fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but they had to

do with one of the most cruel Ogres in the world, who, far from having

any pity on them, had already devoured them with his eyes; he told his

wife they would be delicate eating, when tossed up with good savoury

sauce. He then took a great knife, and coming up to these poor

children, whetted it upon a great whet-stone which he held in his left