HOP-O’-MY-THUMB

a/S it fell upon a day there lived a wood- HOP-O’'-MY-
cutter and his wife on the outskirts THUMB
of a great forest. They had seven
children, and all were boys. The
eldest was ten, and the youngest
seven years old.

The parents were very poor, and the
children were nearly the same age, for they were
twins, with the exception of the youngest, and
unable to earn their bread.

The father was sore puzzled how to provide for
them. What made matters worse was that the
youngest was very sickly and weak. When he
was born, he was but the size of a man’s thumb,
and this made his father call him Hop-o’-my-
Thumb. This poor child bore the blame of what-
ever went amiss in the house; he was always
thought to be in the wrong ; he was, however, far
more clever than was supposed. Indeed, he had
more sense in his little noddle than in all those
of his brothers put together. He spoke very little,
but then he kept his ears wide open.

Just as Hop-o’-my-Thumb had reached his seventh
year, the land was afflicted with a great famine,
and food became so dear that the woodcutter and
his wife found great difficulty in getting even dry
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