HOP-O’-MY- ogre was so tipsy that he could not sleep, and as
THUMB he lay thinking of the nice meal his guests would
make, he forgot all about the fattening up, and
determined to kill the boys and have them cooked
for his breakfast.
So he got out of bed, took his axe, and went to
their room in the dark. Then he felt the beds,
and finding the crowns on the boys’ heads, he took
them for his daughters, left them and went to the
other bed, and cut off the heads of the young
ogresses. Satisfied with what he had done, he
went back to bed, not knowing, of course, what a
mistake he had made.
As soon as Hop-o’-my-Thumb heard the ogre
snoring, he awakened his brothers, and told them
to make haste and dress and follow him. They
obeyed, and Hop-o’-my-Thumb stole with them
downstairs, and opened the back-door, without
making the least noise. Then they climbed over
the garden-wall and got into the road.
They ran as fast as they could aH night, not know-
ing which way they went.
When the ogre awakened in the morning he said
to his wife: ‘Go upstairs and dress those seven
boys for breakfast.’
The wife was delighted to hear him speak, as
she thought, so kindly; for she had no idea that
he meant ‘cook’ by ‘dress,’ but believed that he
wished her to put on the little boys’ clothes for
them. So she ran upstairs. But when she entered
the bedroom she was horror-struck to find that
her seven step-daughters had all lost their heads.
She gave a scream and fainted away.
The ogre, who thought his wife had been gone a
long time, at last went in search of her, and when
he saw what had happened he was full of rage.
He shouted till he had brought his wife to her
senses.
Then the weeping woman said: ‘Husband, if you
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