HOP-O’-MY- Hop-o’-my-Thumb exactly, and he set out in them
THUMB atonce.. But as he was quite sure that the giant
would pursue him in order to recover them, he did
not take the road homewards, but went off in an
opposite direction.
As he had expected, the giant woke up a few
minutes afterwards, and, finding his wonderful
boots gone, was in a towering passion. He looked
about for them, and finding the trace of the huge
heel, he at once pursued Hop-o’-my-Thumd. But
what chance had his bare feet against the seven-
league boots? Hop-o’-my-Thumb, looking back,
beheld the giant blinded by his fury striding over a
precipice. He saw how that the ogre missed his
footing, and fell crashing down to the bottom.
The rocks echoed with the noise of his fall, as his
huge form dashed from crag to crag, and Hop-o’-
my-Thumb held his breath with awe.
‘Poor children have reason to be glad you are
gone,’ thought the boy, ‘and I dare say your kind
wife will not be sorry.’
Hop-o’-my-Thumb was now both tired and hungry,
so he made haste to lead his brothers home.
The very day after the father had left his children
in the wood, the forester again called at the
cottage. This time he brought some flour and
half a pig, the lord of the manor having sold some
land to buy food for his people.
He was surprised to find only the wife at home,
and she crying bitterly.
‘Why, good wife, where are all your children ?’ he
asked; ‘and where is my little friend Hop-o’-my-
Thumb, of whom my lord is quite fond?’
The bereaved mother answered only by a burst of
tears. Then the man, suspecting that something
was wrong, insisted on knowing the truth, and the
broken-hearted woman confessed all.
The forester was much shocked. He set off at
once for the village, called together the neighbours,
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