168 Fairy Tales

only suppose that the flood had swept them
away and drowned them; and the farm was
indeed a sad place. So you may imagine
how delighted everybody was when the little
slip of paper was found one morning by the
dairymaid on the window-sill. But though
the news greatly relieved them, it seemed to
set the mother’s heart yearning the more to
have them back. She laughed and cried,
and beset her husband with questions which
he could not answer. Where could they be?
And who could be keeping them from her?
When old Wolf, who knew all the ins and
outs of the family, made his way into the
kitchen to find out what the stir was about,
she let him smell the letter, and told him
it said the children were well, but, oh, she
wanted to see with her own eyes!

Wolf did all he could to comfort her, and
went off into the yard without looking at
his food, which the girl had ready for him
in the passage. He pondered over it through
the day and half the night, for he was always
slow in deciding for himself; but when the