" do n't stand there and laugh in such a stupid way , " said the woman , " but come and help a poor , feeble old woman . i wanted to split up some fire - wood , and caught my nose here . here i have been standing for more than a hundred years , pulling and jerking , without a bit of bread to chew in all that time , " said she . then peter had to laugh all the harder . he found it all very amusing , and said that if she had already been standing there a hundred years , then she could probably hold out for another hundred years or more .
more than a hundred years .
how long had the woman been standing there ?
how long had the woman been standing there ?