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fodder. The maid was just milking the cow, and when she heard |
some one speaking, and saw no one, and perceived that it was the |
same voice that she had heard in the night, she was so |
terrified that she slipped off her stool, and spilt the milk. |
She ran in great haste to her master, and said, oh heavens, |
pastor, the cow has been speaking. You are mad, replied the |
pastor, but he went himself to the byre to see what was there. |
Hardly, however had he set his foot inside when thumbling again |
cried, bring me no more fodder, bring me no more fodder. Then |
the pastor himself was alarmed, and thought that an evil |
spirit had gone into the cow, and ordered her to be killed. She was |
killed, but the stomach, in which thumbling was, was thrown on |
the dunghill. Thumbling had great difficulty in working his |
way out. However, he succeeded so far as to get some room, but |
just as he was going to thrust his head out, a new misfortune |
occurred. A hungry wolf ran thither, and swallowed the whole |
stomach at one gulp. Thumbling did not lose courage. Perhaps, |
thought he, the wolf will listen to what I have got to say. And |
he called to him from out of his belly, dear wolf, I know of a |
magnificent feast for you. |
Where is it to be had, said the wolf. |
In such and such a house. You must creep into it through the |
kitchen-sink, and will find cakes, and bacon, and sausages, and |
as much of them as you can eat. And he described to him exactly |
his father's house. The wolf did not require to be told this |
twice, squeezed himself in at night through the sink, and ate to |
his heart's content in the larder. When he had eaten his fill, |
he wanted to go out again, but he had become so big that he could |
not go out by the same way. Thumbling had reckoned on this, and |
now began to make a violent noise in the wolf's body, and raged |
and screamed as loudly as he could. Will you be quiet, said the |
wolf, you will waken up the people. What do I care, replied the |
little fellow, you have eaten your fill, and I will make merry |
likewise. And began once more to scream with all his strength. |
At last his father and mother were aroused by it, and ran to the |
room and looked in through the opening in the door. When they |
saw that a wolf was inside, they ran away, and teh husband |
fetched his axe, and the wife the scythe. Stay behind, said the |
man, when they entered the room. When I have given the blow, if |
he is not killed by it, you must cut him down and hew his body |
to pieces. Then thumbling heard his parents, voices and cried, |
dear father, I am here, I am in the wolf's body. Said the father, |
full of joy, thank God, our dear child has found us again. And |
bade the |
woman take away her scythe, that thumbling might not be hurt |
with it. After that he raised his arm, and struck the wolf |
such a blow on his head that he fell down |
dead, and then they got knives and scissors and cut his body open |
and drew the little fellow forth. |
Ah, said the father, what sorrow we have gone through for your |
sake. Yes father, I have gone about the world a great deal. |
Thank heaven, I breathe fresh air again. Where have you been, |
then. Ah, father, I have been in a mouse's hole, in a cow's |
belly, and then in a wolf's paunch. Now I will stay with you. |
And we will not sell you again, no not for all the riches in |
the world, said his parents, and they embraced and kissed their |
dear thumbling. They gave him to eat and to drink, and had |
some new clothes made for him, for his own had been spoiled |
on his journey. |
There was once a poor servant-girl who was industrious and cleanly |
and swept the house every day, and emptied her sweepings on the |
great heap in front of the door. One morning when she was just |
going back to her work, she found a letter on this heap, and as |
she could not read, she put her broom in the corner, and took the |
letter to her employers, and behold it was an invitation from |
the elves, who asked the girl to hold a child for them at its |
christening. The girl did not know what to do, but, at length, |
after much persuasion, and as they told her that it was not |
right to refuse an invitation of this kind, she consented. |
Then three elves came and conducted her to a hollow mountain, |
where the little folks lived. Everything there was small, but |
more elegant and beautiful than can be described. The baby's |
mother lay in a bed of black ebony ornamented with pearls, the |
covers were embroidered with gold, the cradle was of ivory, the |
bath-tub of gold. The girl stood as godmother, and then wanted |
to go home again, but the little elves urgently entreated her to |
stay three days with them. So she stayed, and passed the time in |
pleasure and gaiety, and the little folks did all they could to |
make her happy. At last she set out on her way home. But first |
they filled her pockets quite full of money, and then they led |
her out of the mountain again. When she got home, she wanted to |
to begin her work, and took the broom, which was still standing |
in the corner, in her hand and began to sweep. Then some |
strangers came out of the house, who asked her who she was, and |
what business she had there. And she had not, as she thought, |
been three days with the little men in the mountains, but |
seven years, and in the meantime her former masters had died. |
A certain mother had her child taken out of its cradle by the |
elves, and a changeling with a large head and staring eyes, |
which would do nothing but eat and drink, lay in its place. |
In her trouble she went to her neighbor, and asked her advice. |
The neighbour said that she was to carry the changeling into the |
kitchen, set it down on the hearth, light a fire, and boil |
some water in two egg-shells, which would make the changeling |