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 At last the thieves found him, and lifted him up. ‘You little urchin, are you going to help us? ’

‘Yes,’ he said; ‘I will creep between the iron bars in the pastor’s room, and will hand out to you what you want.’

‘All right,’ they said, ‘we will see what you can do.’

When they came to the Parsonage, Tom crept into the room, but called out immediately with all his strength to the others: ‘Do you want everything that is here?’

The thieves were frightened, and said: ‘Do speak softly, and don’t wake any one.’

But Tom pretended not to understand, and called out again: ‘What do you want? Everything?’

The Cook, who slept above, heard him and sat up in bed and listened. But the thieves were so frightened that they retreated a little way. At last they summoned up courage again, and thought to themselves, ‘The little rogue wants to tease us.’ So they came back and whispered to him: ‘Now, do be serious, and hand us out something.’

Then Tom called out again, as loud as he could, ‘I will give you everything if only you will hold out your hands.’

The Maid, who was listening intently, heard him quite distinctly, jumped out of bed, and stumbled to the door. The thieves turned and fled, running as though wild huntsmen were after them. But the Maid, seeing nothing, went to get a light. When she came back with it, Tom, without being seen, slipped out into the barn, and the Maid, after she had searched every corner and found nothing, went to bed again, thinking she had been dreaming with her eyes and ears open.

Tom Thumb climbed about in the hay, and found a splendid place to sleep. There he determined to rest till day came, and then to go home to his parents. But he had other experiences to go through first. This world is full of trouble and sorrow!

The Maid got up in the grey dawn to feed the cows. First she went into the barn, where she piled up an armful of hay, the very bundle in which poor Tom was asleep. But he slept