Thimble

“ I’ve seen him galloping up and down this very room, with Master Eddy perched upon his shoulders, and Lily scampering at his heels; and it would have puzzled even our sharp friend the Needle to say which was the liveliest of the three.”
“He’s in trouble, then,” said the Thimble: “I’ve seen enough of life to know that mortals have their trials, which are to them as the hammer and the furnace to us.” ”

“ She has frolicsome moods, in which a thimble, a shoe-buttoner, a scrap of paper, or a piece of string will drive her wild with delight; she has moods of inflexible gravity, in which she stares solemnly at her favorite ball rolling over the carpet, without stirring one lazy limb to reach it. ”

“ The idea of the trick proper is to cause a thimble placed on the forefinger of the right hand to disappear and be found on the corresponding finger of the left hand, without the hands approaching each other. It is usual, however, in the first place, to execute a number of passes with one thimble only, as by this means the audience will be the less likely to suspect the introduction of the second one. ”

“ The tea bell rang then, and Flora wiped away her tears, and tried to reconcile herself to the loss of the thimble. She was very sad and unhappy, for she felt that it had been lost by her own carelessness.
[Pg 31]
The feeling that we have done wrong is far more painful than the consequences which follow that wrong. Many good and true men have been happy while their bodies were burning at the stake, or while they were shut up in prison.
All the family sat down at the tea table except Mr. Lee, and he went up stairs. ”

“ Hugh was determined to have a little more dust first. He rolled once more the whole length of the leads, turned over Jane's stool, and upset her work-basket, so that her thimble bounded off to a far corner, and the shirt-collar she was stitching fell over into the water-butt.
"There! what will Jane say?" cried Agnes, picking up the basket, and peeping over into the small part of the top of the water-butt which was not covered.
"There never was anything like boys for mischief," said the maid Susan, who now appeared to pull Hugh in, and make him neat. ”

“ You don't get hungry all in a minute. What's that?"
"That" was a gleam of red that lay at the foot of the yew hedge—a thin little line, that you would hardly have noticed unless you had been staring in a fixed and angry way at the roots of the hedge.
It was a thread of cotton. Gerald picked it up. One end of it was tied to a thimble with holes in it, and the other——
"There is no other end," said Gerald, with firm triumph. "It's a clue—that's what it is. What price cold mutton now? I've always felt something magic would happen some day, and now it has." ”

“ Resist him, as Seekpeace did, and Pureheart will [Pg 88] be your friend to the end of your journey.”
Mr. Lee did not tell the children that he had found the gold thimble in Mary’s basket; but he hoped that his story would do her good. ”

“ Bribes have been offered, gold and silver and gems, besides a large tract of territory known as Shadowsflit, bordering on our country, but the monster will have nothing in lieu of the lady.”
“Why don’t you call out the volunteers, and drive the beast back into the mountains?” inquired the barber.
“Ah, there lies the difficulty,” answered Thimble. “The Governor of Twilight has never broken his word to man or monster, and he will not go from it in this instance. The nobles and churchmen have tried to persuade him that, under the circumstances, he is not bound to redeem his word with Gorilla ”

“ Thimblefinger, “she has now grown to be quite a young lady.”
“Huh!” grunted Drusilla, “ef folks grow up dat quick, I dunner what hinder me from bein’ a ol’ gray-head ’oman by sundown.”
VI.
THE MAGIC RING. “Don’t you see,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, with apparent seriousness, “that if we hadn’t left off the story of the little girl who went to the Well at the End of the World just where we did, she would have had no time to grow?” ”

“ X. MR. RABBIT AS A RAIN-MAKER.
“I hope it won’t rain,” said Sweetest Susan, “for then the spring would fill up so we couldn’t get out, and we should get wet down here.”
“Oh, no,” replied Mr. Thimblefinger, “the water is never wet down here. It is a little damp, that’s all.”
“Well, that’s enough, I’m sure,” remarked Mr. Rabbit. “It’s enough to give me the wheezes when I first get up in the morning, and it’s not at all comfortable, I can tell you.”
“There is one funny thing about springs,” said Mrs. Meadows, “no matter how much it rains, they never get any fuller. ”

“ Thimblefinger, “Tip-Top hung the saddle in his front porch, as you have seen farmers do. He thought a great deal of it.”
THE MAYOR PARDONING THE THIEF
[Pg 83] “I’ve read something about the great thief,” remarked Buster John. “But the story didn’t end that way. The thief escaped every time.”
“Oh, well, you know how some people are,” exclaimed Mrs. Meadows. “They want everything to happen just so; even a thief must be a big man if he’s in a story; but I don’t believe anybody ever stole anything yet without getting into trouble about it.”
“Who is that crying?” Mr. Rabbit suddenly exclaimed. ”

“ THE GOLDEN-HAIRED, BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRL
[Pg 165]
XV. THE BEWITCHED HUNTSMAN.
“There used to be a great many more witches than there are now,” remarked Mr. Thimblefinger. “I reckon it’s because folks have more business of their own to attend to; or, it may be a change in the climate. I hear old people say that the winters are colder now than they used to be, and the summers hotter. Maybe that has something to do with it. Anyhow, something has happened to thin the witches out.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Rabbit ”

“ The other Buster John and the other Sweetest Susan shook hands all round, and the other Drusilla made a curtsey to the company. Then, with a run and a jump, they plunged into the big looking-glass as you have seen youngsters plunge into a pond of water.
“Ho!” cried Mr. Thimblefinger, “they jumped in with a splash, but they never made a ripple.”
“They haven’t room enough in there to turn around,” said Sweetest Susan.
[Pg 120] “Why not?” inquired Mr. Thimblefinger. “To them the world is a looking-glass, and a mighty little one at that. ”

“ It goes every way but the right way. Where was I? Oh, yes, I remember now.”
“Well, the Mayor was very thankful to Tip-Top for saving his treasure and his horses, but he wasn’t satisfied about the saddle. He was worried. Now, you know when a child is worried it cries, but when a grown man is worried he sits down and looks away off, and puts his elbow in his hand and his finger to his nose—so.”
“Oh, I’ve seen papa do that,” laughed Sweetest Susan.
[Pg 75] “Yes, that’s the way the Mayor did,” Mr. Thimblefinger continued. “There was a great thief in that country who had never been caught. ”

“ Thumbling bent his head, and seemed embarrassed; and the Troll whispered to him: “Master, don't be disturbed. If you can't guess it, just make a sign to me, and I will carry off the princess, and make an end of the matter at once.”
“Be silent, slave!” answered Thumbling. “Force alone can do nothing, my poor friend, and no one ought to know it better than you. Let me have my own way.” ”

“ The giant hesitated, very much disturbed at what he saw. Meanwhile, Thumbling, who began to be hungry, opened his stout leather bag, and took out his bread and cheese.
“What is that white stuff?” asked the Troll, who had never seen any cheese before.
“That is a stone,” answered Thumbling. He began to eat as eagerly as possible.
“Do you eat stones?” asked the giant.
“O yes,” replied Thumbling, “that is my ordinary food, and that is the reason I am not so big as you, who eat oxen; but it is also the reason why, little as I am, I am ten times as strong as you are. Now take me to your house.” ”

“ I should think you were used to eating stones!”
“Eat away, lazy-bones!” said Thumbling, sticking a huge junk of beef into his bag.
“Ouf!” sighed the giant, for the third time; “I have got to unbutton the third button. I am almost suffocated; and how is it with you, sorcerer?”
“Bah!” answered Thumbling; “it is the easiest thing in the world to relieve yourself; and so saying he took his knife, and slit his jacket and the bag under it the whole length of his stomach.
“It is your turn now,” he said to the giant; “do as I do, you know, if you can.”
“Your humble servant,” replied the Troll ”

“ The king looked around in great astonishment. "Both in this room?" repeated he. "There is the thief," continued the doctor, pointing to the dog. Now the king was thoroughly amazed, and even angry; he thought the wise man made fun of him. "Kill the thief," said the doctor, sternly, "and you will be sure to find the ring." They did so at once, and, indeed, found the ring in the stomach of the animal. ”

“ And as a poor woman heaps dry twigs round a blazing brand—a daughter of toil, whose task is the spinning of wool, that she may kindle a blaze at night beneath her roof, when she has waked very early—and the flame waxing wondrous great from the small brand consumes all the twigs together ”

“ But not an atom of jewellery—no bracelets on the arms, no rings on the fingers; just one row of pearls round the throat, that was all—but what pearls! worth a king’s ransom!
As this radiant apparition came towards him, Thibault fell on his knees; he bowed himself, feeling crushed at the sight of this luxury, of this beauty, which to him seemed inseparable.
“Yes, yes, you may well kneel—kneel lower, lower yet—kiss my feet, kiss the carpet, kiss the floor, but I shall not any the more forgive you ... you are a monster!” ”

“ Thumbling crept still farther in, and as it soon became quite dark, they were forced to go home with their vexation and their empty purses.
When Thumbling saw that they were gone, he crept back out of the subterranean passage. "It is so dangerous to walk on the ground in the dark," said he; "how easily a neck or a leg is broken!" ”

“ What’s thim?” exclaimed a girl, pushing back against the donkey-cart, and in so doing sending some of the “crackers” sliding down into the mud.
The proprietress, an old woman with protruding teeth and generally terrific aspect, made a futile attempt to avert the catastrophe, and then whirled round upon us with a ferocity whetted by this disaster and matured by long combat with small boys.
“That the divil may blisther yerself and thim!” she screamed. “What call have thim dirty thravellers here throwin’ down all before thim? Aha! ”

“ Fortunately, he knocked against an empty snail-shell. "Thank God!" said he. "In that I can pass the night in safety," and got into it. Not long afterwards, when he was just going to sleep, he heard two men go by, and one of them was saying, "How shall we contrive to get hold of the rich pastor's silver and gold?" "I could tell you that," cried Thumbling, interrupting them. "What was that?" said one of the thieves in a fright; "I heard some one speaking." They stood still listening, and Thumbling spoke again and said, "Take me with you, and I'll help you." ”

“ DEVIL’S THUMB, CUSTER PARK, NEAR CUSTER CITY.—This grotesque formation is weird enough to be in fact the thumb, or the toe, or any other member of his Satanic majesty’s supposably ugly and immeasurably immense body. Suggestive of evil power as it may be, the Thumb is surrounded by other petrified imps of darkness, scarcely less uncanny and frightful in appearance, indicative of nature in her wildest mood. ”

“ How often did a tremble shake his frame, and cold drops of terror start upon his brow, when a sudden trampling of feet caused him to fear that something too dreadful to think of had even then occurred. ”

“ The Troll was conquered; and, marching before Thumbling like a dog before a little child, he led him to his monstrous cabin.
“Now listen,” said Thumbling to the giant, after they were fairly seated, “one of us has got to be the master, and the other the servant. Let us make this bargain: if I can't do whatever you do, I am to be your slave; if you are not able to do whatever I do, you are to be mine.” ”

“ 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 midden. Thumbling had great difficulty in working his way; 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. ”

“ On some calme streame bestowes his brightest ray.
But death inform'd us that the goale was wonne
Before the race did seeme to us begunne.
It were a sin to wish her here againe;
But pardon if I say that all the paine
For such a losse, belongs not so to you
But we may challenge equall portions too.
We rivall not, but thus our title prove,
Though yours by nature, she was ours by love. ”

“ He was therefore about to get in at once, but one of the two sentries who stood before the door, observed him, and said to the other, "What an ugly spider is creeping there; I will kill it." "Let the poor creature alone," said the other; "it has done thee no harm." Then Thumbling got safely through the crevice into the treasure-chamber, opened the window beneath which the robbers were standing, and threw out to them one thaler after another. When the little tailor was in the full swing of his work, he heard the King coming to inspect his treasure-chamber, and crept hastily into a hiding-place. ”