And there they were all living up in trees , and making nests to keep off the rain . And underneath the trees lions were prowling about . `` Why , '' said Ellie , `` the lions seem to have eaten a good many of them , for there are very few left now . '' `` Yes , '' said the fairy ; `` you see it was only the strongest and most active ones who could climb the trees , and so escape . '' `` But what great , hulking , broad-shouldered chaps they are , '' said Tom ; `` they are a rough lot as ever I saw . '' `` Yes , they are getting very strong now ; for the ladies will not marry any but the very strongest and fiercest gentlemen , who can help them up the trees out of the lions ' way . '' And she turned over the next five hundred years . And in that they were fewer still , and stronger , and fiercer ; but their feet had changed shape very oddly , for they laid hold of the branches with their great toes , as if they had been thumbs , just as a Hindoo tailor uses his toes to thread his needle . The children were very much surprised , and asked the fairy whether that was her doing . `` Yes , and no , '' she said , smiling . `` It was only those who could use their feet as well as their hands who could get a good living : or , indeed , get married ; so that they got the best of everything , and starved out all the rest ; and those who are left keep up a regular breed of toe-thumb-men , as a breed of short-horns , or are skye - terriers , or fancy pigeons is kept up . '' `` But there is a hairy one among them , '' said Ellie . `` Ah ! '' said the fairy , `` that will be a great man in his time , and chief of all the tribe . '' And , when she turned over the next five hundred years , it was true . For this hairy chief had had hairy children , and they hairier children still ; and every one wished to marry hairy husbands , and have hairy children too ; for the climate was growing so damp that none but the hairy ones could live : all the rest coughed and sneezed , and had sore throats , and went into consumptions , before they could grow up to be men and women . Then the fairy turned over the next five hundred years . And they were fewer still . `` Why , there is one on the ground picking up roots , '' said Ellie , `` and he can not walk upright . '' No more he could ; for in the same way that the shape of their feet had altered , the shape of their backs had altered also .
`` Why , '' cried XXXXX , `` I declare they are all apes . ''
Ellie Tom consumptions escape left short-horns thumbs toe-thumb-men tribe years