dear God , the wolves have perhaps already eaten them up ; thou art very inhuman thus to have lost thy children . '' The fagot-maker grew at last quite out of patience , for she repeated it above twenty times , that they should repent of it , and that she was in the right of it for so saying . He threatened to beat her if she did not hold her tongue . It was not that the fagot-maker was not , perhaps , more vexed than his wife , but that she teased him , and that he was of the humor of a great many others , who love wives to speak well , but think those very importunate who are continually doing so . She was half-drowned in tears , crying out : `` Alas ! where are now my children , my poor children ? '' She spoke this so very loud that the children , who were at the gate , began to cry out all together : `` Here we are ! Here we are ! '' She ran immediately to open the door , and said , hugging them : `` I am glad to see you , my dear children ; you are very hungry and weary ; and my poor Peter , thou art horribly bemired ; come in and let me clean thee . '' Now , you must know that Peter was her eldest son , whom she loved above all the rest , because he was somewhat carroty , as she herself was . They sat down to supper , and ate with such a good appetite as pleased both father and mother , whom they acquainted how frightened they were in the forest , speaking almost always all together . The good folks were extremely glad to see their children once more at home , and this joy continued while the ten crowns lasted ; but , when the money was all gone , they fell again into their former uneasiness , and resolved to lose them again ; and , that they might be the surer of doing it , to carry them to a much greater distance than before . They could not talk of this so secretly but they were overheard by Little Thumb , who made account to get out of this difficulty as well as the former ; but , though he got up very early in the morning to go and pick up some little pebbles , he was disappointed , for he found the house-door double-locked , and was at a stand what to do . When their father had given each of them a piece of bread for their breakfast , Little Thumb fancied he might make use of this instead of the pebbles by throwing it in little bits all along the way they should pass ; and so he put the bread in his pocket . Their father and mother brought them into the thickest and most obscure part of the forest , when , stealing away into a by-path , they there left them . Little Thumb was not very uneasy at it , for he thought he could easily find the way again by means of his bread , which he had scattered all along as he came ; but he was very much surprised when he could not find so much as one crumb ; the birds had come and had eaten it up , every bit . They were now in great affliction , for the farther they went the more they were out of their way , and were more and more bewildered in the forest . Night now came on , and there arose a terribly high wind , which made them dreadfully afraid . They fancied they heard on every side of them the howling of wolves coming to eat them up . They scarce dared to speak or turn their heads .
After this , it rained very hard , which wetted them to the skin ; their feet slipped XXXXX every step they took , and they fell into the mire , whence they got up in a very dirty pickle ; their hands were quite benumbed .
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