In vain did her husband represent to her their extreme poverty : she would not consent to it ; she was indeed poor , but she was their mother . However , having considered what a grief it would be to her to see them perish with hunger , she at last consented , and went to bed all in tears . Little Thumb heard every word that had been spoken ; for observing , as he lay in his bed , that they were talking very busily , he got up softly , and hid himself under his father 's stool , that he might hear what they said without being seen . He went to bed again , but did not sleep a wink all the rest of the night , thinking on what he had to do . He got up early in the morning , and went to the river-side , where he filled his pockets full of small white pebbles , and then returned home . They all went abroad , but Little Thumb never told his brothers one syllable of what he knew . They went into a very thick forest , where they could not see one another at ten paces distance . The fagot-maker began to cut wood , and the children to gather up the sticks to make fagots . Their father and mother , seeing them busy at their work , got away from them insensibly , and ran away from them all at once , along a by-way through the winding bushes . When the children saw they were left alone , they began to cry as loud as they could . Little Thumb let them cry on , knowing very well how to get home again , for , as he came , he took care to drop all along the way the little white pebbles he had in his pockets . Then he said to them : `` Be not afraid , brothers ; father and mother have left us here , but I will lead you home again , only follow me . '' They did so , and he brought them home by the very same way they came into the forest . They dared not go in , but sat themselves down at the door , listening to what their father and mother were saying . The very moment the fagot-maker and his wife reached home the lord of the manor sent them ten crowns , which he had owed them a long while , and which they never expected . This gave them new life , for the poor people were almost famished . The fagot-maker sent his wife immediately to the butcher 's . As it was a long while since they had eaten a bit , she bought thrice as much meat as would sup two people . When they had eaten , the woman said : `` Alas ! where are now our poor children ?
they would make a good feast XXXXX what we have left here ; but it was you , William , who had a mind to lose them : I told you we should repent of it .
In along as by from into of to under without