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 at every step they took , and they fell into the mire , whence they got up in a very dirty pickle ; their hands were quite benumbed . Little Thumb climbed up to the top of a tree , to see if he could discover anything ; and having turned his head about on every side , he saw at last a glimmering light , like that of a candle , but a long way from the forest . He came down , and , when upon the ground , he could see it no more , which grieved him sadly . However , having walked for some time with his brothers toward that side on which he had seen the light , he perceived it again as he came out of the wood . They came at last to the house where this candle was , not without an abundance of fear : for very often they lost sight of it , which happened every time they came into a bottom . They knocked at the door , and a good woman came and opened it ; she asked them what they would have . Little Thumb told her they were poor children who had been lost in the forest , and desired to lodge there for God 's sake .
The woman , seeing them so very pretty , began to weep , and said XXXXX them : `` Alas !
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