they all cried , pulling their thumbs out of their mouths ; `` and he never had any mother , '' and they all put their thumbs back again , for they did not wish to lose any time . `` Then I will be his mother , and he shall have the very best place ; so get out , all of you , this moment . '' And she took up two great armfuls of babies -- nine hundred under one arm , and thirteen hundred under the other -- and threw them away , right and left , into the water . But they minded it no more than the naughty boys in Struwelpeter minded when St. Nicholas dipped them in his inkstand ; and did not even take their thumbs out of their mouths , but came paddling and wriggling back to her like so many tadpoles , till you could see nothing of her from head to foot for the swarm of little babies . But she took Tom in her arms , and laid him in the softest place of all , and kissed him , and patted him , and talked to him , tenderly and low , such things as he had never heard before in his life ; and Tom looked up into her eyes , and loved her , and loved , till he fell fast asleep from pure love . And when he woke she was telling the children a story . And what story did she tell them ? One story she told them , which begins every Christmas Eve , and yet never ends at all for ever and ever ; and , as she went on , the children took their thumbs out of their mouths and listened quite seriously ; but not sadly at all ; for she never told them anything sad ; and Tom listened too , and never grew tired of listening . And he listened so long that he fell fast asleep again , and , when he woke , the lady was nursing him still . `` Do n't go away , '' said little Tom . `` This is so nice . I never had any one to cuddle me before . '' `` Do n't go away , '' said all the children ; `` you have not sung us one song . '' `` Well , I have time for only one . So what shall it be ? '' `` The doll you lost ! The doll you lost ! '' cried all the babies at once . So the strange fairy sang : - I once had a sweet little doll , dears , The prettiest doll in the world ; Her cheeks were so red and so white , dears , And her hair was so charmingly curled . But I lost my poor little doll , dears , As I played in the heath one day ; And I cried for her more than a week , dears , But I never could find where she lay .
I found my poor little doll , dears , As I played in the heath one day : Folks say she is terribly changed , dears , For her paint is all washed away , And her arm trodden off by the cows , dears , And her hair not the least bit curled : Yet , XXXXX old sakes ' sake she is still , dears , The prettiest doll in the world .
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