“Stay behind,” said the man, when they entered the room. “When I have given him a blow, if he is not killed by it, thou must cut him down and hew his body to pieces.”

Then Thumbling heard his parents, voices and cried, “Dear father, I am here; I am in the wolf’s body.”

Said the father, full of joy, “Thank God, our dear child has found us again,” and bade the woman take away her scythe, that Thumbling might not be hurt with it. After that he raised his arm, and struck the wolf such a blow on his head that he fell down dead, and then they got knives and scissors and cut his body open and drew the little fellow forth. “Ah,” said the father, “what sorrow we have gone through for thy sake.”

“Yes father, I have gone about the world a great deal. Thank heaven, I breathe fresh air again!”

“Where hast thou been, then?”