Grimm's Fairy Tales

into an old mouse-hole. 'Good night, my masters!' said he, 'I'm off!
mind and look sharp after me the next time.' Then they ran at once to
the place, and poked the ends of their sticks into the mouse-hole, but
all in vain; Tom only crawled farther and farther in; and at last it
became quite dark, so that they were forced to go their way without
their prize, as sulky as could be.

When Tom found they were gone, he came out of his hiding-place. 'What
dangerous walking it is,' said he, 'in this ploughed field! If I were
to fall from one of these great clods, I should undoubtedly break my
neck.' At last, by good luck, he found a large empty snail-shell.
'This is lucky,' said he, 'I can sleep here very well'; and in he
crept.

Just as he was falling asleep, he heard two men passing by, chatting
together; and one said to the other, 'How can we rob that rich
parson's house of his silver and gold?' 'I'll tell you!' cried Tom.
'What noise was that?' said the thief, frightened; 'I'm sure I heard
someone speak.' They stood still listening, and Tom said, 'Take me
with you, and I'll soon show you how to get the parson's money.' 'But
where are you?' said they. 'Look about on the ground,' answered he,
'and listen where the sound comes from.' At last the thieves found him
out, and lifted him up in their hands. 'You little urchin!' they said,
'what can you do for us?' 'Why, I can get between the iron window-bars
of the parson's house, and throw you out whatever you want.' 'That's a
good thought,' said the thieves; 'come along, we shall see what you
can do.'

When they came to the parson's house, Tom slipped through the window-
bars into the room, and then called out as loud as he could bawl,
'Will you have all that is here?' At this the thieves were frightened,
and said, 'Softly, softly! Speak low, that you may not awaken
anybody.' But Tom seemed as if he did not understand them, and bawled
out again, 'How much will you have? Shall I throw it all out?' Now the
cook lay in the next room; and hearing a noise she raised herself up
in her bed and listened. Meantime the thieves were frightened, and ran
off a little way; but at last they plucked up their hearts, and said,
'The little urchin is only trying to make fools of us.' So they came
back and whispered softly to him, saying, 'Now let us have no more of
your roguish jokes; but throw us out some of the money.' Then Tom
called out as loud as he could, 'Very well! hold your hands! here it
comes.'

The cook heard this quite plain, so she sprang out of bed, and ran to
open the door. The thieves ran off as if a wolf was at their tails:
and the maid, having groped about and found nothing, went away for a
light. By the time she came back, Tom had slipped off into the barn;
and when she had looked about and searched every hole and corner, and
found nobody, she went to bed, thinking she must have been dreaming
with her eyes open.

The little man crawled about in the hay-loft, and at last found a snug
place to finish his night's rest in; so he laid himself down, meaning
to sleep till daylight, and then find his way home to his father and
mother. But alas! how woefully he was undone! what crosses and sorrows
happen to us all in this world! The cook got up early, before
daybreak, to feed the cows; and going straight to the hay-loft,
carried away a large bundle of hay, with the little man in the middle
of it, fast asleep. He still, however, slept on, and did not awake
till he found himself in the mouth of the cow; for the cook had put
the hay into the cow's rick, and the cow had taken Tom up in a
mouthful of it. 'Good lack-a-day!' said he, 'how came I to tumble into
the mill?' But he soon found out where he really was; and was forced
to have all his wits about him, that he might not get between the
cow's teeth, and so be crushed to death. At last down he went into her
stomach. 'It is rather dark,' said he; 'they forgot to build windows
in this room to let the sun in; a candle would be no bad thing.'

Though he made the best of his bad luck, he did not like his quarters
at all; and the worst of it was, that more and more hay was always
coming down, and the space left for him became smaller and smaller. At
last he cried out as loud as he could, 'Don't bring me any more hay!
Don't bring me any more hay!'

The maid happened to be just then milking the cow; and hearing someone
speak, but seeing nobody, and yet being quite sure it was the same
voice that she had heard in the night, she was so frightened that she
fell off her stool, and overset the milk-pail. As soon as she could
pick herself up out of the dirt, she ran off as fast as she could to
her master the parson, and said, 'Sir, sir, the cow is talking!' But
the parson said, 'Woman, thou art surely mad!' However, he went with
her into the cow-house, to try and see what was the matter.

Scarcely had they set foot on the threshold, when Tom called out,
'Don't bring me any more hay!' Then the parson himself was frightened;
and thinking the cow was surely bewitched, told his man to kill her on
the spot. So the cow was killed, and cut up; and the stomach, in which
Tom lay, was thrown out upon a dunghill.

Tom soon set himself to work to get out, which was not a very easy
task; but at last, just as he had made room to get his head out, fresh
ill-luck befell him. A hungry wolf sprang out, and swallowed up the
whole stomach, with Tom in it, at one gulp, and ran away.

Tom, however, was still not disheartened; and thinking the wolf would
not dislike having some chat with him as he was going along, he called
out, 'My good friend, I can show you a famous treat.' 'Where's that?'
said the wolf. 'In such and such a house,' said Tom, describing his
own father's house. 'You can crawl through the drain into the kitchen
and then into the pantry, and there you will find cakes, ham, beef,