Family (63)

Bella took sometime to be able to talk to her family due to having that tube in her throat.

But loved listening to all their voices. Soon soneone suggested a story so Zane picked up the book and started to read.

◇◇◇♡♡♡◇◇◇ THUMBLING cont.

Thumbling sat down quite merrily on a straw, but when the two strange men saw him, they did not know what to say for astonishment.

Then one of them took the other aside and said, "Hark, the little fellow would make our fortune if we exhibited him in a large town, for money. We will buy him."

They went to the peasant and said, "Sell us the little man. He shall be well treated with us."

"No," replied the father, "he is the apple of my eye, and all the money in the world cannot buy him from me."

Thumbling, however, when he heard of the bargain, had crept up the folds of his father's coat, placed himself on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. "Father, do give me away; I will soon come back again."

Then the father parted with him to the two men for a handsome bit of money.

"Where do you want to sit?" they said to him.

"Oh, just set me on the rim of your hat, and then I can walk backwards and forwards and look at the country, and still not fall down."

They did as he wished, and when Thumbling had taken leave of his father, they went away with him.

They walked until it was dusk, and then the little fellow said, "Do take me down;I want to come down."

The man took his hat off, and put the little fellow on the ground by the wayside, and he leapt and crept about a little between the sods, and then he suddenly slipped into a mouse-hole which he had sought out.

"Good-evening, gentlemen, just go home without me," he cried to them, and mocked them.

They ran thither and stuck their sticks into the mouse-hole, but it was all lost labor. Thumbling crept still farther in, and as it soon became quite dark, they were forced to go home with their vexation and their empty purses.

When Thumbling saw that they were gone, he crept back out of the subterranean passage. "It is so dangerous to walk on the ground in the dark," said he; "how easily a neck or a leg is broken!"

Fortunately, he knocked against an empty snail-shell. "Thank God!" said he. "In that I can pass the night in safety," and got into it.

Not long afterwards, when he was just going to sleep, he heard two men go by, and one of them was saying, "How shall we contrive to get hold of the rich pastor's silver and gold?"

"I could tell you that," cried Thumbling, interrupting them.

"What was that?" said one of the thieves in a fright; "I heard some one speaking."

They stood still listening, and Thumbling spoke again and said, "Take me with you, and I'll help you."

"But where are you?"

"Just look on the ground, and observe from where my voice comes," he replied. There the thieves at length found him, and lifted him up.

"You little imp, how will you help us?" they said.

"A great deal," said he; "I will creep into the pastor's room through the iron bars, and will reach out to you whatever you want to have."

"Come, then," they said, "and we will see what you can do."

When they got to the pastor's house, Thumbling crept into the room, but instantly cried out with all his might, "Do you want to have everything that is here?"

The thieves were alarmed, and said, "But do speak softly, so as not to waken any one!"

Thumbling, however, behaved as if he had not understood this, and cried again, "What do you want? Do you want to have everything that is here?"

The cook, who slept in the next room, heard this and sat up in bed, and listened.

◇◇◇♡♡♡◇◇◇

One by one Bella's family member said good night. For the first time in a long time her head was clear. It felt as if a dirty window had been cleaned and she remembered everything she had once forgotten.

Zane excused himself to go shower and change cloths so she lay there thinking about everything that had happened in the past few months.

She met a man that was a scary Beast and he turned out to be a big teddy bear. She had gotten her sister and brother back. She did not feel alone in the world now.

She would have to spend at least a week in the hospital to recover from the surgery. However she was once again filled with hope for life.

Mary Ann brought two light meals for the couple to eat and when Zane came back he insisted on feeding his beauty.

It was great to see her smile and not look confused. After dinner he sat at his computer to work as she read her book to herself.

◇◇◇♡♡♡◇◇◇ THUMBLING cont.

The thieves, however, had in their fright run some distance away, but at last they took courage, and thought, "The little rascal wants to mock us."

They came back and whispered to him, "Come, be serious, and reach something out to us."

Then Thumbling again cried as loudly as he could, "I really will give you everything, only put your hands in."

The maid who was listening, heard this quite distinctly, and jumped out of bed and rushed to the door.

The thieves took flight, and ran as if the Wild Huntsman were behind them, but as the maid could not see anything, she went to strike a light.

When she came to the place with it, Thumbling, unperceived, hid himself in the granary, and the maid, after she had examined every corner and found nothing, lay down in her bed again, and believed that, after all, she had only been dreaming with open eyes and ears.