She said this once so very loud that the children, who were at the door,
heard her and cried out all together:--

"Here we are! Here we are!"

She ran immediately to let them in, and said as she embraced them:--

"How happy I am to see you again, my dear children; you are very tired
and very hungry, and, my poor Peter, you are covered with mud. Come in
and let me clean you."

Peter was her eldest son, whom she loved more than all the rest, because
he was red haired, as she was herself.

They sat down to table, and ate with an appetite which pleased both
father and mother, to whom they told how frightened they were in the
forest, nearly all speaking at once. The good folk were delighted to see
their children once more, and this joy continued while the ten crowns
lasted. But when the money was all spent, they fell again into their
former uneasiness, and resolved to lose their children again. And, that
they might be the surer of doing it, they determined to take them much
farther than before.

They could not talk of this so secretly but they were overheard by
Little Thumb, who laid his plans to get out of the difficulty as he had
done before; but, though he got up very early to go and pick up some
little pebbles, he could not, for he found the house-door double-locked.
He did not know what to do. Their father had given each of them a piece
of bread for their breakfast. He reflected that he might make use of the