“Well,” said the father, “we will try for once.”
When the time came, the mother harnessed the horse to the cart, and put Tom into his ear. There the little man sat and told the beast how to go, crying out, “Go on,” and “Stop,” as he wanted. So the horse went on just as if the woodman were driving it himself.
It happened that the horse fell to trotting too fast, and Tom called out, “Gently, gently.” Just then two strangers came up.
“How odd it is,” one of them said. “There is a cart going along, and I hear a carter talking to the horse, but I see no one.”
“That is strange,” said the other. “Let us follow the cart and see where it goes.” They went on into the wood, and came at last to the place where the woodman was. The cart drove up and Tom said:—
“See, father, here I am with the cart, safe and sound. Now, take me down.”
So his father took hold of the horse with one hand, and lifted his son down with the other. He put him on a little stick, where he was as merry as you please. The two strangers looked on and saw it all, and did not know what to say for wonder. At last one took the other aside and said:—
“That little chap will make our fortune if we can get him, and carry him about from town to town as a show. We must buy him.” Then they went to the woodman and asked him what he would take for the little man. “He will be better off with us than with you,” they said.
“I’ll not sell him at all,” said the father. “My own flesh and blood is dearer to me than all the silver and gold in the world.”
But Tom heard what was said, and crept up his father’s coat to his shoulder, and spoke in his ear:—