But she was not really sick, though the wagon went over her; she lay there at full length, and there she may lie.
THUMBELINA
BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
T
HE had a little house of her own, a little garden too, this woman of whom I am going to tell you, but for all that she was not quite happy.
"If only I had a little child of my own," she said, "how the walls would ring with her laughter, and how the flowers would brighten at her coming. Then, indeed, I should be quite happy."
And an old witch heard what the woman wished, and said, "Oh, but that is easily managed. Here is a barley-corn. Plant it in a flower-pot and tend it carefully, and then you will see what will happen."
The woman was in a great hurry to go home and plant the barley-corn, but she did not forget to say "thank you" to the old witch. She not only thanked her, she even stayed to give her six silver pennies.