. Little Tom . ed with mud and on the meadow werelittle pools of glistening water. Out of the yard bounded Rover barking heartily and,from her stall, Speckle mooed a welcome. The hens came hurrying out of their coop,flapping their wings and cackling, and straightway began to scratch in the ground insearch of little worms. Inside the hut, the hall was wet through and in the best roomstood little pools of water. The herb woman took her broom and swept out some of the water and with acloth mopped up the little pools. Near the hearth the water was quite deep andswirling around and running away thr
. Little Tom . ed with mud and on the meadow werelittle pools of glistening water. Out of the yard bounded Rover barking heartily and,from her stall, Speckle mooed a welcome. The hens came hurrying out of their coop,flapping their wings and cackling, and straightway began to scratch in the ground insearch of little worms. Inside the hut, the hall was wet through and in the best roomstood little pools of water. The herb woman took her broom and swept out some of the water and with acloth mopped up the little pools. Near the hearth the water was quite deep andswirling around and running away through the hole behind. On the water swam a tinybarge formed from a hazel nut, and in this boat was a very small lad indeed, row-ing with his oars of straw and working with all his might, so that the whirlpoolshould not carry him back into the hole. The widow lifted up the shell very carefully and placed it on the palm of herhand. The tiny lad, letting go his oars, clasped his hands and said, »Dear Godmother, 20. I thank you very much for savng me. I am Little Tom, but am so very tired thatI can hardly sit up.« But his weariness came only from his efforts to keep himselffrom being swept back into the hole. His Godmother placed the little fellow gingerly on the table and next tohim she put a drop of milk and beside it a crumb of bread. Little Tom gulped themilk eagerly and ate nearly the whole crumb. When she placed near him a tiny bitof cloth for a pillow, Tom lay down and fell asleep. She watched the little fellow tenderly as he lay there so quietly and all wornout with his hard work. He was now a fullgrown lad, finely built and with blackhair. His little hands he had clasped across his breast. She felt very badly to thinkof his sufferings through the night in that terrible flood and she wondered what mighthave happened to the underground realm of the gnomes. While he was sleeping, she started to work. She scrubbed the floor very clean,then sifted dry sand all over it; cleaned
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidlittletom00t, bookyear1922
