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When the time came the mother harnessed the horse to the cart,

and put Tom into his ear; and as he sat there the little man told

the beast how to go, crying out, 'Go on!' and 'Stop!' as he

wanted: and thus the horse went on just as well as if the woodman

had driven it himself into the wood. It happened that as the

horse was going a little too fast, and Tom was calling out,

'Gently! gently!' two strangers came up. 'What an odd thing that

is!' said one: 'there is a cart going along, and I hear a carter

talking to the horse, but yet I can see no one.' 'That is queer,

indeed,' said the other; 'let us follow the cart, and see where

it goes.' So they went on into the wood, till at last they came

to the place where the woodman was. Then Tom Thumb, seeing his

father, cried out, 'See, father, here I am with the cart, all

right and safe!