Hop o My Thumb的故事

enone

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　　    21. Hid them under the bed: According to Stith Thompson, there are "a large number of instances where the hero is helped by the ogre's wife or child (Thompson, p. 343).
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　　    22. I smell fresh meat: Like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, this monster is made more terrifying by the supernaturally heightened abilities of his otherwise human senses.
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　　    23. They would be delicate eating: The fear of being devoured is surely one of a child's most exaggerated fears. By besting the ogre (or the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, or the witch in Hansel and Gretel) the young hero learns that his worst fears will not, in fact, come true.
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　　    24. They could not eat a bit: While the boys' lack of appetite is understandable, there is also an ancient and common prohibition in folklore, myth and legend against partaking of food while in the supernatural world.
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　　    25. Suck their blood: This detailed description of the ogre young is in sharp contrast to the rest of the tale, in which the appearance of the characters is minimally noted, if at all. Perhaps the daughters' general unsavoryness, along with their nascent vampirism, is offered as a way to lessen the horror of Little Thumb's assigning them to slaughter.
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　　    26. Taking his brothers' bonnets and his own: In the Thompson Motif-Index of Folk Literature, this is K1611, substituted caps cause ogre to kill his own children, of the type, "Deceiver Fall Into Own Trap."
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　　    27. Not dreaming after what manner she should dress them: The French verb habiller can mean, as in English, to put on clothing or to clean and truss, making this a rare instance in which a pun or double entendre translates successfully across two languages (Larousse, p. 490).
            
            

enthree

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　　    28. Boots of seven leagues: The magical objects that appear in fairy tales often have a specific, and limited, function: here, they allow the wearer to cross vast distances quickly, which is an advantage to the ogre in catching up with the boys, but they are of no assistance to him beyond that and do not, for instance, aid him in locating the children once he has caught up to them.
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　　    29. Greatly fatigued the wearer: However, no such difficulties seem to trouble Little Thumb once he has gained possession of the boots.
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　　    30. Not so frightened as his brothers: At this point in the tale, Little Thumb's transformation from simple-seeming to clever and competent is complete. Whereas at the beginning of the story he had to think through the night to devise a plan to save himself and his brothers, here he is able to think on his feet and concocts the scheme which will free them from the ogre's threats and garner him his fortune, as well.
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　　    31. Fairies: That is, magical.
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　　    32. You see I have them on: There is a parallel here between Little Thumb's earlier deception using the daughters' crowns and this one, using another article of clothing.
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　　    33. There are many people who do not agree in this circumstance: This tale seems to contain its own alternate endings. Perhaps this is for the benefit of the listener: if we think Little Thumb gained his wealth through deception we might merely think him clever; if he can be shown to have used the purloined boots for the benefit of the whole community, we will think him both clever and deserving, when he returns with great wealth.
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　　    34. Messenger: Note that the once puny and speechless child has grown into a military worker who makes his fortune in the business of language-messages-and how successfully his personality has matured and developed.
            
            

enfive

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　　    35. Made his court to perfection: Bruno Bettelheim states that "No child believes that one day he will become ruler over a kingdom other than the realm of his own life." We leave Little Thumb as he has gained this mastery-and happiness-within that realm, showing how successfully he has integrated the trials and the lessons offered by his story.
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