LITTLE MR. THIMBLEFINGER AND HIS QUEER COUNTRY What the Children Saw and Heard There By Joel Chandler Harris Illustrated By Oliver Herford CONTENTS PAGE I. The Grandmother of the Dolls 5 II. Mr. Thimblefinger’s Queer Country 17 III. Mr. Thimblefinger’s Friends 33 IV. Two Queer Stories 47 V. The Talking-Saddle 61 VI. The Talking-Saddle and the Thief 73 VII. The Ladder of Lions 86 VIII. Brother Terrapin’s Fiddle-String 101 IX. The Looking-Glass Children 110 X. Mr. Rabbit as a Rain-Maker 121 XI. How Brother Bear’s Hair was combed 131 XII. A Singing-Match 139 XIII. The Strawberry-Girl 147 XIV. The Witch of the Well 155 XV. The Bewitched Huntsman 165 XVI. The Three Ivory Bobbins 175 XVII. “Keen-Point,” “Cob-Handle,” and “Butch” 185 XVIII. Mrs. Meadows resumes her Story 195 XIX. A Story of the River 215 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Mr. Rabbit fell kerthump (Page 41) Frontispiece Rag-Tag rolling out of the Corner 10 The Grandmother of the Dolls and the big Black Cat 14 Sweetest Susan waking up 18 Following Little Mr. Thimblefinger 24 Mr. Rabbit and Mrs. Meadows 36 Mr. Billy-Goat and Mr. Wolf 52 My Mother washing the Old Man’s Coat and Waistcoat 56 Drusilla waiting on Mr. Rabbit 62 Tip-Top and the Mayor 68 The Mayor pardoning the Thief 82 Chickamy Crany Crow and Tickle-My-Toes 84 Mr. Rabbit bandaging Brother Lion’s Paw 92 The Ladder of Lions 98 Mr. Rabbit fiddling for Brother Terrapin 104 Brother Terrapin tumbling into the Creek 108 Sweetest Susan, meeting her Reflection 110 They all plunged into the Looking-Glass 118 Mr. Rabbit saying nothing 124 Brother Bear arguing the Rain Question 128 Mrs. Bear hanging out Clothes 134 Little Mr. Thimblefinger 140 The Singing-Match 144 Granny Grim-Eye finds a Beautiful Little Girl asleep 148[Pg viii] The Little Old Man discovers the Strawberry-Girl 150 The Golden-Haired, Beautiful Little Girl 164 The Little Old Man, Three Wits, and the Stag 174 The Stag and the Witch 180 The Little Girl and the Old Man 192 Valentine slaying the Spider 210 Valentine talking to the River 220 Buster John shaking Hands with Mr. Rabbit 228 A LITTLE UNION SCOUT By Joel Chandler Harris Illustrated by George Gibbs LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS I drank in the melody with a new sense of its wild and melancholy beauty Frontispiece Facing page "He's tryin' to git away!" yelled Forrest in a voice that could be heard all over the field 10 "I want you to catch this fellow and fetch him to me" 38 Whistling Jim ran into him head down like a bull 64 I was wild with remorse and grief 96 "If hate could kill you, you would fall dead from this horse" 110 The leader ... had an evil-looking eye 138 He had me covered 156 STORIES OF GEORGIA By Joel Chandler Harris