Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from scans of public domain material produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) LITTLE MR. THIMBLEFINGER AND HIS QUEER COUNTRY What the Children Saw and Heard there BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS AUTHOR OF "UNCLE REMUS," ETC. _ILLUSTRATED BY OLIVER HERFORD_ [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1895 Copyright, 1894, BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS AND HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company Books by Joel Chandler Harris. NIGHTS WITH UNCLE REMUS. Illustrated. 12mo, $1.50; paper, 50 cents. MINGO, AND OTHER SKETCHES IN BLACK AND WHITE. 16mo, $1.25; paper, 50 cents. BALAAM AND HIS MASTER, AND OTHER SKETCHES. 16mo, $1.25. UNCLE REMUS AND HIS FRIENDS. Illustrated. 12mo, $1.50. LITTLE MR. THIMBLEFINGER AND HIS QUEER COUNTRY. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, $2.00 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. BOSTON AND NEW YORK. [Illustration: MR. RABBIT FELL KERTHUMP. Page 41.] A LITTLE NOTE TO A LITTLE BOOK. The stories that follow belong to three categories. Some of them were gathered from the negroes, but were not embodied in the tales of Uncle Remus, because I was not sure they were negro stories; some are Middle Georgia folklore stories, and no doubt belong to England; and some are merely inventions. They were all written in the midst of daily work on a morning newspaper,--a fact that will account in some measure for their crude setting. J. C. H. WEST END, ATLANTA, GA. 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