The kind Godmother was very, very sorry for poor Little Tom and began to realize the danger of leaving him alone, outside the hut, so she promised him that she herself would take him to the field. Tom no longer wanted to travel alone amid such terrible dangers and was pleased that he could accompany his Godmother; but they did not know in just what way they could accomplish this. She thought of taking him in her pocket, but Tom was afraid of such a dark place, among crumbs of bread and huge keys. On her breast, the Godmother, had a brooch which pinned together the ends of the kerchief she wore around her throat; so Tom sat down on the pleat of the cloth behind the brooch, grasping the bar to keep his hands steady. As she walked along, he thrust out his little head to look at the field, the meadow and the forest on top of the hill, where he hoped to run around with his Godmother, and wondered what new things he should see. When they reached the meadow under the slope of the hill, the Godmother stood Little Tom upon a stone among the heather and said, »I am going to gather the hay and I must hurry, as the weather looks as if it were going to change. While I am gone, you can walk around on this stone and look at the flowers, but do not crawl down, or you will surely get lost and I would look in vain for you.« Obediently, Tom walked around on the top of his rock. He crawled over the pebbles, peered into the various holes and examined the small, red carnations, the tall, blue monks-hoods and the pink thistles growing there. As he walked along, he heard a great buzzing in the air as if some one were angry and, on coming closer, he perceived a hairy bumble-bee staggering among the blossoms. Tom became confused as he had never seen such a creature before. He thought it might be a wild beast that would attack him. But the bumble-bee was quite harmless and, moreover, he had been sucking the sweet honey from the flowers so steadily since the early morning, that his head had become quite dizzy. As soon as he saw Little Tom, he sidled towards him and welcomed him as if he had known him all his life. »Brother,« he said, »what are you doing here and how are you? I am pleased that I have now found a comrade. Come, let us drink together.« It seemed strange to Tom, that this stout, old gentleman should appear to know him so well and should address him so familiarly. The old fellow went on to urge him, to fly with him up on the monks-hood, saying that there they would find a delicious drink. Tom tried to excuse himself, saying that he had given his promise not to leave the rock; but the bumble-bee said, »Oh just come along with me. I will bring you back. Let us be merry now.«