They did not know much, but they were very wise, and seemed capable of learning anything.

I had no bed save the bare ground, but almost as often as I woke, it was in a nest of children--one or other of them in my arms, though which I seldom could tell until the light came, for they ordered the succession among themselves.

When one crept into my bosom, unconsciously I clasped him there, and the rest lay close around me, the smaller nearer.

It is hardly necessary to say that I did not suffer much from the nightly cold! The first thing they did in the morning, and the last before sunset, was to bring the good giant plenty to eat.
One morning I was surprised on waking to find myself alone.

As I came to my senses, however, I heard subdued sounds of approach, and presently the girl already mentioned, the tallest and gravest of the community, and regarded by all as their mother, appeared from the wood, followed by the multitude in jubilation manifest--but silent lest they should rouse the sleeping giant at whose door I lay.