Hop o My Thumb

Hop o' My Thumb is one of the many Blackie's Coloured Pictured Story Readers illustrated by then-already renowned illustrator John Hassall. It starts with a father giving books to his daughter and son. Each had to choose his favorite story. The girl preferred Hop o' My Thumb and the boy Beauty and the Beast.

Father said he would like to hear both but they only have the time of one. They agreed this would be Hop o' My Thumb read by the daughter. Her brother said he is looking forward to listening to this particular story too because it's new to him. So they start.

Short Summary

Hop o' My Thumb is the name of a very little boy. He has six brothers, all older and much bigger than him. But he was the smartest. Their parents were very poor. One day father decided that all the boys should be left in the woods. Hop o' My Thumb overheard his plan and loaded his pockets with white stones.

The next day a whole family went into the woods and Hop o' My Thumb dropped some pebbles from time to time, marking their path. After a few hours, kids were left to play while parents sneaked home. When boys realized what happened Hop o' My Thumb told them to find the white stones and they managed to find their way home.

Sometime later father of the boys decided to take the kids again in the forest. Hop o' My Thumb heard that again but there was no time to go behind the house and get more white stones. So he took some peas planning to mark the way back as he did with stones.

Unfortunately, kids couldn't find the peas. Apparently, birds ate them. So they wandered through the woods until they found a house. A woman opened just to warn them not to enter because a man-eating ogre leaves there. But boys were too hungry and it was already dark, so they convinced her to hide them.

When an ogre came home, he soon found all the boys and told his wife they will stay a while to gain some weight. They were put to sleep in one bed while ogre's daughter which were seven too slept in the other bed in the same room. Hop o' My Thumb noticed that ogre put little golden crowns on the heads of his daughters. When everybody felt asleep he took the crowns and put them on the head of all the boys.

Later, in the dark, an ogre came into the room and by touching tried to separate his children from Hop o' My Thumb and his brothers. Of course, he found the crowns, so he spared the boys. Then he cut the heads of his own daughters. Hop o' My Thumb awakened his brothers and they ran away before an ogre realized his mistake.

Yet in the morning they soon heard his steps. He was wearing seven-league boots which helped him to run very fast. Boys hid and he missed them. Not far from them he took a nap. Hop o' My Thumb took advantage of the situation and took ogre's boots. Then he sent his brother home while he tested the boots. Soon he bumped into an old lady crying in the forest path.

She told him enemy army is approaching and she is not fast enough to warn her king. Hop o' My Thumb did that instead of her and earned a generous award. Then he gave some money to the old lady and returned home. There he found his parents were arrested because they were found guilty of killing the boys. They should be hanged but were pardoned when the boys showed at the prison.

Boys forgave their parents and they were very happy to see them again. Thanks to Hop o' My Thumb's reward their days of poverty were over.

A few words on Hassal's approach

As we can see, the illustrations are done in his recognizable poster-art style. It's interesting to note which scenes he depicted. If we compare it with other artists with the same task, we find that he left:

the portrait of the poverty of the family,
the conspiracy of the parents (both scenes: when they agree on leaving the kids and when they left them),
all physical contact between an ogre and the kids, including the otherwise very popular (yet with a negative message of portraying stealing as a positive trait) scene where Hop o' My Thumb takes the seven-league boots from ogre's legs,
the most bloody scene where the ogre decapitates his daughters,
the position of the parents in prison (they can be seen on their release),
even the scene with the ogre running after the boys is shown without the boys and positioned at the beginning of the book, not in the place where the danger occurs in the story.

All this strongly suggests he was instructed to make the picture book as unconflicted as possible aiming to wide spectra of buyers. Bright and warm colors are radiating with optimism despite the numerous dark undertones of the story, which deals with abandonment, infanticide, cannibalism, and other eerie themes.

The book was published by Blackie & Son Limited (London and Glasgow) in 1903.