When the three little gnomes had finished their dinner they lit their pipes and wondered how they might help the little boy find his way home.
“Let us go to old Wizzy Owl and see if he can suggest anything!” said one.
“Yes, brothers,” cried another, “Let us go to old Wizzy Owl.”
So the three little gnomes went to the home of Wizzy Owl and Wizzy Owl said he would fly high above the forest and try and see the little boy’s home.
“I can not see his home!” cried Wizzy Owl. “Maybe Fuzzy Fox can tell you!”
So the three little gnomes went to the home of Fuzzy Fox and Fuzzy Fox said he would run through the forest and see if he could find the little boy’s home. So Fuzzy Fox ran through the forest, but could not find the little boy’s home. “But,” said Fuzzy Fox, “I came upon a wounded deer who told me that a party of huntsmen had passed through the forest yesterday and had shot her with an arrow.” So the three little gnomes went to see the wounded deer and they washed the wound the arrow had made and bound it up for her.
Then the three little gnomes sat upon Fuzzy Fox’s back and he ran on through the forest with them until they came to a wild boar.
The wild boar had been crippled by the huntsmen, he told the three little gnomes, but had managed to hide himself in the thick bushes and escape. “It must have been the little boy’s father and his men,” said the wild boar. “I am sorry that I am wounded for I would like to help him!”
Then Fuzzy Fox ran with the three little gnomes through the forest and they met a wounded bear, and a wounded squirrel, and five or six wounded bunny rabbits, and they all told the three little gnomes that the huntsmen had shot them with arrows and that they just managed to escape.
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The three little gnomes felt very sorry for their wounded friends and helped them all they could by washing their wounds and tying them up. “We are sorry that we can not go with you and help find the little boy’s home,” they all said, “For his mother will miss him and cry for him. And we know how much a Mamma or a Daddy can miss a little boy or girl, for we have all grieved for our own little ones that the huntsmen who roam this forest have killed. That is why we feel sorry that we can not help you bring him back to his mother.”
So Fuzzy Fox ran until he came to the edge of the forest and then the three little gnomes saw a large castle away in the distance with bright red roofs on the tall towers.
“That must be the little boy’s home!” said one little gnome.
“Let us return at once to our home under the fallen tree and ask the little boy!” said another. So Fuzzy Fox ran with them back to their home and the little boy told them it was his home.
Then the kind Fuzzy Fox took the three little gnomes and the little boy upon his back and ran to the edge of the forest and on the way they stopped to see the wounded animals, and they were all glad that the little boy’s Mamma and Daddy would soon see him. “Oh, if we could only see the children who have been taken away from us by the huntsmen!” they said as they bade the little boy goodbye.