| Added by |
 Bart Perdieus
|
| General Description : | The parents are no longer able to support their children and intend to abandon them. Hop-o'-My-Thumb, overhearing his parents, plans ahead and collects small white pebbles from a river. He uses the stones to mark a trail that enables him to successfully lead his brothers back home. However, the second time round, he uses breadcrumbs instead, which the birds eat up. The brothers are lost in the wood. Hop-o'-My-Thumb climbs up a tree and spots a distant light. The boys walk towards it. They come at last to a house, and learn that it belongs to an ogre. Hop-o'-My-Thumb, fearing the wolves, decides to take the risk of staying in the monster's residence. The ogre allows the boys to sleep for the night, and provides a bed for them in his daughters' room. But the ogre wakes up not too long after, and prepares to kill them in their slumber. Hop-o'-My-Thumb, who anticipated the possibility, already planned ahead and replaced the daughters' gold crowns with the bonnets worn by him and his brothers. As a result, the ogre kills his daughters instead, and goes back to bed. Once he is snoring, Hop-o'-My-Thumb directs his siblings out of the house. The ogre wakes up in the morning to discover his grave mistake, puts on his seven-league boots, and races after the boys. They spot the ogre while walking. Hop-o'-My-Thumb once again thinks fast and hides in a small nearby cave. The ogre, who is tired, happens to rest close to their hiding spot. Hop-o'-My-Thumb instructs his brothers to make their way home, and meanwhile, removes the boots from the sleeping ogre. He puts them on, and the boots, being magical, resize to fit him. Hop-o'-My-Thumb uses the boots to make a fortune, and returns to his family's home, where they live happily ever after. |
| Face value | 80 + 40 Cent |
| Catalog code (Michel) | NL 1633 |
| Catalog code (Scott) | NL B703 |
| Catalog code | Yvert et Tellier NL 1606 Stanley Gibbons NL 1857 AFA number NL 1635 NVPH NL 1737 Unificato NL 1603 |
| Stamp colour | multicolour |
| Stamp use | Semi Postal stamp |
| Print run | 909.793 |
| Issue date | 12/11/1997 |
| Designer | Teun Hoeks |
| Paper type | phosphorescent paper |
| Print technique | Offset lithography |
| Printed by | Joh. Enschedé |
| Perforation | comb 13¼ x 12¾ |
| Height | 26.00 mm |
| Width | 37.00 mm |
| Catalog prices | No catalog prices set yet |
