To reward Tom for his services to the court, the king made him a knight.
He told Tom to kneel down. Then he struck him with his sword and said,
“With this sword I dub thee knight. Arise, Sir Thomas Thumb.”
As Tom’s clothes had suffered in the batter pudding, the frumenty, and
the insides of the giant, the miller, and the fishes, the king ordered
that the new knight should be given a handsome suit of clothes and a
horse and sword. How proud Tom was and how splendid he looked! You shall
hear about his dress and his horse and sword:
Of butterfly’s wings his shirt was made,
His boots of chicken’s hide;
And by a nimble fairy blade,
Well learned in the tailoring trade,
His clothing was supplied.—
A needle dangled by his side;
A dapper mouse he used to ride,
Thus strutted Tom in lordly pride.
It was great fun to see Tom mounted on the mouse, as he rode out
a-hunting with the king and the other knights. They were all ready to die
with laughter as they looked at him and his prancing charger.
But they were glad to call him a brother knight, he was so brave.
One day as they were riding past a farmhouse a large cat lurking about a
door made a spring at Tom and the mouse, seized them, and ran up a tree
with them. Here she began to devour the mouse. Tom boldly drew his sword
and stuck it into the cat so fiercely that she was at last forced to
drop them. As they fell, one of the knights held out his hat and caught
them. He carried Tom home and laid him on a bed of down in a little ivory
cabinet until he should get over the attack.
Tom was soon himself again, and dearer than ever to the king and court.