Soon after, the queen of the fairies came to pay Tom a visit, and when
she left she took Tom back with her to fairyland. There he stayed
several years.
While he was gone King Arthur and the queen and all the knights who
knew Tom died, so when he came back he found a new king reigning, King
Thunstone. All the courtiers flocked about the mannikin, and asked him
who he was, and whence he came, and where he lived. Tom answered,
“My name is Tom Thumb,
From the fairies I’ve come.
When King Arthur shone,
This court was my home.
In me he delighted,
By him I was knighted;
Have you never heard of Sir Thomas Thumb?”
The king was so charmed with this speech that he at once made Tom court
dwarf. He ordered his builders to build Tom a gold palace a span high,
with a door an inch wide, and he ordered his coachmen to give Tom a coach
drawn by six small mice. And so that he might sit upon the king’s table
close to his elbow, he ordered his cabinet makers to make Tom a little
ivory chair.
So there was Tom back at court again and king’s favorite.