THERE was once a tailor who had a son no higher than a thumb, so he was
called Tom Thumb. Notwithstanding his small size, he had plenty of
spirit, and one day he said to his father,
"Father, go out into the world I must and will."
"Very well, my son," said the old man, and taking a long darning needle,
he put a knob of sealing-wax on the end, saying,
"Here is a sword to take with you on your journey."
Now the little tailor wanted to have one more meal first, and so he
trotted into the kitchen to see what sort of a farewell feast his mother
had cooked for him. It was all ready, and the dish was standing on the
hearth. Then said he,
"Mother, what is the fare to-day?"
"You can see for yourself," said the mother. Then Tom Thumb ran to the
hearth and peeped into the dish, but as he stretched his neck too far
over it, the steam caught him and carried him up the chimney. For a time
he floated with the steam about in the air, but at last he sank down to
the ground. Then the little tailor found himself out in the wide world,
and he wandered about, and finally engaged himself to a master tailor,
but the food was not good enough for him.
"Mistress," said Tom Thumb, "if you do not give us better victuals, I
shall go out early in the morning and write with a piece of chalk on the
house-door, 'Plenty of potatoes to eat, and but little meat; so
good-bye, Mr. Potato.'"
"What are you after, grasshopper?" said the mistress, and growing angry
she seized a piece of rag to beat him off; but he crept underneath her
thimble, and then peeped at her, and put his tongue out at her. She took
up the thimble, and would have seized him, but he hopped among the rags,
and as the mistress turned them over to find him, he stepped into a
crack in the table. "He-hee! Mistress!" cried he, sticking out his head,
and when she was just going to grasp him, he jumped into the
table-drawer. But in the end she caught him, and drove him out of the
house.
So he wandered on until he came to a great wood; and there he met a gang
of robbers that were going to rob the king's treasury. When they saw the
little tailor, they thought to themselves,
"Such a little fellow might easily creep through a key-hole, and serve
instead of a pick-lock."
"Holloa!" cried one, "you giant Goliath, will you come with us to the
treasure-chamber? you can slip in, and then throw us out the money."
Tom Thumb considered a little, but at last he consented and went with
them to the treasure-chamber. Then he looked all over the doors above
and below, but there was no crack to be seen; at last he found one broad
enough to let him pass, and he was getting through, when one of the
sentinels that stood before the door saw him, and said to the other,
"See what an ugly spider is crawling there! I will put an end to him."
"Let the poor creature alone," said the other, "it has done you no
harm."
So Tom Thumb got safely through the crack into the treasure-chamber, and
he opened the window beneath which the thieves were standing, and he
threw them out one dollar after another. Just as he had well settled to
the work, he heard the king coming to take a look at his treasure, and
so Tom Thumb had to creep away. The king presently remarked that many
good dollars were wanting, but could not imagine how they could have
been stolen, as the locks and bolts were in good order, and everything
seemed secure. And he went away, saying to the two sentinels,
"Keep good guard; there is some one after the money."
When Tom Thumb had set to work anew, they heard the chink, chink of the
money, and hastily rushed in to catch the thief. But the little tailor,
as he heard them coming, was too quick for them, and, hiding in a
corner, he covered himself up with a dollar, so that nothing of him was
to be seen, and then he mocked the sentinels, crying, "Here I am!" They
ran about, and when they came near him, he was soon in another corner
under a dollar, crying, "Here I am!" Then the sentinels ran towards him,
and in a moment he was in a third corner, crying, "Here I am!" In this
way he made fools of them, and dodged them so long about the
treasure-chamber, that they got tired and went away. Then he set to
work, and threw the dollars out of the window, one after the other, till
they were all gone; and when it came to the last, as he flung it with
all his might, he jumped nimbly on it, and flew with it out of the
window. The robbers gave him great praise, saying,
"You are a most valiant hero; will you be our captain?"
But Tom Thumb thanked them, and said he would like to see the world
first. Then they divided the spoil; but the little tailor's share was
only one farthing, which was all he was able to carry.
Then binding his sword to his side, he bid the robbers good day, and
started on his way. He applied to several master tailors, but they would
not have anything to do with him; and at last he hired himself as indoor
servant at an inn. The maid servants took a great dislike to him, for he
used to see everything they did without being seen by them, and he told
the master and mistress about what they took from the plates, and what
they carried away out of the cellar. And they said, "Wait a little, we
will pay you out," and took counsel together to play him some
mischievous trick. Once when one of the maids was mowing the grass in
the garden she saw Tom Thumb jumping about and creeping among the
cabbages, and she mowed him with the grass, tied all together in a
bundle, and threw it to the cows. Among the cows was a big black one,
who swallowed him down, without doing him any harm. But he did not like
his lodging, it was so dark, and there was no candle to be had. When the
cow was being milked, he cried out,
"Strip, strap, strull,
Will the pail soon be full?"
But he was not understood because of the noise of the milk. Presently
the landlord came into the stable and said,
"To-morrow this cow is to be slaughtered."
At that Tom Thumb felt very terrified; and with his shrillest voice he
cried,
"Let me out first; I am sitting inside here!"
The master heard him quite plainly, but could not tell where the voice
came from.
"Where are you?" asked he.
"Inside the black one," answered Tom Thumb, but the master, not
understanding the meaning of it all, went away.
The next morning the cow was slaughtered. Happily, in all the cutting
and slashing he escaped all harm, and he slipped among the sausage-meat.
When the butcher came near to set to work, he cried with all his might,
"Don't cut so deep, don't cut so deep, I am underneath!"
But for the sound of the butcher's knife his voice was not heard. Now,
poor Tom Thumb was in great straits, and he had to jump nimbly out of
the way of the knife, and finally he came through with a whole skin. But
he could not get quite away, and he had to let himself remain with the
lumps of fat to be put in a black pudding. His quarters were rather
narrow, and he had to be hung up in the chimney in the smoke, and to
remain there a very long while. At last, when winter came he was taken
down, for the black pudding was to be set before a guest. And when the
landlady cut the black pudding in slices, he had to take great care not
to lift up his head too much, or it might be shaved off at the neck. At
last he saw his opportunity, took courage, and jumped out.
But as things had gone so badly with him in that house, Tom Thumb did
not mean to stay there, but betook himself again to his wanderings. His
freedom, however, did not last long. In the open fields there came a fox
who snapped him up without thinking.
"Oh, Mr. Fox," cries Tom Thumb, "here I am sticking in your throat; let
me out again."
"Very well," answered the fox. "It is true you are no better than
nothing; promise me the hens in your father's yard, then I will let you
go."
"With all my heart," answered Tom Thumb, "you shall have them all, I
promise you."
Then the fox let him go, and he ran home. When the father saw his dear
little son again, he gave the fox willingly all the hens that he had.
"And look, besides, what a fine piece of money I've got for you!" said
Tom Thumb, and handed over the farthing which he had earned in his
wanderings.
But how, you ask, could they let the fox devour all the poor chicks?
Why, you silly child, you know that your father would rather have you
than the hens in his yard!