TOM THUMB
In the days of King Arthur, Merlin, the most learned enchanter of his
time, was on a journey; and, being very weary, stopped one day at the
cottage of an honest ploughman to ask for refreshment. The ploughman's
wife, with great civility, immediately brought him some milk in a wooden
bowl, and some brown bread on a wooden platter. Merlin could not help
observing, that, although every thing within the cottage was
particularly neat and clean, and in good order, the ploughman and his
wife had the most sorrowful air imaginable. So he questioned them on the
cause of their melancholy, and learned that they were very miserable
because they had no children. The poor woman declared, with tears in her
eyes, that she should be the happiest creature in the world if she had a
son, although he were no bigger than his father's thumb. Merlin was much
amused with the thoughts of a boy no bigger than a man's thumb, and, as
soon as he returned home, he sent for the queen of the fairies (with
whom he was very intimate), and related to her the desire of the
ploughman and his wife to have a son the size of his father's thumb. The
queen of the fairies liked the plan exceedingly, and declared their wish
should speedily be granted. Accordingly the ploughman's wife had a son,
who in a few minutes grew as tall as his father's thumb. The queen of
the fairies came in at the window as the mother was sitting up in bed
admiring the child. The queen kissed the infant, and giving it the name
of Tom Thumb, immediately summoned several fairies from Fairy Land to
clothe her little new favourite:
"An oak leaf hat he had for his crown,
His shirt it was by spiders spun;
With doublet wove of thistle's down,
His trousers up with points were done.
His stockings, of apple rind, they tie
With eye-lash plucked from his mother's eye,
His shoes were made of a mouse's skin,
Nicely tanned, with the hair within."
Tom never was any bigger than his father's thumb, which was not a large
thumb either; but, as he grew older, he became very cunning and sly, for
which his mother did not sufficiently correct him, so that when he was
able to play with the boys for cherry stones, and had lost all his own,
he used to creep into the boys' bags, fill his pockets, and come out
again to play. But one day as he was getting out of a bag of cherry
stones, the boy to whom it belonged chanced to see him. "Ah ha, my
little Tom Thumb!" said the boy, "have I caught you at your bad tricks
at last? Now I will reward you for thieving." Then drawing the string
tight round his neck, and shaking the bag heartily, the cherry stones
bruised Tom's legs, thighs, and body sadly; which made him beg to be let
out, and promise never to be guilty of such things any more. Shortly
afterwards, Tom's mother was making a batter pudding, and, that he might
see how she mixed it, he climbed on the edge of the bowl; but his foot
happening to slip, he fell over head and ears into the batter, and his
mother not observing him, stirred him into the pudding, and popped him
into the pot to boil. The hot water made Tom kick and struggle; and his
mother, seeing the pudding jump up and down in such a furious manner,
thought it was bewitched; and a tinker coming by just at the time, she
quickly gave him the pudding, who put it into his budget and walked on.
As soon as Tom could get the batter out of his mouth, he began to cry
aloud; which so frightened the poor tinker, that he flung the pudding
over the hedge, and ran away from it as fast as he could run. The
pudding being broken to pieces by the fall, Tom was released, and walked
home to his mother, who gave him a kiss and put him to bed. Tom Thumb's
mother once took him with her when she went to milk the cow; and it
being a very windy day, she tied him with a needleful of thread to a
thistle, that he might not be blown away. The cow liking his oak leaf
hat took him and the thistle up at one mouthful. While the cow chewed
the thistle, Tom, terrified at her great teeth, which seemed ready to
crush him to pieces, roared, "Mother, Mother!" as loud as he could bawl.
"Where are you, Tommy, my dear Tommy?" said the mother. "Here, mother,
here in the red cow's mouth." The mother began to cry and wring her
hands; but the cow surprised at such odd noises in her throat, opened
her mouth and let him drop out. His mother clapped him into her apron,
and ran home with him. Tom's father made him a whip of a barley straw to
drive the cattle with, and being one day in the field, he slipped into a
deep furrow. A raven flying over, picked him up with a grain of corn,
and flew with him to the top of a giant's castle, by the seaside, where
he left him; and old Grumbo the giant, coming soon after to walk upon
his terrace, swallowed Tom like a pill, clothes and all. Tom presently
made the giant very uncomfortable, and he threw him up into the sea. A
great fish then swallowed him. The fish was soon after caught, and sent
as a present to King Arthur. When it was cut open, every body was
delighted with little Tom Thumb. The king made him his dwarf; he was the
favourite of the whole court; and, by his merry pranks, often amused the
queen and the knights of the Round Table. The king, when he rode on
horseback, frequently took Tom in his hand; and, if a shower of rain
came on, he used to creep into the king's waist-coat pocket, and sleep
till the rain was over. The king also, sometimes questioned Tom
concerning his parents; and when Tom informed his majesty they were very
poor people, the king led him into his treasury, and told him he should
pay his friends a visit, and take with him as much money as he could
carry. Tom procured a little purse, and putting a threepenny piece into
it, with much labour and difficulty got it upon his back; and, after
travelling two days and nights, arrived at his father's house.
His mother met him at the door, almost tired to death, having in
forty-eight hours travelled almost half a mile with a huge silver
threepence upon his back. His parents were glad to see him, especially
when he had brought such an amazing sum of money with him. They placed
him in a walnut shell by the fire side, and feasted him for three days
upon a hazel nut, which made him sick, for a whole nut usually served
him a month. Tom got well, but could not travel because it had rained;
therefore his mother took him in her hand, and with one puff blew him
into King Arthur's court; where Tom entertained the king, queen, and
nobility at tilts and tournaments, at which he exerted himself so much
that he brought on a fit of sickness, and his life was despaired of. At
this juncture the queen of the fairies came in a chariot drawn by flying
mice, placed Tom by her side, and drove through the air, without
stopping till they arrived at her palace; when, after restoring him to
health, and permitting him to enjoy all the gay diversions of Fairy
Land, the queen commanded a fair wind, and, placing Tom before it, blew
him straight to the court of King Arthur. But just as Tom should have
alighted in the court-yard of the palace, the cook happened to pass along
with the king's great bowl of firmity (King Arthur loved firmity), and
poor Tom Thumb fell plump into the middle of it and splashed the hot
firmity into the cook's eyes. Down went the bowl. "Oh dear; oh dear!"
cried Tom; "Murder! murder!" bellowed the cook! and away ran the king's
nice firmity into the kennel. The cook was a red-faced, cross fellow,
and swore to the king, that Tom had done it out of mere mischief; so he
was taken up, tried, and sentenced to be beheaded. Tom hearing this
dreadful sentence, and seeing a miller stand by with his mouth wide
open, he took a good spring, and jumped down the miller's throat,
unperceived by all, even by the miller himself.
Tom being lost, the court broke up, and away went the miller to his
mill. But Tom did not leave him long at rest, he began to roll and
tumble about, so that the miller thought himself bewitched, and sent for
a doctor. When the doctor came, Tom began to dance and sing; the doctor
was as much frightened as the miller, and sent in great haste for five
more doctors, and twenty learned men. While all these were debating upon
the affair, the miller (for they were very tedious) happened to yawn,
and Tom, taking the opportunity, made another jump, and alighted on his
feet in the middle of the table. The miller, provoked to be thus
tormented by such a little creature, fell into a great passion, caught
hold of Tom, and threw him out of the window, into the river. A large
salmon swimming by, snapped him up in a minute. The salmon was soon
caught and sold in the market to the steward of a lord. The lord,
thinking it an uncommon fine fish, made a present of it to the king, who
ordered it to be dressed immediately. When the cook cut open the salmon,
he found poor Tom, and ran with him directly to the king; but the king
being busy with state affairs, desired that he might be brought another
day. The cook resolving to keep him safely this time, as he had so
lately given him the slip, clapped him into a mouse-trap, and left him
to amuse himself by peeping through the wires for a whole week; when the
king sent for him, he forgave him for throwing down the firmity, ordered
him new clothes and knighted him.
"His shirt was made of butterflies' wings;
His boots were made of chicken skins;
His coat and breeches were made with pride;
A tailor's needle hung by his side;
A mouse for a horse he used to ride."
Thus dressed and mounted, he rode a hunting with the king and nobility,
who all laughed heartily at Tom and his fine prancing steed. As they
rode by a farm house one day, a cat jumped from behind the door, seized
the mouse and little Tom, and began to devour the mouse. However, Tom
boldly drew his sword and attacked the cat, who then let him fall. The
king and his nobles seeing Tom falling, went to his assistance, and one
of the lords caught him in his hat; but poor Tom was sadly scratched,
and his clothes were torn by the claws of the cat. In this condition he
was carried home, when a bed of down was made for him in a little ivory
cabinet. The queen of the fairies came, and took him again to Fairy
Land, where she kept him for some years; and then, dressing him in
bright green, sent him flying once more through the air to the earth, in
the days of King Thunstone. The people flocked far and near to look at
him; and the king, before whom he was carried, asked him who he was,
whence he came, and where he lived? Tom answered:
"My name is Tom Thumb,
From the Fairies I come;
When King Arthur shone,
This court was my home.
In me he delighted,
By him I was knighted,
Did you never hear of
Sir Thomas Thumb?"
The king was so charmed with this address, that he ordered a little
chair to be made, in order that Tom might sit on his table, and also a
palace of gold a span high, with a door an inch wide, for little Tom to
live in. He also gave him a coach drawn by six small mice. This made the
queen angry, because she had not a new coach too. Therefore, resolving
to ruin Tom, she complained to the king that he had behaved very
insolently to her. The king sent for him in a rage. Tom, to escape his
fury, crept into an empty snail-shell, and there lay till he was almost
starved; when peeping out of the shell, he saw a fine butterfly settled
on the ground. He now ventured out, and getting astride, the butterfly
took wing, and mounted into the air with little Tom on his back. Away he
flew from field to field, from tree to tree, till at last he flew to the
king's court. The king, queen, and nobles, all strove to catch the
butterfly, but could not. At length poor Tom, having neither bridle nor
saddle, slipped from his seat, and fell into a white pot, where he was
found almost drowned. The queen vowed he should be guillotined: but
while the guillotine was getting ready, he was secured once more in a
mouse-trap; when the cat seeing something stir, and supposing it to be
the mouse, patted the trap about till she broke it, and set Tom at
liberty. Soon afterwards a spider, taking him for a fly, made at him.
Tom drew his sword and fought valiantly, but the spider's poisonous
breath overcame him:
"He fell dead on the ground where late he had stood,
And the spider sucked up the last drop of his blood."
King Thunstone and his whole court went into mourning for little Tom
Thumb. They buried him under a rosebush, and raised a nice white marble
monument over his grave, with the following epitaph:
"Here lies Tom Thumb, King Arthur's knight,
Who died by spider's cruel bite.
He was well known in Arthur's court,
Where he afforded gallant sport;
He rode at tilt and tournament,
And on a mouse a hunting went;
Alive he filled the court with mirth,
His death to sorrow soon gave birth.
Wipe, wipe your eyes, and shake your head
And cry, 'Alas! Tom Thumb is dead.'"