{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58714/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58714","id":"gutenberg_58714","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58714","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's stories","Fairy tales"],"text":"Produced by hekula03, David E. Brown, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nbook was produced from images made available by the\nHathiTrust Digital Library.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  NEW HISTORY\n\n  OF THE\n\n  LIFE AND ADVENTURES\n\n  OF\n\n  TOM THUMB.\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  His shirt was made of a butterfly\u2019s wing,\n  His boots were made of a mouse\u2019s skin,\n  His coat was wove of thistle down,\n  An oak-leaf hat he had for his crown,\n  A tailor\u2019s needle hung by his side,\n  And a mouse for a horse he used to ride.\n\n\n  NEW HAVEN.\n\n  PUBLISHED BY S. BABCOCK.\n\n  1849.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: MERLIN AT THE COTTAGE.]\n\n\n\n\nNEW HISTORY\n\nOF THE\n\nLIFE AND ADVENTURES\n\nOF\n\nTOM THUMB.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nWhen I was a little boy, children\u2019s books were not quite as plenty, or\nas cheap, or as _good_ as they are now. In those days, children did not\noften have a present of a pretty book with beautiful pictures; but when\nthey did get one, it was highly prized.\n\nWe had Cock Robin, and Jack the Giant Killer, and Blue Beard, and The\nForty Thieves, and many other _amusing_ but not very _instructive_\ntales. Tom Thumb was one of the number, and was a favorite book of\nmine, although I knew the story was not true, and that there were no\nsuch beings as magicians and fairies. Perhaps my little readers would\nlike to know what kind of stories we old folks read when we were such\nlittle bodies as you are now. I think I remember enough of Tom Thumb\nto be able to tell you the story.\n\n[Illustration: MERLIN AND THE FAIRY QUEEN.]\n\nOnce on a time, Merlin, a famous magician, was traveling, and being\nweary, he stopped at a plowman\u2019s cottage to ask for some refreshment.\nThe plowman\u2019s wife kindly brought him a bowl of milk, and a wooden\nplate of good brown bread, which she urged him to partake of.\n\nMerlin could not help seeing, that the honest couple looked quite sad\nand sorrowful; so he asked the cause, and learned that they had no\nchildren; the wife declaring, with tears in her eyes, that she should\nbe happy if she had a son, even if he were no bigger than his father\u2019s\nthumb!\n\nMerlin was much amused with the idea of a boy no bigger than a man\u2019s\nthumb, and sending for the queen of the fairies, he told her of the\ndesire of the plowman\u2019s wife. The queen was no less pleased than\nMerlin, and she said the wish should be granted. Accordingly, the\nplowman\u2019s wife had a son, who was just the size of his father\u2019s thumb,\nand was named by the queen, TOM THUMB.\n\n[Illustration: THE PEDLER AND THE PUDDING.]\n\nOne day his mother was making a pudding, and that he might see how it\nwas made, Tom climbed on the top of the bowl; but his foot happening\nto slip, he fell over head and ears into it, and his mother not seeing\nhim, she stirred him into the batter, and then popped the whole into\nthe pot.\n\nThe hot water made Tom kick and struggle, and his mother, seeing the\npudding jump up and down in the pot, thought it was bewitched. A pedlar\ngoing by at that moment, she gave him the pudding, which he put in his\npack and then walked on. As soon as Tom could get the batter out of his\nmouth, he began to cry out. This so frightened the pedler that he flung\nthe pudding over a fence, and took to his heels. The pudding was broken\nby the fall, and poor Tom crawled out and ran home.\n\n[Illustration: TOM LANDS IN THE HOT SOUP.]\n\nTom never was any bigger; but as he grew older he grew cunning and sly.\nWhen he played with boys for cherry-stones, and had lost his own, he\nused to creep into his playmates\u2019 bags, fill his pockets, and come out\nto play again. One day, as he was doing this, the owner chanced to see\nhim. \u201cAh, ha, my little Tom,\u201d said he, \u201cI have caught you at last; now\nI will punish you for stealing.\u201d So he drew the bag-string tight about\nhis neck, and then shaking the bag, Tom\u2019s legs and thighs were so sadly\nbruised, that he was thrown into a raging fever.\n\nJust at this time the queen of the fairies came in a coach drawn by\nsix flying mice, and placing Tom by her side, drove through the air to\nher palace in fairy land, where she kept him till he was restored to\nhealth. Then, taking advantage of a fair wind, she blew him straight\nto the court of king Arthur. But just as Tom was about to land in the\npalace-yard, the king\u2019s cook happened to pass with a huge bowl of\nsoup, into which Tom fell plump, and splashed the hot soup all in the\ncook\u2019s face and eyes.\n\n[Illustration: TOM SWALLOWED BY A FISH.]\n\n\u201cOh, dear! Oh, dear!\u201d cried Tom, half scalded and half drowned in his\nhot bath; \u201cmurder! murder! murder!\u201d bellowed the cook, who was a cross,\nred-faced old fellow, and supposed Tom had done all this mischief\non purpose. Determined to be revenged on the little fellow for the\nimaginary insult, he urged his brother, who was a miller, and as cross\nand cruel as himself, to take little Tom home with him, and put him\nwhere he could do no more mischief.\n\nAccordingly, the miller pocketed Tom, and carrying him to his mill,\ndropped him from a window into the river. But Tom was not born to be\ndrowned. A large salmon swimming by at that moment, caught him in its\nmouth and swallowed him without any trouble.\n\n[Illustration: TOM RELEASED.]\n\nThe salmon was soon caught, and being a fine large fish, was\npresented to the king, who ordered it to be dressed immediately.\nWhen it was cut open, every body was delighted to see little Tom Thumb\nstep out. He soon became the favorite of the king, who knighted him,\nand gave him a little golden palace to live in, and also a tiny coach,\nwhich was drawn by six white mice.\n\nKing Arthur one day questioned Tom about his parents, and Tom informed\nhis majesty that they were worthy people, but very poor. Then the\nking led him into his treasury, and showing him the piles of gold and\nsilver, told him he might pay his parents a visit, and take with him as\nmuch money as he could carry! Accordingly, Tom procured a little purse,\nand putting a sixpence into it, he with much labor and difficulty got\nthe purse upon his back and started for home.\n\nHis mother met him at the door, where he arrived almost tired to death,\nhaving traveled nearly half a mile, with a huge sixpence on his back.\nHis parents were delighted to see him, especially as he brought such an\namazing sum of money.\n\n[Illustration: TOM RIDING ON A BUTTERFLY.]\n\nTom remained at home for some time; but at last getting weary of his\nhumble life, he watched for an opportunity to reach king Arthur\u2019s court\nagain. One day he sauntered out into the fields, and seeing a butterfly\nseated on the ground, he ventured to get astride of him. The butterfly\nsoon took wing, and mounting into the air with Tom on his back, flew\nfrom field to field, till at last he reached the king\u2019s court.\n\nThe king, queen, and nobles, all tried to catch the butterfly, but\ncould not. At last poor Tom, having no saddle or bridle, slipped off\nand tumbled into a watering-pot, where he was nearly drowned before he\ncould be taken out. But he soon recovered from this mishap, and once\nmore became the pride and ornament of king Arthur\u2019s court.\n\nAt last, a huge spider one day attacked him, and though he drew his\nsword and fought well, yet the spider\u2019s poisonous breath at last\novercame him.\n\nKing Arthur and his whole court went into mourning for little Tom\nThumb. They buried him under a rose-bush, and raised a white marble\nmonument over his grave, with this epitaph on it, in letters of gold:\n\n  Here lies Tom Thumb, a gallant knight,\n  Who died by a cruel spider\u2019s bite.\n  He was well known in king Arthur\u2019s court,\n  Where he afforded pleasant sport;\n  He rode at tilt and tournament,\n  And on a mouse a hunting went.\n  Alive, he filled the court with mirth;\n  His death to general grief gave birth.\n  Good people, tears of sorrow shed,\n  And cry, Alas! Sir Tom is dead!\n\nNow, my little readers, which do you like best,--_true stories_,\n_moral_ and _instructive_ stories, or stories like the wonderful\nadventures of\n\n\nTOM THUMB?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  BABCOCK\u2019S\n  No. 3 TOY BOOKS,\n  NEW SERIES,\n  MORAL, INSTRUCTIVE, AND\n  ENTERTAINING,\n  ALL BEAUTIFULLY\n  EMBELLISHED\n  WITH\n  SUPERIOR\n  ENGRAVINGS.\n\n  EDITED BY\n  THOMAS TELLER.\n\n  CHILDREN\u2019S BOOKS\n  OF\n  EVERY DESCRIPTION\n  CONSTANTLY PUBLISHING.]\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n\n  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n\n  The words _pedler_ and _pedlar_ both appear in the original.\n  Research has revealed that both spellings were in use at the time of\n  publication, and have therefore been retained as they appear in the\n  original.","title":"New History of the Life and Adventures of Tom Thumb","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":1536}