“Tom Thumb”
There was once a couple who were lonely
and wished for a child, even one as big as their thumb. Well, they eventually had a son no bigger
than a thumb, and they named him Tom Thumb. One day, his father went off to cut
wood and wished someone would bring the cart to him. Tom Thumb said he’d sit in
the horse’s ear and guide the horse to his father.
On the road, they passed two men who were
surprised to see a horse pulling a cart “without” a driver. So they followed
it. When they reached where his father was cutting wood, Tom’s father took him
out of the horse’s ear and set him on a stump.
The two men figured they could show off
Tom in town and make money, so they tried to buy him. His father said “No,” but
Tom told him he might as well, but that he would return.
So the two men paid his father and took
Tom. But when the men stopped at dusk in a field, Tom ran off and hid in a
mouse hole. The men couldn’t find him and eventually they had to leave.
Later that night, Tom heard two other men
walking by planning a robbery. Tom piped up saying he would help them. They
were surprised, but agreed to take him. They took him to the house and he
slipped into the room with the gold and silver. But then he started talking
loudly, which woke a maid.
When the maid went to look to see who was
talking, the robbers ran off so as not to be caught, and Tom slipped into the
barn. He slept in some hay, and the next morning the hay was fed to a cow who
swallowed Tom whole. He cried out from the cow’s stomach, and the maid who was milking
the cow figured the cow was talking.
The master figured the cow was possessed,
so he had it killed and the stomach was thrown on a dung hill. Before Tom could
work his way out of it, a wolf came by and ate it.
So Tom told the wolf where he could get a
good meal – his parent’s storehouse. So the wolf crept in and ate his fill, but
then he was too fat to squeeze back out. Tom made a great noise and woke his
father. His father killed the wolf and let Tom out so the family was reunited
again.
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