ouse 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 fo