my thumb;
I put him in a pint pot
And there I bade him drum:
I bridled him and saddled him,
And sent him out of town;
I gave him a pair of garters
To tie up his little hose;
And a little handkerchief
To wipe his little nose.

The English version of _Tom Thumb_ as we know it today, opens with a
visit of the magician Merlin at the cottage of an honest and
hospitable ploughman. Merlin rewarded the Goodman and his Wife for
their hospitality by calling on the Queen of the fairies, who brought
to the home, Tom Thumb, a boy no bigger than a man's thumb.

The time of the tale is in the days of Merlin and King Arthur's court.
The tale is marked by a number of distinct English elements. The
introduction of the Queen of the Fairies, of Fairy Land and the visit
there, and of the fairy clothes they make for Tom, are all decidedly
English. The sly ways of Tom, his tricks and his cleverness are
distinctly English humor. He played with the boys for cherry-stones,
and took theirs. He had so much curiosity that he fell into his
mother's pudding. He was so light that on a windy day he had to be
tied to a thistle when his mother went to milk the cow; and so, with
his oak-leaf hat, he got caught in the cow's one mouthful. After other
strange adventures he arrived at King Arthur's court where he became
the favorite. His feats at tilts and tournaments give a glimpse of
English court life, with its pastime of hunting; and fighting with the
sword brings in the knight element. The story has little plot, being a
succession of many episodes and a repetition of some. It shows little
constructive ability, promises to be a perpetual tale, and is ended
only by sudden death at the poisonous breath of the spider. _Tom
Thumb_ is one of the tales of pure fancy, with no underlying meaning,
created for pure entertainment, to please children and grown-ups by
its little people and little things. The moral is in the effect of
Tom's character.

Perrault's _Little Thumb_ tells how a poor Fagot-maker and his Wife
sat by the hearth, sad with famine, and Little Thumb overheard their
words. When they started to the wood to gather fagots, Little Thumb,
like Hansel, scattered pebbles. The parents left the seven children in
the wood but little Thumb guided them home by his pebbles. They set
out a second time, when Little Thumb scattered bread-crumbs; and as
the birds ate them, the children were lost. Little Thumb climbed a