Tom Thumb: the full story
Part One · A Boy Like a Thumb
A poor farmer and his wife had no children, and it made them sad. One evening the farmer sighed. "I wish we had a child," he said, "even one no bigger than my thumb." Soon a baby boy was born. He was perfect in every way, but he was only as tall as a thumb.
They named him Tom Thumb. His mother made him a tiny coat and tiny shoes, and he ate his dinner like everyone else. Tom never grew any taller, but he was quick and clever, and whatever he set out to do, he found a way to do it.
One day the farmer was getting ready to go to the woods to cut firewood. "I wish someone would bring the cart to me," he sighed. "I will bring it, Father!" said Tom. "Just put me in the horse's ear, and I will drive." His mother laughed, but she gently set him inside the horse's ear.
"Gee up!" cried Tom, in his tiny voice. "Turn left! Turn right! Whoa!" The horse listened, and off it went down the road to the woods, pulling the cart as if a driver were holding the reins. Two strangers on the road stopped and stared. "There is nobody driving that cart," said one, "and yet I hear a voice!"
Part Two · Carried Away
The strangers followed the cart to the woods and watched Tom hop down. "What a clever little fellow!" they cried. "We could show him at the fair, and people would come from miles around." But the farmer shook his head. "Not for all the gold in the world," he said. "Tom is my son."
While they talked, Tom climbed onto the brim of one man's hat to get a better look. The man put on his hat and walked off down the road without a thought, and he carried Tom away by accident! Tom held on tight and shouted, but nobody heard his tiny voice over the footsteps.
When the sun was low, the men stopped to rest. One of them took off his hat and found Tom on the brim. "We have him now!" he cried. But Tom slid down the hat and scurried into a mouse hole. The men poked at it with their sticks, but they could not reach him, and at last they gave up and went away.
That night Tom crept out of the mouse hole and found an empty snail shell. "This will make a fine bed," he said, and he curled up inside. Just then he heard two voices whispering in the dark. They were robbers, and they were planning to steal the parson's gold and silver.
Part Three · The Long Way Home
"I can help you!" called Tom from the snail shell. The robbers jumped. "Who said that?" "Down here!" said Tom. "Take me along, and I will slip through the window bars and hand things out to you." The robbers thought that was a splendid idea, so they carried him to the parson's house and set him on the sill.
As soon as Tom was inside, he shouted at the top of his tiny voice, "Do you want everything that is in the house?" The robbers were so frightened that they ran away as fast as they could, and they never came back. The cook came running with a candle, but Tom had already hidden in a pile of hay in the barn.
In the morning, Tom set off for home. It was a long way, and soon he met a hungry wolf. "I know where there is a feast," said Tom, and he climbed up the wolf's fur and into his ear. "Go straight ahead, then turn left." The wolf was so surprised by the voice in his ear that he did exactly as he was told.
Tom steered the wolf all the way to his father's house. "Go through that hole in the pantry wall," said Tom, as he hopped down, "and you will find a feast." The wolf squeezed in and ate bread, ham and sausages until his belly was as round as a drum. Then Tom shouted, "Father! Mother! There is a wolf in the pantry!"
The farmer and his wife came running with a lantern and a broom. The wolf was so full that he could hardly squeeze back out, but he did. Then he ran off into the woods and never came back. Tom's mother picked him up and hugged him tightly.
"Where have you been, Tom?" she cried. "I have been in many places," said Tom, "and I am glad to be home." "We would not sell you for all the gold in the world," said his father. They gave him a new coat and new shoes, for his old ones were worn out from his travels. And Tom Thumb stayed with them happily ever after.