The Story of Tom Thumb
Once upon a time, there lived a poor farmer. In the evenings, he would sit by the fireplace, talking to his wife as she spun yarn:
“Oh, how sad it is that we have no children. Our house is so quiet, while our neighbors’ homes are filled with laughter and the patter of little feet.”
The farmer’s wife sighed and replied:
“I would be happy even with a child no bigger than my thumb. I’m sure we would love him dearly.”
Not long after, the wife became pregnant, and seven months later, she gave birth to a baby boy who had all his features, hands, and feet, but was no bigger than her thumb. True to their word, the couple loved him dearly and named him Tom Thumb.
Although they fed him well, Tom remained the same size as when he was born. He had a bright face and seemed intelligent. Before long, he became clever and skillful, capable of doing many things.
One day, as the father prepared to go into the forest to chop wood, he muttered to himself, “I wish I had someone to drive the cart for me.”
Tom Thumb spoke up, saying, “Father, I can drive the cart for you. Please trust me; I will make sure we reach the forest on time.”
The father smiled and said, “But you are too small to hold the reins, my son.”
“Not at all, Father,” Tom replied. “If Mother helps me sit on the horse’s ear, I will shout to make it go. I promise we will be on our way in no time.”
Illustration.
The father agreed to give it a try. The mother helped Tom onto the horse’s ear, and he shouted, “Giddy-up!” The horse began to trot, just as if there were a real driver, and they soon reached the forest.
As the cart turned at a bend, Tom shouted, “Whoa!” and two strangers approached. One of them exclaimed:
“Good heavens! We can’t see the driver, yet the cart moves, and we hear a voice. How strange!”
The other replied, “Indeed, it is peculiar. Let’s follow the cart and see where the voice is coming from.”
The cart continued on its way and stopped at the spot where the wood had been cut. Tom Thumb called out to his father, “Father, I have brought the cart here as promised. Please help me down.”
The father rushed over, holding the reins with his left hand and lifting Tom from the horse’s ear with his right. He then placed Tom on a blade of grass, and the little boy sat happily.
The two strangers were astonished and couldn’t believe their eyes. One of them pulled the other aside and said, “If we take this little fellow to the big city, we will make a fortune. Let’s buy him.”
They approached the farmer and said, “Sir, please sell us this little boy. We will take good care of him.”
The farmer replied, “No, he is the apple of my eye. All the money in the world couldn’t make me part with him.”
Hearing the strangers’ offer, Tom Thumb tugged at his father’s clothes and climbed up to his shoulder. He whispered, “Father, please sell me. I will find my way home, no matter what.”
Reassured by his son’s words, the farmer sold Tom Thumb for a substantial sum.
The strangers asked Tom, “Where would you like to sit?”
Tom replied, “Just place me on the brim of your hat, and I will walk back and forth there, enjoying the view. Don’t worry; I won’t fall.”
One of them placed him on the brim of his hat.
After bidding farewell to his parents, they set off with Tom. As dusk fell, Tom said, “Please let me down for a moment; it’s urgent.”
The man carrying him on his hat said, “Stay where you are. It’s no trouble at all. Birds relieve themselves on my hat all the time!”
But Tom insisted, “No, I know how to behave. Please let me down now.”
The man removed his hat and placed Tom in a field by the roadside. Tom quickly ran and hid in a mouse hole, then called out to the men, “Farewell, gentlemen! Safe travels!”
The two men frantically poked sticks into the mouse hole to try to catch him, but Tom had crawled too far in. As night fell, they gave up and returned home empty-handed.
Once they were gone, Tom crawled out of the hole. He thought to himself, “It’s dangerous to wander in the fields at night. I could break my neck.”
Fortunately, Tom stumbled upon a snail shell and said, “Thank goodness! I have a place to sleep tonight.”
He had just dozed off when he heard the voices of two men passing by. One of them said, “I wonder how we can steal the gold and silver from the rich parish priest.”
Tom Thumb spoke up, “I can help you with that.”
One of the thieves exclaimed, “What was that? Did you hear a voice?”
They stopped and listened. Tom Thumb spoke again, “Take me with you, and I will assist you.”
“But where are you?” they asked.
“Look for me near the ground, where you heard the voice,” Tom replied.
The thieves searched and found Tom Thumb. They picked him up and asked, “How can you help us, little one?”
“I can squeeze through the bars of the priest’s window. Tell me what you want, and I will pass it out to you.”
“Let’s see what you can do,” they said.
When they reached the priest’s house, Tom Thumb climbed through the window and boldly asked, “Do you want to empty this room?”
The thieves, worried that someone would wake up, whispered, “Shh! Keep your voice down.”
But Tom Thumb ignored them and asked again, louder this time, “Do you want to take everything? I can pass it out to you.”
The cook, who was sleeping in the next room, sat up and listened. The thieves panicked and tried to escape, but they calmed down, thinking Tom was playing a trick on them. They returned and whispered, “Stop joking around. If you can help, get on with it.”
Tom Thumb shouted, “I’m going to pass everything out to you. Hold out your hands and catch it.”
This time, the cook heard him clearly and got out of bed to light a candle. By the time she returned, Tom had hidden in a pile of hay. She searched everywhere but found nothing. She concluded that she must have been dreaming and went back to bed.
Tom Thumb curled up in the hay, intending to sleep until morning and then make his way home. However, things didn’t go as planned. Oh, the trials and tribulations of life!
The next morning, the cook woke up early to feed the animals. She first went to the barn and grabbed a handful of hay, which happened to be the very spot where Tom Thumb was sleeping. Startled awake, Tom cried out, “Oh no! I’ve been tossed into the cow’s feed!”
But he soon realized he was inside the cow’s mouth. He struggled to keep from being chewed and eventually ended up in the cow’s stomach. “There are no windows here,” he thought. “I can’t see the sun, moon, or stars.”
He found it uncomfortable, and the constant stream of hay made his space smaller and smaller. Tom Thumb cried out, “Stop throwing fresh hay in here! Stop throwing fresh hay in here!”
At that moment, the cook was milking the cow and couldn’t see Tom, but she heard his voice, just as she had the night before. She was so startled that she fell off her stool and spilled the milk.
She rushed to the priest and exclaimed, “Father, the cow can talk!”
“What are you saying?” the priest asked.
The cook insisted, “Please come and see for yourself.”
When the priest entered the barn, he heard Tom Thumb shouting, “Don’t throw fresh hay in here! Stop throwing fresh hay in here!”
The priest was also frightened and believed the cow was possessed by a demon. He ordered the cow to be slaughtered. After it was killed, they threw its stomach, which contained Tom Thumb, onto a pile of manure.
Tom struggled to free himself and finally poked his head out. Unfortunately, a hungry wolf came by and swallowed the cow’s stomach, along with Tom Thumb. But this time, Tom remained calm and thought, “Perhaps I can persuade this wolf.”
From inside the wolf’s belly, he said, “Mr. Wolf, I can tell you where to find a delicious meal.”
The wolf asked, “Where?”
Tom Thumb told the wolf about his parents’ house and said, “Just crawl through the fence into the kitchen, and you will find cakes, butter, sausages, and all sorts of good things to eat.”
The wolf didn’t need to be told twice. That night, he crawled through the fence into the kitchen and ate to his heart’s content. He ate so much that he couldn’t crawl back through the fence, and Tom Thumb began to shout from inside the wolf’s belly.
The wolf said, “Be quiet, or someone will hear us.”
Tom Thumb replied, “Well, you’ve had your fill, and now I want some entertainment.”
He continued shouting, and his parents, who were still awake, heard him. The father grabbed an ax, and the mother grabbed a pitchfork. As they entered the kitchen, the father said to the mother, “Stand behind me. If I don’t kill it with the first blow, stab it in the belly with your pitchfork.”
Tom Thumb heard his father’s voice and cried out, “Father, I’m inside the wolf’s belly!”
Overjoyed, the father exclaimed, “Praise the Lord! Our golden child has returned!”
He told his wife to put down the pitchfork so that Tom wouldn’t be hurt. Then, he swung the ax and killed the wolf. He pulled Tom Thumb out and said, “We were so worried about you, my son.”
“Father, I’ve had quite an adventure,” Tom replied. “I’ve been in a mouse hole, a cow’s stomach, and now a wolf’s belly. I’m ready to stay home with you and Mother.”
His parents hugged him and said, “From now on, no matter how much money we are offered, we will never sell you again.”
They fed Tom and made him new clothes, as his old ones were worn out from his travels.
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