ToM THOMB. 809

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
alittle 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 ‘Thun-
stone. 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 delight

 

   
  

Sir Thomas Thun
The king was so charmed with this address, that he ordered a
little chair to be made, in order that ‘om might sit on his table,
and also a palace of gold a span high, with a door an inch wide,
for little ‘om to 1 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 com-
plained 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 hewasalmost starved ;
when peeping out of the hole he saw a fine butterfly settle 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.