Just like a lion,
Hardy and bold,
Few folks would take him
For six months old.
‘Talking of marriage,
I'll get a wife ;
Right I should settle,
My time of life.
Find me a sweetheart, Sir,’
He asked the King:
‘Your girls are too big—
Some little thing.’
King Arthur promised
And advertised,
News matrimonial
Maidens advised
Girls of small stature,
And said they ought
To hear advantage
To come te Court.
Vast applications !
Numbers applied ;
But there’s none fitting
For Tom Thumb’s bride,
All were much too big.
The hope of wealth
For the time made them
Think small of self.
The King arranged them
In two long rows,
Tom marched between them
There to propose.
Vain all attractions!
Tom shook his head:

12

 

)

‘T must be master,

Dears, when I wed.’
And though each morning

Fresh hosts applied,
Tom’s still unplighted—

Cannot decide.
Though the great darlings

Tried all their wiles,
He’s too old a bird

To catch with smiles.
But all this caprice

Bad thoughts excites,
And they held meetings

"Bout woman’s rights.
‘Tl ask my fairy friends,

Exclaimed Tom Thumb,
‘Down at the mossy rings

(At night they come) ;
They are the ones who

Whiskers supplied,
They now shall aid me

To find a bride.’
That night he went out,

But grew so glum
After six hours

Cause they don’t come.
He left polite note

Bout thing desired,
Stating the stature

Of girl required.
So in the morning

There came to call—
Twenty young maidens,

All of them small ;