§54 NURSERY RAYVMES.

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dairy, and poultry, they managed to make a very good living,
and would have been contented and happy, had Nature blessed
them with any offspring. But although they had been married
several years, no olive-branch had yet appeared, and the worthy
couple sadly lamented their hard lot.

There lived at this period, at the Court of Arthur, a celebrated
conjuror and magician, whose name was Merlin—the astonish-
ment of the whole world ; for he knew the past, present, and
future, and nothing appeared impossible to him. Persons of all
classes solicited his assistance and advice, and he was perfectly
accessible to the humblest applicant. Aware of this, the plough-
man, after a long consultation with his “better half,” determined
to consult him; and, for this purpose, travelled to the Court, and,
with tears in his eyes, beseeched Merlin that he might have a
child, “even though it should be no bigger than his thumb.”

Now, Merlin had a strange knack of taking people exactly at
their words, and without waiting for any more explicit declara-
tion of the ploughman’s wishes, at once granted his request.
What was the poor countryman’s astonishment to find when he
reached home that his wife had given birth to a gentleman so
diminutive that it required a strong exercise of the vision to see
him. His growth was equally wonderful, for

In four minutes he grew so fast,
That he became as tall

As was the ploughman’s thumb in length,
And so she did him call.

The christening of this little fellow was a matter of much