FIRESIDE STORIES. 555

ceremony, for the Fairy Queen, attended by all her company of
elves, was present at the rite, and he formally received the name
of Tom Thumb. Her Majesty and attendants attired him with
their choicest weeds, and his costume is wortha brief notice. His
hat was made of a beautiful oak-leaf; his shirt was composed of
a fine spider's web, and his hose and doublet of thistle-down ; his
stockings were made with the rind of a delicate green apple, and
the garters were two of the finest little hairs one can imagine,
plucked from his mother’s eyebrows ; shoes made of the skin of
a little mouse, “and tanned most curiously,’ completed his fairy-
like accoutrement.

It may easily be imagined that Tom was an object of astonish-
ment and ridicule amongst the other children of the village ; but
they soon discovered that, notwithstanding his diminutive size,
he was more than a match for them. It was a matter of very
little consequence to Tom whether he lost or won, for if he found
his stock of counters or cherrystones run low, he soon crept into
the pockets of his companions, and replenished his store.

It happened, on one occasion, that he was detected, and the
aggrieved party punished Tom by shutting him up in a pin-box.
The fairy boy was sadly annoyed at his imprisonment, but the
next day he amply revenged himself; for, hanging a row of
glasses on a sunbeam, his companions thought they would follow
his example, and, not possessing Tom’s fairy gifts, broke the
glasses, and were severely whipped—whilst the little imp was
overjoyed at their misfortune, standing by and laughing till the
tears ran down his face.

The boys were so irritated with the trick that had been played