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Tale Summary

Once upon a time, a poor woodman and his wife were so desperate for a child that they claimed they would be happy even with one no bigger than their thumb. This is what happened, and the boy they named Tom Thumb was smart and bright but would not grow any bigger no matter what or how much they fed him. One day, the woodsman wished aloud he had someone to bring the cart in for him, and Tom Thumb asked that if his mother bridled the horse he would climb in its ear and give it directions. Two strangers observed Tom Thumb leading the horse, which looked just like it was leading itself, and thought that he could make them a fortune. The woodsman refused to sell him, but Tom Thumb whispered in his ear to take the money for he would soon return. The men carried him for a ways on the brim of a hat until it was dark and the boy asked to be put down to sleep. Tom Thumb scurried into an old mouse-hole and escaped, and when the two men left angrily, he hopped out and found an empty snail shell for shelter. Just then he overheard two thieves scheming on ways to rob a rich farmer nearby, and so he shouted to them that he could be of help. They agreed, knowing he could sneak in due to his small size, but when they came to the house and Tom Thumb entered the room, he yelled out to the thieves. He asked again and again how much they wanted, until he woke up the cook, who chased the thieves away. Tomb Thumb found a comfortable place to sleep in the hayloft, but early in the morning the cook woke to feed the cows, and gave them a bundle of hay with the boy wrapped up inside. He went to the cow’s stomach and shouted:

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“Don’t bring me any more hay! Don’t bring me any more hay!”

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And the cook, who was at the moment milking the cow, was so scared that she called the farmer, who was also in a fright to hear the voice and had the cow killed. Just as Tom Thumb had got his head out of the stomach, a wolf came by and ate it. The boy made conversation with the wolf and told him he knew of a place filled with delicious foods, where the wolf could crawl up through the drain into the kitchen. He directed the wolf to his father’s house, and when the animal ate its fill it was too fat to fit back in the drain. Then, Tom Thumb began to shout and awakened the woodman and his wife, and he told them that he was inside. His father struck the wolf on the head and the little boy was rescued. They were all very happy to be together again and got Tom Thumb new clothes.

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