A woodcutter and his wife lived in a cottage beside a wood, and prayed they might have a child. “Even a little one as big as my thumb would be wonderful,” said his wife.
And they did have a tiny son, as big as her thumb. They named him Thomas and loved him dearly. He grew up into a clever little boy, but remained the same size. So, he was called Tom Thumb by everyone.
One day, the woodcutter was going into the woods for some fuel. He wished someone would bring his cart later, so he could carry the wood home. Tom immediately offered to bring the cart to him.
“But how will you do that, Tom?” asked his father.
“Mother can hitch the horse and put me into his ear,” he said, “I’ll guide him to you in the woods, Father.”
So, Mother hitched the horse and, picking up little Tom, she put him into the horse’s ear. “Giddyup!” said Tom and off went the horse. Soon he was trotting along fast and Tom said, “Gently! Gently!” slowing him.
A couple of strangers stopped in surprise hearing the horse’s hooves and the voice instructing him, when there was no one in the cart.
“Whose voice was that?” said one of them, “There’s nobody driving the cart!”
“I heard it too,” said the other man, “Let’s follow it and see.”
So, they followed the cart into the woods and saw it stopping near the woodcutter. They watched as he took Tom Thumb out of the horse’s ear and put him down on a bit of straw, where he sat happily.
“This little fellow would be very useful to us,” said one of the strangers.
“Yes!” agreed the other, “We could show him off at fairs in different towns and earn money!”
So, they asked the woodcutter if he would sell Tom Thumb to them. The woodcutter was very angry and said, “Are you mad? He’s my son, dearer to me than all the money in the world!”
But he suddenly found Tom had clambered up his coat and was urgently whispering in his ear, “Father, take the money! I’ll go with them and then, as soon as I get a chance, I’ll come right back to you!”
So, the woodcutter reluctantly agreed to sell Tom Thumb to the strangers for a large bag of gold. Tom Thumb went off with the strangers, sitting on one of their hats.
As evening fell, Tom wanted to get down and stretch his legs a bit. So, they all sat down beside the road and the man put his hat down. Tom hopped off and ran away swiftly. In a moment, he was out of sight! The men ran around searching for him. But the tiny fellow had vanished!
Tom hid in a mousehole till the men, tired of searching for him, went away. He crept out and walked homewards. It was getting dark and he couldn’t see his way through the furrows and the fences around. He found a large empty snail-shell and crawled into it.
Early morning, he peeped out of the shell to check if he could safely walk out. There were only birds, butterflies and squirrels. He came out and began walking happily towards his home.
He did not notice that a wolf began following him stealthily. Then, pouncing upon him, he gobbled up little Tom!
Tom found himself inside the wolf and wondered what to do. Then an idea occurred to him on how to get home and escape from the wolf.
“Hullo, friend!” he called out, “Do you want to know where you can get lots of good things to eat?” The puzzled wolf looked around, but the sound seemed to be coming from inside him.
“Where are you?” he asked, “And where can I get all the goodies you are offering me?” Clever little Tom told him the directions to his parents’ house, “And, when you reach there, crawl into the kitchen through a drain. There you’ll find chicken and ham, roast duck and pig, apple pies and cakes and a lot of other things.”
The wolf was drooling, thinking of the feast he would have and followed Tom’s directions. Soon he reached the house and crawled through the drain into the kitchen. There was a feast!
He ate till he was stuffed. Then he found he was stuck trying to crawl back out of the drain. His stomach was so full that he couldn’t squeeze through the narrow opening. Tom reacted quickly.
He started shouting, “Father! Mother! There’s a wolf in the kitchen! He’s eaten me up! Help!”
The woodcutter and his wife woke up and came running into the kitchen. “He’s swallowed me, Father! I’m here!” said Tom. With one blow to the head, the woodcutter killed the wolf. Carefully, he cut him open and there was little Tom Thumb, hale and hearty after all his adventures! They hugged him and he snuggled into his own bed, happily back with his parents again.
