e, she quickly gave him the pudding; he put
it into his budget, and walked on.

As soon as Tom could get the batter out of his mouth, he began to cry
aloud, which so frightened the poor tinker, that he flung the pudding
over the hedge, and ran away from it as fast as he could. The pudding
being broken to pieces by the fall, Tom was released, and walked home
to his mother, who gave him a kiss and put him to bed.

Tom Thumb's mother once took him with her when she went to milk the
cow; and it being a very windy day, she tied him with a needleful of
thread to a thistle, that he might not be blown away. The cow, liking
his oak-leaf hat, took him and the thistle up at one mouthful. While
the cow chewed the thistle, Tom, terrified at her great teeth, which
seemed ready to crush him to pieces, roared, "Mother, mother!" as loud
as he could bawl.

"Where are you, Tommy, my dear Tommy?' said the mother.

"Here, mother, here in the red cow's mouth."

The mother began to cry and wring her hands; but the cow, surprised at
such odd noises in her throat, opened her mouth and let him drop out.
His mother clapped him into her apron, and ran home with him. Tom's
father made him a whip of a barley straw to drive the cattle with, and
being one day in the field he slipped into a deep furrow. A raven
flying over picked him up with a grain of corn, and flew with him to
the top of a giant's castle by the sea-side, where he left him; and
old Grumbo, the giant, coming soon after to walk upon his terrace,
swallowed Tom like a pill, clothes and all. Tom presently made the
giant very uncomfortable, and he threw him up into the sea. A great
fish then swallowed him. This fish was soon after caught, and sent as
a present to King Arthur. When it was cut open, everybody was
delighted with little Tom Thumb. The king made him his dwarf; he was
the favourite of the whole court; and, by his merry pranks, often
amused the queen and the knights of the Round Table. The king, when he
rode on horseback, frequently took Tom in his hand; and if a shower of
rain came on, he used to creep into the king's waist-coat-pocket, and
sleep till the rain was over. The king also sometimes questioned Tom
concerning his parents; and when Tom informed his majesty they were
very poor people, the king led him into his treasury, and told him he
should pay his friends a visit, and take with him as much money as he
could carry. Tom procured a little purse, and putting a threepe