d twenty learned men. While all these were
debating upon the affair, the miller (for they were very tedious)
happened to yawn, and Tom, taking the opportunity, made another jump,
and alighted on his feet in the middle of the table. The miller,
provoked to be thus tormented by such a little creature, fell into a
great passion, caught hold of Tom, and threw him out of the window
into the river. A large salmon swimming by snapped him up in a minute.
The salmon was soon caught and sold in the market to a steward of a
lord. The lord, thinking it an uncommon fine fish, made a present of
it to the king, who ordered it to be dressed immediately. When the
cook cut open the salmon, he found poor Tom, and ran with him directly
to the king; but the king, being busy with state affairs, desired that
he might be brought another day. The cook resolving to keep him safely
this time, as he had so lately given him the slip, clapped him into a
mouse-trap, and left him to amuse himself by peeping through the wires
for a whole week; when the king sent for him, he forgave him for
throwing down the furmenty, ordered him new clothes, and knighted
him:--

"His shirt was made of butterflies' wings,
His boots were made of chicken skins;
His coat and breeches were made with pride:
A tailor's needle hung by his side;
A mouse for a horse he used to ride."

Thus dressed and mounted, he rode a-hunting with the king and
nobility, who all laughed heartily at Tom and his fine prancing steed.
As they rode by a farmhouse one day, a cat jumped from behind the
door, seized the mouse and little Tom, and began to devour the mouse;
however, Tom boldly drew his sword and attacked the cat, who then let
him fall. The king and his nobles, seeing Tom falling, went to his
assistance, and one of the lords caught him in his hat; but poor Tom
was sadly scratched, and his clothes were torn by the claws of the
cat. In this condition he was carried home, when a bed of down was
made for him in a little ivory cabinet. The queen of the fairies came
and took him again to Fairyland, where she kept him for some years;
and then, dressing him in bright green, sent him flying once more
through the air to the earth, in the days of King Thunstone. The
people flocked far and near to look at him; and the king, before whom
he was carried, asked him who he was, whence he came, and where he
lived? Tom answered:--

"My name Is Tom Thumb,
From the Fairies I