residence there, King Arthur, and all the persons who knew Tom,
had died; and as he was desirous of being again at court, the fairy
queen, after dressing him in a suit of clothes, sent him flying
through the air to the palace, in the days of King Thunstone, the
successor of Arthur. Every one flocked round to see him, and being
carried to the King, he was asked who he was--whence he came--and
where he lived? Tom answered:

"My name is Tom Thumb,
From the fairies I've come.
When King Arthur shone,
His Court was my home.
In me he delighted,
By him I was knighted;
Did you never hear of Sir Thomas Thumb?"

The King was so charmed with this address that he ordered a little
chair to be made, in order that Tom might sit upon his table, and also
a palace of gold, a span high, with a door an inch wide, to live in.
He also gave him a coach, drawn by six small mice.

The Queen was so enraged at the honor paid to Sir Thomas that she
resolved to ruin him, and told the King that the little knight had
been saucy to her.

The King sent for Tom in great haste, but being fully aware of the
danger of royal anger, he crept into an empty snail-shell, where he
lay for a long time, until he was almost starved with hunger; but at
last he ventured to peep out, and seeing a fine large butterfly on
the ground, near his hiding-place, he approached very cautiously, and
getting himself placed astride on it, was immediately carried up into
the air. The butterfly flew with him from tree to tree and from field
to field, and at last he returned to the court, where the King and
nobility all strove to catch him; but at last poor Tom fell from his
seat into a watering-pot, in which he was almost drowned.

When the Queen saw him she was in a rage, and said he should be
beheaded; and he was again put into a mouse-trap until the time of his
execution.

However, a cat, observing something alive in the trap, patted it about
till the wires broke, and set Thomas at liberty.

The King received Tom again into favor, which he did not live to
enjoy, for a large spider one day attacked him; and although he drew
his sword and fought well, yet the spider's poisonous breath at last
overcame him:

"He fell dead on the ground where he stood,
And the spider suck'd every drop of his blood."

King Thunstone and his whole court were so sorry at the loss of their
little favorite, that they went into mourning, a