Accordingly, in a short time after, the plowman's wife had a
son, who, wonderful to relate, was not a bit bigger than his father's
thumb.
The fairy queen, wishing to see the little fellow thus born into the
world, came in at the window while the mother was sitting up in bed
admiring him. The queen kissed the child, and giving it the name
of Tom Thumb, sent for some of the fairies, who dressed her little
favorite as she bade them.
"An oak-leaf hat he had for his crown;
His shirt of web by spiders spun;
With jacket wove of thistle's down;
His trousers were of feathers done.
His stockings, of apple-rind, they tie
With eyelash from his mother's eye:
His shoes were made of mouses' skin,
Tann'd with the downy hair within."
It is remarkable that Tom never grew any larger than his father's
thumb, which was only of an ordinary size; but as he got older he
became very cunning and full of tricks. When he was old enough to
play with the boys, and had lost all his own cherry-stones, he used to
creep into the bags of his playfellows, fill his pockets, and, getting
out unseen, would again join in the game.
One day, however, as he was coming out of a bag of cherry-stones,
where he had been pilfering as usual, the boy to whom it belonged
chanced to see him.
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