XXV. TOM THUMB.
Source.—From the chap-book contained in Halliwell, p. 199, and Mr. Hartland's English Folk and Fairy Tales. I have omitted much of the second part.
Parallels.—Halliwell has also a version entirely in verse. “Tom Thumb” is “Le petit Poucet” of the French, “Daumling” of the Germans, and similar diminutive heroes elsewhere (cf. Deulin, Contes de ma Mère l'Oye, 326), but of his adventures only that in the cow's stomach (cf. Cosquin, ii. 190) is common with his French and German cousins. M. Gaston Paris has a monograph on “Tom Thumb.”