The king, on hearing Tom's story, pardoned him "for good King Arthur's sake," took him into favour, and allowed him to go hunting with him, mounted on a mouse.
This, however, was the cause of his second death.
"For coming near a Farmer's house,
Close by a Forest side,
A Cat jump'd out and caught the mouse
Whereon Tom Thumb did ride.
She took him up between her Jaws,
And scower'd up a tree,