and was just going to devour the mouse when Tom boldly drew his sword
and attacked the cat with great spirit. The King and his nobles,
seeing Tom in danger, went to his assistance, and one of the lords
bravely saved him just in time, but poor Tom was sadly scratched by
the claws of the cat.

[Illustration: LICE.]

The Queen of the Fairies came and took him again to Fairyland, where
she kept him some years; after which, dressing him in bright green,
she sent him flying once more through the air to the earth. King
Thunstone now reigned in the place of King Arthur. The people flocked
far and near to look at Tom Thumb, and the King, before whom he was
carried, asked him who he was and where he lived. Tom answered:

"My name is Tom Thumb,
From the fairies I come;
When King Arthur shone,
This court was my home.
In me he delighted,
By him I was knighted.
Did you ever hear of
Sir Thomas Thumb?"

The King was so charmed with this address that he ordered a little
chair to be made, and also a palace of gold a span high, with a door
an inch wide, for little Tom to live in. He also gave him a coach,
drawn by six small mice. This made the Queen angry, because she had
not a new coach too; therefore, resolving to ruin Tom, she complained
to the King that he had behaved very insolently to her. The King sent