the ground was very wet, he could not travel back to King Arthur's court;
therefore his mother, one day when the wind was blowing in that
direction, made a little parasol of cambric paper, and tying Tom to
it, she gave him a puff into the air with her mouth, which soon carried
him to the king's palace.

Just at the time when Tom came flying across the courtyard, the cook
happened to be passing with the king's great bowl of furmenty, which
was a dish his majesty was very fond of; but unfortunately the poor
little fellow fell plump into the middle of it, and splashed the hot
furmenty about the cook's face.

The cook, who was an ill-natured fellow, being in a terrible rage at
Tom for frightening and scalding him with the furmenty, went straight to
the king, and said that Tom had jumped into the royal furmenty, and
thrown it down out of mere mischief. The king was so enraged when he heard
this, that he ordered Tom to be seized and tried for high treason;
and there being no person who dared to plead for him, he was condemned to
be beheaded immediately.

On hearing this dreadful sentence pronounced, poor Tom fell a-trembling
with fear, but, seeing no means of escape, and observing a miller
close to him gaping with his great mouth, as country boobies do at a far,
he took a leap, and fairly jumped down his throat. This exploit was
done with such activity that not one person present saw it, and even the
miller did not know the trick which Tom had played upon him. Now, as
Tom had disappeared, the court broke up, and the miller went home to
his mill.

When Tom heard the mill at work he knew he was clear of the court,