Wikipedia

Tom Thumb

This article is about a character in English folklore. For other uses, seeTom Thumb (disambiguation).

Tom Thumbis a character ofEnglish folklore.The History of Tom Thumbwas published in1621and was the firstfairy taleprinted in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling withgiants,and becoming a favourite ofKing Arthur.The earliest allusions to Tom occur in various 16th-century works such asReginald Scot'sDiscovery of Witchcraft(1584), where Tom is cited as one of the supernatural folk employed by servant maids to frighten children.Tattershallin Lincolnshire, England, reputedly has the home and grave of Tom Thumb.[1]

Tom Thumb
Frontispiece, 4F
Folk tale
NameTom Thumb
Aarne–Thompsongrouping700
CountryEngland
Published inEnglish Fairy Tales
The Classic Fairy Tales
RelatedHop o' My Thumb
Thumbelina
Thumbling
Thumbling as Journeyman

Aside from his own tales, Tom figures inHenry Fielding's 1730 playTom Thumb,a companion piece to hisThe Author's Farce.It was expanded into a single 1731 piece titledThe Tragedy of Tragedies, or the History of Tom Thumb the Great.

In the mid-18th century, books began to be published specifically for children (some with their authorship attributed to "Tommy Thumb" ), and by the mid-19th century, Tom was a fixture of the nursery library. The tale took on moral overtones and some writers, such asCharlotte Mary Yonge,cleansed questionable passages.Dinah Mulock,however, refrained from scrubbing the tale of its vulgarities. Tom Thumb's story has been adapted into several films.

History

edit
Grave of Tom Thumb inTattershall,Lincolnshire.

Tom Thumbmay have been a real personborn around 1519, as there is a grave purporting to be his. It is set into the floor adjacent to the font of the main chapel in Holy Trinity Church atTattershall,Lincolnshire, UK. The inscription reads: "T. THUMB, Aged 101 Died 1620". The grave measures just 16 "(40 cm) in length. However, without any proof this is likely to be a later forgery or joke, for in his 1846 textPopular Rhymes and Nursery Tales(p.83) James Orchard Halliwell wrote that: "According to popular tradition, Tom Thumb died at Lincoln, and a little blue flagstone in the pavement of the cathedral used to be pointed out as his monument." This source therefore suggests that the "grave" at Holy Trinity Church was probably engraved post -1846.

The earliest surviving text is a 40-page booklet printed in London for Thomas Langley in 1621 entitledThe History of Tom Thumbe, the Little, for his small stature surnamed, King Arthur's Dwarfe: whose Life and adventures containe many strange and wonderfull accidents, published for the delight of merry Time-spenders.The author is presumed to be LondonerRichard Johnson(1579–1659?) because his initials appear on the last page. The only known copy is in theMorgan Library & Museum,New York.[2]

Tom was already a traditional folk character when the booklet was printed, and it is likely that printed materials circulated prior to Johnson's.[3]It is not known how much Johnson contributed to Tom's character or his adventures.William Fulkereferred to Tom in 1579 inHeskins Parleament Repealed,andThomas Nashereferred to him in 1592 in his prose satire on the vices of the agePierce Penniless,His Supplication to the Divell.Reginald Scotlisted Tom in hisDiscoverie of Witchcraft(1584) as one of the creatures used by servant maids to frighten children, along with witches, dwarfs, elves, fairies, giants, and other supernatural folk.[2]

Title pageCoryat's Crudities

Tom was mentioned by James Field inCoryat's Crudities(1611): "Tom Thumbe is dumbe, until the pudding creepe, in which he was intomb'd, then out doth peepe." The incident of the pudding was the most popular in connection with the character. It is alluded to inBen Jonson's masque of the Fortunate Isles: "Thomas Thumb in a pudding fat, with Doctor Rat."[3]

Richard Johnson'sHistorymay have been in circulation as early as this date because the title page woodblock in the 1621 edition shows great wear. Johnson himself makes it clear in the preface that Tom was long known by "old and young... Bachelors and Maids... and Shepheard and the young Plow boy".[2]

Tom's tale was reprinted countless times in Britain, and was being sold in America as early as 1686. A metrical version was published in 1630 entitledTom Thumbe, His Life and Death: Wherein is declared many Maruailous Acts of Manhood, full of wonder, and strange merriments: Which little Knight liued in King Arthurs time, and famous in the Court of Great Brittaine.The book was reprinted many times, and two more parts were added to the first around 1700. The three parts were reprinted many times.[3]

FrontispieceThe Tragedy of Tragedies

In 1711,William WagstaffepublishedA Comment upon The History of Tom Thumbe.In 1730, EnglishdramatistHenry Fieldingused Tom Thumb as the central figure of aplay by that name,which he rewrote in 1731 as thefarceThe Tragedy of Tragedies,or the History of Tom Thumb the Great.The play is filled with 18th-century political and literarysatireand is intended as aparodyof heroic tragedies. The title of "The Great" may be intended as a reference to politicianSir Robert Walpolewho was often called "The Great."

Henry Fielding's tragedyTom Thumbwas the basis for an opera constructed byKane O'Hara.Fielding's Tom is cast as a mighty warrior and a conqueror of giants, despite his stature, as well as the object of desire for many of the ladies at court. The plot is largely concerned with the variouslove trianglesamongst the characters, who include Princess Huncamunca,giantessGlumdalca, and Queen Dollalolla (Arthur's wife in this version). Matters are complicated when Arthur awards Tom the hand of Huncamunca in marriage which results in Dollalolla and the jealous Grizzle seeking revenge. Eventually, Tom dies when swallowed by a cow, but his ghost returns. At the conclusion, Tom's ghost is killed by Grizzle and most of the cast kill each other in duels or take their own lives in grief.

Fielding's play was later adapted into a spoof on opera conventions calledThe Opera of Operas; or Tom Thumb the Greatby playwrightsEliza HaywoodandWilliam Hatchett.This version includes a happy ending in which Tom is spat back out by the cow and the others are resurrected by Merlin's magic. This is considered to be a satirical comment on the unlikely and tacked-on nature of many happy endings in literature and drama.

Children's edition, 1888

In the mid-18th century, books began appearing specifically for children, and Tom was cited as the author of titles such asTommy Thumb's Song Book(1744) andTommy Thumb's Little Story Book(c. 1760). In 1791,Joseph Ritsonremarked that Tom's popularity was known far and wide: "Every city, town, village, shop, stall, man, woman, and child, in the kingdom, can bear witness to it."[2]

Tom's story was originally intended for adults, but it was relegated to the nursery by the mid-19th century. Vulgar episodes were sanitized, and moralizing colored the tale. InCharlotte Mary Yonge's 1856 adaptation, Tom resists his natural urges to play impish pranks, renounces his ties to Fairyland, and pronounces himself a Christian. AsMordred's rebellion wears on in the last days of Arthur's reign, Tom refuses to return to Fairyland, preferring to die as an honorable Christian.[4]

In 1863, Dinah Maria Craik Mulock refused to cleanse the tale's questionable passages and let the story speak for itself. She adds material, and Tom has adventures that again involve being swallowed by a miller and a salmon, being imprisoned in a mousetrap, angering King Thunston and his queen, and finally dying from the poisonous breath of a spider. Tom's tale has since been adapted to all sorts of children's books with new material added and existing material reworked, but his mischievous nature and his bravery remain undiminished.[4]

Plot

edit
The Queen of the Fairiesattends the birth of Tom Thumb

Richard Johnson'sThe History of Tom Thumbeof 1621 tells that in the days ofKing Arthur,old Thomas of the Mountain, a plowman and a member of the King's Council, wants nothing more than a son, even if he is no bigger than his thumb. He sends his wife to consult withMerlin.In three months' time, she gives birth to the diminutive Tom Thumb. The "Queene ofFayres"and her attendants act as midwives. She provides Tom with an oak leaf hat, a shirt of cobweb, a doublet of thistledown, stockings of apple rind, and shoes of mouse's skin.

Tom cheats at games with other boys and because of his many tricks, the boys will not associate with him. Tom retaliates by using magic to hang his mother's pots and glasses from a sunbeam. When his fellows try the same, their pots and glasses fall and are broken. Thereafter, Tom stays home under his mother's supervision. At Christmas, she makes puddings, but Tom falls into the batter and is boiled into one of them. When atinkercomes begging, Tom's mother inadvertently gives him the pudding containing her son.

His mother thereafter keeps a closer watch upon him. One day, he accompanies her to the field to milk thecows.He sits under a thistle, but a red cow swallows him. The cow is given a laxative and Tom passes from her in a "cow pat". He is taken home and cleaned. Another day, he accompanies his father for the seed sowing and rides in thehorse's ear. Tom is set down in the field to play thescarecrow,but aravencarries him away. His parents search for him, but are unable to find him.

The raven drops Tom at the castle of agiant.The cruel giant swallows the tiny boy like a pill. Tom thrashes about so much in the giant's stomach that he is vomited into the sea. There, he is eaten once more by afishwhich is caught for King Arthur's supper. Thecookis astonished to see the little man emerge from the fish. Tom then becomes King Arthur's Dwarf.

Tom becomes a favorite at King Arthur'sroyal court,especially among the ladies. There is revelry; Tom joins the jousting and dances in the palm of a Maid of Honour. He goes home briefly to see his parents, taking some money from the treasury with the king's permission, then returns to court. The Queene of Fayres finds him asleep on a rose and leaves him several gifts: an enchanted hat of knowledge, a ring of invisibility, a shape-changing girdle, and shoes to take him anywhere in a moment.

Tom falls seriously ill when a lady blows her nose, but is cured by thephysicianto King Twaddell of thePygmies.He takes a ride in his walnut shell coach and meets Garagantua. Each boasts of his many powers. When Garagantua threatens to harm Tom, he is cast under an enchantment and Tom hurries home to safety. King Arthur listens with amazement to Tom's many adventures.

Richard Johnson's 1621 narrative ends here, but he promised his readers a sequel that has never been found, if published at all. In 1630, a metrical version in three parts was published that continues Tom's adventures.

Later narratives

edit

Other versions paint a different picture to Tom's end. Dinah Mulock continued the tale and noted that Tom exhausted himself with jousting but recovered in Fairyland. When he returned to Arthur's court, he accidentally landed in a bowl of the king'sfrumenty.Tom enrages the cook and is threatened with beheading. He seeks refuge in the mouth of a passing slack-jawedmiller.Sensing tiny voices and movements within him, the man believes he ispossessed.He yawns and Tom emerges, but the Miller is so angry he tosses Tom into a river where he is swallowed by asalmon.The fish is caught, taken to the King's kitchen, and Tom is found and kept in a mousetrap until King Arthur forgives him.

Tom Thumb rides abutterfly.

The court goes hunting and Tom joins them upon his steed, a mouse. Acatcatches the mouse and Tom is injured. He is carried to Fairyland where he recovers and dwells for several years. When he returns to court, King Thunston now reigns. Charmed by the little man, the king gives Tom a tiny coach pulled by six mice. This makes the queen jealous as she received no such gifts and she frames Tom with being insolent to her. Tom attempts to escape on a passingbutterfly,but is caught and imprisoned in a mousetrap. He is freed by a curious cat and once more wins back the favor of King Thunston. Sadly, he does not live to enjoy it as he is killed by aspider's bite. Tom is laid to rest beneath rosebush and a marble monument is raised to his memory with the epitaph:

Here lies Tom Thumb, King Arthur’s knight,
Who died by a spider’s cruel bite.
He was well known in Arthur’s court,
Where he afforded gallant sport;
He rode at tilt and tournament,
And on a mouse a-hunting went;
Alive he fill’d the court with mirth
His death to sorrow soon gave birth.
Wipe, wipe your eyes, and shake your head
And cry, ‘Alas! Tom Thumb is dead.

Adaptations

edit

Tom Thumb is the subject of several films.

Animated shorts

edit

Live-action

edit

Feature Animation

edit

Literature

edit
  • Text stories and later comic strips based on the Tom Thumb character appeared in the anthology comicThe Beanofrom the first issue in 1938 until the late fifties.[5]

Similar tales and characters

edit

There are many thumb-sized characters around the world:Le petit poucet(France),Der kleine Däumling(Germany),Tommelise(Denmark), Little One Inch/Issun-bōshi(Japan), Si Kelingking (Indonesia), Thumbikin (Norway),Garbancitoand Pulgarcito (Spain), Pollicino (Italy), Piñoncito (Chile), Липунюшка (LipunyushkaorNo-Bigger-Than-A-Finger) (Russia),[6][7]Palčić (Serbia),Patufet(Catalonia),The Hazel-nut Child(Bukovina), Klein Duimpje andPinkeltje(Netherlands), Hüvelyk Matyi (Hungary), Ko Ko Nga Latt Ma (Myanmar),দেড় আঙ্গুলে(Dēṛa āṅgulē) (Bengal), Sprīdītis (Latvia) and others.[8]

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^"Tom Thumb's grave, Tattershall church".Geograph.org.
  2. ^abcdOpie 1992 pp. 30–2
  3. ^abcHalliwell 1860, p. 6
  4. ^abBauer
  5. ^beano
  6. ^Sherman, Josepha (2008).Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore.Sharpe Reference. pp. 332-333.ISBN978-0-7656-8047-1.
  7. ^Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998).Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend.Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 207.ISBN9781576070635.
  8. ^MacDonald 1993, p.

References

edit

Further reading

edit
  • Green, Thomas. “Tom Thumb and Jack the Giant-Killer: Two Arthurian Fairytales?” In:Folklore118 (2007): 123–140. DOI:10.1080/00155870701337296
  • Merceron, Jacques E. «Naître l’âme en pet: le conte du Pouçot (AT 700), la Vieille et la Vache cosmique». In: Françoise Clier-Colombani et Martine Genevois (dir.).Patrimoine légendaire et culture populaire: le Gai Savoir de Claude Gaignebet.Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan. 2019. pp. 425–458.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_Thumb&oldid=1250732966"