【英文原文】

In the days of king Arthur there lived a ploughman and his wife. They had lived together happily for twenty years, but they had no child. The great magician Merlin had sympathy for them, and caused the couple to have a little boy no bigger than his father’s thumb. They loved him dearly and named him Tom Thumb. Tom had a number of absurd adventures because of his tiny size. He was once swallowed with grass by a cow, but fortunately his cry surprised the cow, so that the cow opened her mouth and let him fall out. Another adventure happened when he was out in the field driving the cattle along. He fell into a furrow, and a great black raven picked him up and carried him away in her beak until she dropped him into the sea. Then a great fish swallowed him up. But the fish was soon caught up and brought to the court of King Arthur. The cook found Tom inside the fish, and took him up to the King. Tom Thumb amused the King and the Knights of the Round Table so much that he was knighted and given a needle for a sword and a white mouse for a horse. Now he lived in luxury, but he never forgot his poor parents. Once a month he rode off on his white mouse to their cottage in the country to see them. The poor ploughman and his wife were very proud of their little son.