Good morning, everyone.  Merlin here, King Arthur’s advisor, to entertain you guys with another great story.  Several of you might have heard the story of Tom Thumb, but are you aware that I am the person who brought Tom Thumb to life?!  Let me start from the beginning.
 
One day, as King Arthur and I were passing through the forest surrounding Camelot, we came upon a small cottage. Now that day was very warm and King Arthur and I were thirsty so we decided to stop and ask for some water to drink.  The couple who lived there was very kind and gladly gave us something to drink and a small snack.  However, I noticed they seemed sad, so I asked the wife what was wrong.


jhk
It just so happened this couple had been trying to conceive a child for quite some time and had not found success.  The wife wanted a baby so bad she said it didn’t even matter if the boy was only as big as a thumb.  The idea of having a kid as small as a thumb humored me, so as I was leaving I cast a spell to plant a child inside of the wife.
 
Well, nine months later, the woman gave birth to a son and although the child was no larger than a pea, the husband and wife had never been happier.  Time went by and the kid soon grew to the size of a man’s thumb. 
 
Now Tom was a mischievous kid and played lots of tricks on everyone he encountered.  After some time, Tom’s friends got tired of him always stealing things out of their pockets, so they decided to teach him a lesson.  
 
One day, Tom’s friends started talking about all the coins they had collected from the floors of nearby shops.  They had placed all the loose change into a sack and hung it on one of their horses.  Tom thought this would be the easiest trickery to climb up the horse and into the sack.  Once Tom was inside, his friends slapped the horse’s behind and it took off running.  Tom felt the horse moving, but had no way to escape. 
 
After several hours, the horse happened upon King Arthur’s castle grounds.  One of the guards stopped the horse, and seeing no rider, proceeded to look through the sack trying to figure out the owner.  When he opened the sack, he saw Tom Thumb sitting on the pile of coins.  Seeing how strange this child was, the guard decided to take him to the magician- that is to me, Merlin.
 
When my eyes fell upon Tom Thumb, I was amazed.  Although I knew my spell would work, I didn’t think the parents would have kept the child.  Tom stayed in the castle a couple of days, and I soon learned what a troublesome boy he truly was.  He reminded me of me.  Well, I decided I would teach him some of my tricks and spells, such as how to make a stool become invisible or make someone lose their voice.  You can imagine how easy it would be for Tom to play a trick on someone; he is hardly ever seen.
 
Well, I am proud to announce that Tom continued in his mischievous ways, of course egged on by my help.  If you ever lose something or swear your chair moved when you fall to the ground, just remember Tom is probably to blame.
 

Author’s Note:  I was interested to read this story, because I was not aware that the story of Tom Thumb had anything to do with King Arthur and Merlin.
Keeping to Merlin’s true form, he plays a trick on a couple by giving them a son as small as a man’s thumb.  Although the couple loves their son, Tom finds himself in a lot of trouble throughout his life.  Just like Merlin, he loves to play tricks on people and ends up being a court jester for King Arthur. 
I decided to stop my retelling after Tom Thumb finds his way into King Arthur’s court.  I did this for two reasons: one, because I wanted to add Merlin back into the story and two, because the rest of the story exceeded my attention span.  
I kept to the original storyline for the most part, except for the way Tom ends up in Camelot.  In the original tale, he is stuck inside some batter, which a passerby picks up outside Tom’s house.  However, in my retelling, Tom finds himself set up by his friends who tried to teach him a lesson about stealing.  
At the end of my tale, I made Merlin teach Tom some magic so he could continue to play tricks on his friends and family.


Go back to the Storybook


Image Information: Wizard Animation, Web Source: Classroom Clipart
Bibliography: "The History of Tom Thumb" from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1890).