Jack's fame had spread through the whole country; and at the king's
desire, the duke gave him his daughter in marriage, to the joy of all
the kingdom. After this, the king gave him a large estate, on which he
and his lady lived the rest of their days in joy and content.
TOM THUMB.
In the days of King Arthur, Merlin, the most learned enchanter of his
time, was on a journey; and being very weary, stopped one day at the
cottage of an honest ploughman to ask for refreshment. The ploughman's
wife, with great civility, immediately brought him some milk in a
wooden bowl, and some brown bread on a wooden platter. Merlin could
not help observing, that although everything within the cottage was
particularly neat and clean, and in good order, the ploughman and his
wife had the most sorrowful air imaginable: so he questioned them on
the cause of their melancholy, and learned that they were very
miserable because they had no children. The poor woman declared, with
tears in her eyes, that she should be the happiest creature in the
world, if she had a son, although he were no bigger than his father's
thumb. Merlin was much amused with the notion of a boy no bigger than
a man's thumb; and as soon as he returned home, he sent for the queen
of the fairies (with whom he was very intimate), and related to her
the desire of the ploughman and his wife to have a son the size of his
father's thumb.
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