TOM THUMB
How Tom Escapes Hanging
Now, just as Tom came flying back to King Arthur's court, the cook happened to be passing with the king's great bowl of frumenty, a dish the king was very fond of. Unfortunately the little fellow fell plump into the middle of it, splashing the hot frumenty in the cook's face. The cook, in a rage at Tom for frightening and scalding him, ran to tell the king that Tom had jumped into his Majesty's favorite dish out of idle mischief.
The king's anger was terrible. He ordered Tom to be seized and tried. No one dared plead for him, so the king commanded that his head be cut off. A crowd followed the headsman to see it done. The headsman lifted his ax. Poor little Tom fell a-trembling and looked about for some means of escape. In the crowd he saw a miller with his mouth open, like the booby he was. At a bound Tom leaped into the miller's mouth. He sprang in so nimbly that no one, not even the miller himself, saw where he went. So, as the headsman could not find Tom to take off Tom's head, he, like a sensible man, shouldered his ax and went home; and the miller went back to his mill.
When Tom heard the miller at work in the mill, he knew he was far away from the court and en-
