In a cozy little cottage, not too far from a whispering forest, lived a woodcutter and his wife. They had a warm fire and enough to eat, but they often sighed, "If only we had a child!" One evening, the wife said, "I wish we had a little one, even if he were no bigger than my thumb!"

And believe it or not, soon after, they had a baby boy! He was healthy and happy, but he was, indeed, no bigger than a thumb. So, they named him Tom Thumb.

Though tiny, Tom was very clever. One day, his father needed to take the cart to the forest but had no one to guide the horse. "I can do it, Father!" chirped Tom. He climbed up and sat right in the horse's ear, whispering, "Gee up, horsey! Turn left! Go straight!" The horse listened, and people who saw the cart moving with no visible driver were amazed!

Two strangers saw this and thought, "What a marvel! We could make a fortune showing him off!" They offered the woodcutter a lot of shiny gold coins for Tom. The woodcutter didn't want to sell his son, but they were very poor. Tom, seeing his father's worry, whispered, "It's okay, Father. I'll come back!"

So, Tom went with the men. But he was too clever for them. When one man took off his hat, Tom quickly hid underneath it. Then, when they weren't looking, he slipped out and hid in an empty snail shell. When they finally found the shell, Tom had already scampered into a mouse hole! The men gave up and left.

Tom was alone. He soon overheard some robbers planning to sneak into the parson's house. "I can help!" Tom piped up. "I'm so small, I can slip through any crack!" The robbers thought this was a great idea.

They took him to the parsonage. Tom squeezed through a tiny gap in the window. Once inside, instead of helping the robbers, he shouted, "Do you want everything that's in here?"
The cook, who was sleeping nearby, woke up with a start! "Thieves!" she yelled. The robbers got scared and ran away, leaving Tom behind.

Tom found a soft pile of hay in the barn and fell fast asleep. In the morning, a cow came in for breakfast and, munch, munch, munch, ate the hay, with Tom still inside!
"Oh, it's dark in here!" cried Tom from inside the cow's stomach.
The cow got a fright hearing a voice from its belly and was taken to be looked at. Sadly, the cow was then prepared for dinner, and the stomach, with Tom still inside, was thrown onto a compost heap.

Just then, a hungry wolf came sniffing by and GULP! swallowed the stomach, Tom and all!
"Well, Mr. Wolf," called Tom from inside, "I know where you can find a wonderful feast!"
"Oh, do you now?" growled the wolf.
"Yes! At my father's house! There's cake, and bread, and all sorts of good things in the pantry!"
The greedy wolf liked this idea. Tom guided him right to his parents' cottage. "Just squeeze through the drainpipe into the kitchen!" Tom suggested.

The wolf tried, but of course, he got stuck! Tom started shouting, "Father! Mother! The wolf is here! He's trying to eat all our food!"
His parents rushed out, and when they saw the wolf stuck, they knew just what to do. They carefully helped the wolf out, but not before Tom had managed to wiggle his way out of the wolf's mouth!

Oh, how happy the woodcutter and his wife were to see their tiny, clever Tom Thumb again! They hugged him as best as they could and promised never to let him go on such big adventures alone again. And Tom was very happy to be home.

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