Line #1 Literature/TomThumb


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tom_thumb.jpg]]
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3	Tom Thumb is a traditional hero in English folklore who is no bigger than his father's thumb. Most commonly used as a stock FairyTale character in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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5	Stories involving Tom Thumb include typical fairy tale plot lines such as killing [[OurGiantsAreBigger giants]], wooing various women and embarking on innumerable other tasks in order to achieve/gain/prove something. These tasks are further complicated by the size of Tom Thumb, though he inevitably manages to utilize his tiny size to overcome obstacles in his way in roundabout ways. With unsettling frequency, Tom gets eaten by various animals and escapes by various means, including cutting his way out, yelling so that a nearby parson thinks the animal is [[DemonicPossession possessed]], and just getting pooped out.
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7	The origin of Tom Thumb is often cited as a poor, childless couple in the days of Myth/KingArthur allowing an old beggar (secretly the magician {{Myth/Merlin}}) to take refreshment in their home. The couple longs for a son and would be content even if he was no bigger than a thumb. Amused by this notion, Merlin casts a spell which resulted in the birth of the diminutive Tom Thumb. The tiny child is blessed by the [[FaerieCourt fairy queen]].
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9	The most notable Tom Thumb stories include Richard Johnson's ''The History of Tom Thumbe'' published in 1621. A 1730 play by English dramatist Creator/HenryFielding by the same name name, and which he rewrote in 1731 as ''The Tragedy of Tragedies''. A 1958 movie musical stars [[Theatre/WestSideStory Russ Tamblyn]] as Tom. Creator/ChuckJones did two radically different cartoons based on the story for Creator/WarnerBros, decades apart: the {{Disneyesque}} "Tom Thumb In Trouble," and the [[Creator/MontyPython Pythonesque]] "I Was a Teenage Thumb."
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11	The Aarne Thompson type is 700; see Literature/{{Thumbelina}} for the DistaffCounterpart. Full text [[https://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/tom_thumb here]]; there are [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/thumbelina/other.html similar tales]] in many countries.
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13	!! Tropes associated with the character of Tom Thumb:
14	* AlliterativeName: The protagonist's name is '''T'''om '''T'''humb.
15	* TheCasanova: Tom becomes very popular with the ladies in King Arthurs Court.
16	* DownerEnding: Dinah Mulock's version ends with Tom Thumb being killed by a spider. Henry Fielding's tragedy play ends with him being digested by the cow that swallowed him. His ghost comes back, ''and dies again'', after getting embroiled in a LoveTriangle.
17	* GettingEatenIsHarmless: Tom gets SwallowedWhole several times by various creatures (a cow, a giant, a fish, etc). But he manages to survive and escape each time.
18	* IncredibleShrinkingMan
19	* ImprovisedClothes: To an extent - Tom's wardrobe gets pretty imaginative, with [[ImprovisedWeapon a needle for a sword]]. There's even a touch of GardenGarment with a leaf for a hat, a thistledown jacket, and stockings made out of apple rinds.
20	* LawOfInverseFertility
21	* LilliputianWarriors: In many of the tales, Tom is quite the badass.
22	* LiteralGenie[=/=]JackassGenie: Oddly enough, Merlin can seem to be this in many versions giving the childless couple such a tiny child out of amusement. Though it worked out well.
23	* NiceMice: Tom rides a mouse and has a carriage drawn by mice.
24	* RibcageStomach: Implied in one version. After being SwallowedWhole by a fish, Tom fashions a sword from one of the fish's ribs while he's [[GettingEatenIsHarmless inside its stomach.]]
25	* SewingNeedleSword: In some variants of the story, the titular character is knighted by a king during his adventures or sets off on his own. He chooses a small needle to function as his sword.
26	* SwallowedWhole: Happens to Tom with a fish, a cow and a giant. Modern versions usually tone it down to simply being stuck in the cow's mouth.
27	* TheTrickster: Tom shows shades of this early in the story, cheating at marbles. This probably derives from an earlier oral version, because many [[{{Lilliputians}} Thumblings]] in folklore tend to be trickster figures.
28	* WonderChild

Context Literature / TomThumb