Thumbling aka Tom Thumb by Brothers Grimm is a bit different from the famous Tom Thumb, the first fairy tale printed in the English language. We'll summarize it with the help of black and white drawings by Franz Stassen from 1921.

 

The story starts with a pair of already older man and wife who are desperately wishing for a child. They would like to have one even if it's little as a thumb. One day their wish comes true. A small boy is born and they love him very much. He is named Thumbling (or Tom Thumb).

 

 

One day Thumbling gets out with his father, comfortably sitting in horse's ear, giving directions directly talking into it. Two strangers notice him and ask his father if he is willing to sell the boy because they believe they could make him famous and earn a fortune.

 

Thumbling convinces his father to accept the deal and later trick the men to put him down so he can escape into a mouse hole.

 

 

In the night, he is awakened by two robbers who plan to steal from the pastor's house. Thumbling proposes to join because he could easier sneak in the house and give the robbers everything valuable he finds. But when he enters the house, he starts loudly asking what the robbers prefer and the residents of the house wake up. The robbers escape and Thumbling finds a nice place to sleep in the hay.



Unfortunately, a cow swallows him and he starts yelling from its stomach. 

 

The pastor hears the voices and believing a demon obsesses the animal orders killing eat. Her body is thrown in the wood where the wolf starts eating it. The wolf swallows Thumbling as well. Yet the boy convinces the wolf to find the house of his parents promising it a splendid feast.

 

Instead of that, Thumbling's parents kill the wolf and rescue their little son who promises he'll never get into trouble like that.