So he said, "Mistress, if you will not give me better things to eat, I
shall chalk upon your door, 'Too many potatoes, and not enough meat.
Good-bye, potato-mill.'"
"I should like to know what you want, you little grasshopper!" cried the
woman very angrily, and she seized a shred of cloth to strike him;
however, the tiny tailor popped under a thimble, and from it he peeped,
putting out his tongue at the mistress.
So she took up the thimble, meaning to catch him, but Tom Thumb hid
himself amongst the shreds of cloth, and when she began to search
through those, he slipped into a crack in the table, but put out his
head to laugh at her; so she tried again to hit him with the shred, but
did not succeed in doing so, for he slipped through the crack into the
table drawer.
At last, though, he was caught, and driven out of the house.
So the little fellow continued his travels, and presently entering a
thick forest, he encountered a company of robbers who were plotting to
steal the king's treasure.
As soon as they saw the little tailor, they said to themselves, "A
little fellow like this could creep through a keyhole, and aid us
greatly." So one called out--
"Hullo, little man, will you come with us to the king's treasury?
Certainly a Goliath like you could creep in with ease, and throw out the
coins to us.
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