"Nonsense," said the rector; "cows do not talk." Nevertheless, he went to the cow-shed. No sooner had he stepped inside the door than the cow lifted her head, and a voice called in great distress: "No more hay, please! no more hay!" "Alas," cried the rector, "my beautiful cow is bewitched! It is best to kill her before she makes mischief with the other cows." So the cow was slaughtered, and the stomach, with Little Thumb inside, was flung away. "Now, I will work my way out and run home," thought Tom. But he was to have another adventure first. He had just gotten his head free, when a hungry wolf, attracted by the smell of the freshly-killed meat, seized the stomach in its jaws and sprang away into the forest. Instead of losing courage, Little Thumb began to plan a way of escape. He decided on a bold scheme. In his loudest voice he called: "Wolf, if you are hungry, I know where you can get a choice dinner." "Where?" asked the wolf. "There is a house not far away, and I know a hole through which you can crawl into the kitchen. Once there you can eat and drink to your heart's content." The wolf did not know that Tom meant his own home; but the mention of these good things to eat made him very hungry, and following Tom's directions he quickly reached the house. Things were exactly as promised. Tom waited till he was sure the wolf had eaten so much that he could not get out through the hole he came in. Then he called from inside the wolf: "Father, mother, help! I am here--in the wolf's body." It did not take long for the father to finish the wolf and rescue his dear boy. "We shall never let you go again, for all the riches of the world," said the mother and father. But Tom was rather pleased with his adventures. One day, when walking beside the river, he slipped and fell in. Before he had a chance to swim out a fish came along and swallowed him. Tom had escaped so often from such dangers that he was not much afraid. After a time the fish saw a dainty worm, and, little thinking that it was on a hook, took it in its mouth. Before it realized what had happened it was pulled out of the water, with Little Thumb still inside. Now, as luck would have it, this fish was to be for the King's dinner. When the cook opened the fish to clean it and make it ready for broiling, out stepped Little Thumb, much to the astonishment and delight of everyone. The King said he had never seen so tiny and merry a fellow. He knighted him, and had Sir Thomas Thumb and his father and mother live in the palace the rest of their lives. [Illustration] WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT