The legend of Tom Thumb began as a folktale of unknown ancient origins that is almost certainly based on an oral tradition. The novelty of Tom's adventures has clearly captured the imagination of people throughout the ages and across cultures, as demonstrated by the multicultural versions, as well as English adaptations to the tale. A significant number of retellings in the English traditions link the story to the Arthurian legend such as Merlin's role in Tom's birth, and the knighting of Tom by King Arthur. The evolution of the English legend can be traced back to seventeenth-century chapbooks that were published primarily for the entertainment of adults. By the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, playwrights adapted it for theatrical performance, and by the middle of the nineteenth century the story had moved into the realm of children's literature, where it remains today.

          The earliest known prose version published in English, appears in a seventeenth-century chapbook entitled The History of Tom Thumbe, the Little, for his small stature surnamed, King Arthurs Dwarfe: Whose Life and adventures, containe many strange and wonderful accidents, published for the merry time-spenders (1621), written by Richard Johnson (listed only as R.I. on the title page). While King Arthur is a central figure in the tale, Johnson adds his own twist to the plot by including magical gifts given to Tom by his godmother, the Fairy Queen, his encounter with the giant, Gargantua, and his captivity in the giant's castle.

          A later adaptation of Johnson's version is found in the chapbook, Tom Thumbe, His Life and Death: Wherein is declared many Maruailous Acts of Manhood, full of wonder, and strange merriments: Which little Knight lived in King Arthur's time, and famous in the Court of Great-Brittaine (1630). Written in verse, this adaptation includes Tom's parentage and the magic surrounding his birth when Merlin grants the wish of the ploughman's wife for a son even if he were no bigger than the ploughman's thumb. This version also includes Tom's popularity and noble deeds in King Arthur's court, but omits Johnson's embellishments. One hundred years later, playwright Henry Fielding, would rely on the popularity and general knowledge of Tom Thumb's story in writing his own version, ushering in a new phase in its evolution.

          Fielding drew on the chapbook tradition of the earlier century in his satiric plays, Tom Thumb and The Tragedy of Tragedies. In Tom Thumb, the diminutive man is an unlikely hero as the conqueror of giants, a favorite in Arthur's court, and the object of women's desire. In 1730, Tom Thumb ran uninterrupted at the Little Theatre for nearly forty nights from Friday, April 24, until Monday, June 22. On March 24, 1731, Fielding released a revised version of the original Tom Thumb entitled, The Tragedy of Tragedies; or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, which ran through April and part of May, 1731.

          Both plays contain liberal amounts of eighteenth-century political and literary satire, slurs on the medical profession, and parodies of earlier and contemporary heroic tragedies. In the critical introduction to his edition of the plays, editor L.J. Morrissey, notes that the political satire becomes clearer and is more obvious in the Tragedy of Tragedies adaptation, where it is immediately seen in the revised title which refers to Tom Thumb as "the Great." This is a direct reference to the politician, Sir Robert Walpole who was then called the "Great" man (6). Fielding was also ruthless in his literary parodies. He mercilessly scrutinized heroic tragedies, then lifted the most pompous and absurd lines from the texts and wove them into his own scenes, thus implying that these tragic portrayals and over-the-top emotions were comical and ridiculous.

          In the original version, Tom Thumb returns home the conquering hero and is promised the hand of the Princess Huncamunca, unleashing a chain of events because Arthur's queen, Dollalolla, is in love with Tom, and Lord Grizzle, a courtier, is in love with Huncamunca. Grizzle vows revenge and he and the queen conspire to stop the marriage. When an attempt is made on Tom's life and he is reported dead, by poisoning, the court is reduced to chaos until Tom's sudden reappearance. The king demands an explanation from the attending physicians who have mistaken a monkey dressed in Tom's clothes for Tom. Their ineptitude is a deliberate slur on physicians whom Fielding held in the highest contempt. Tom leaves the court and goes out into the street where Noodle witnesses his being swallowed by a large red cow. Grizzle is cheated of his revenge until Tom's ghost appears and Grizzle kills Tom's ghost. The court erupts in chaos once again, and in a frenzy of grief, each character is stabbed and dies. Arthur, the last left alive, kills himself.

          The revised version, The Tragedy of Tragedies, begins in the same manner except for the addition of the character Glumdalca, the giant queen, and Foodle, Grizzle's accomplice. Dialogue has been added to Scenes IV and V in Act II, and in Act III, Scene IV, the dialogue between Princess Huncumunca and the King is longer, as well. However, it is in Acts II and III of The Tragedy of Tragedies that most of the revisions were made. In Act II, Scene V, Huncamunca promises to marry Grizzle after she has already agreed to marry Tom. In Scene VIII, the King reveals that he is in love with Glumdalca, who is in love with Tom; and in Scene X, Grizzle learns of Huncamunca's duplicity from Noodle. He confronts Huncamunca, and she tries to convince him that there is enough of her for both men. Grizzle swears revenge.

          In Act III, Scenes I and II, Gaffer Thumb's ghost appears to Arthur and tells him of Grizzle's rebellion. Noodle confirms the story, and Tom and Glumdalca leave to stop the rebellion. In Scene VII, another new character, Foodle, is introduced as he and Grizzle plan their rebellion. On the way to fight Grizzle, Tom meets Merlin who tells him of the circumstances surrounding his birth and of his fate. During the battle, Grizzle kills Glumdalca, and Tom kills Grizzle, who swears to return to claim Huncamunca to be his in the after life. On his way back to court, bearing the head of Grizzle, Tom is swallowed by a large red cow, an event witnessed by Noodle who returns to court with the sad tale. Both endings are the same, as each character is stabbed and dies, leaving Arthur alone to kill himself. The popularity of Fielding's plays prompted an adaptation to the Tragedy of Tragedies in 1731 by playwrights, Eliza Haywood and William Hatchett.

          The Opera of Operas; or Tom Thumb the Great opened on May 31, 1733 at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket but unlike Fielding who satirized heroic tragedy, Haywood satirized the conventions of the Italian opera, particularly their happy endings. In the "Introduction," to her edition of the play, editor Valerie C. Rudolph notes that, "Mrs. Haywood softens Fielding's satire on the heroic play by condensing or omitting speeches that originally focused on specific dramatic absurdities in order to heighten the satire on the Italian opera" (xvii). Consequently, two of the most notable differences between Fielding's adaptation and Haywood's are the satire Haywood employs regarding the improbability of happy endings, especially the improbability of political happy endings, and the inclusion of music.

          As the entire cast lies in a dead heap on the stage, Haywood adds two commentators who argue about the absolute necessity of a happy ending if this was to be considered a true Italian opera. As the commentators debate, Merlin appears on the stage and tells the audience that the characters were under an enchantment. He lifts the enchantment and the dead characters rise; peace and order are restored in the court. Even more improbable is that all of the lovers who were in love with "the wrong person" suddenly realize that they are really in love with "the right person" and all promise to live in a spirit of peace and brotherhood forever.

          In the late eighteenth century (1780), Kane O'Hara wrote a two-act burletta based on Haywood's adaptation. In his version, O'Hara omits characters and scenes entirely and changes some of the character's names. For example, O'Hara omits the scene in both Fielding and Haywood's versions where Tom has an encounter with a bailiff and his follower. O'Hara also changes the names of Huncamunca's ladies-in-waiting from Cleora and Mustacha to Frizaletta and Plumante. O'Hara does, however, retain the happy ending found in Haywood's adaptation.

          By the nineteenth century, the legend, originally aimed at an adult audience, generally becomes more temperate when the tale is modified for children by removing the coarseness of earlier versions and, in some versions, adding moralistic overtones.

          In Charlotte Mary Yonge's 1856 adaptation, Tom's elfin size causes his aunt to suspect him of demonic possession. Throughout the narrative he must resist his mischievous nature and numerous temptations by the impish elf Puck, who offers to help Tom out of his various mishaps if Tom would only admit to his elfin nature. Tom steadfastly refuses to do so. While recovering in Fairyland, he renounces his ties with the fairies, declares that he is a "Christian man", and demands to be returned to Earth in order to help Arthur fight Mordred's rebellion. Upon Tom's return, the rebellion is over, Mordred is dead and Arthur dying. Tom returns to Caerleon and agrees to escort Guinevere to a nunnery as his last duty as a knight of the Round Table. When he sees a spider's web around Arthur's chair at the Round Table, he tries to remove it but the devious spider weaves a web around Tom, binding him hand and foot. Puck, once again, offers to help Tom if he will admit to his own impish nature and return to fairyland. Tom refuses, preferring to die as an honorable Christian.

          In 1863, Dinah Maria Craik Mulock compiled a collection of English fairy tales for children entitled, The Fairy Book. The Best Popular Fairy Stories Selected and Rendered Anew. In her adaptation, Mulock includes additions to the original narrative. She also chose not to condense or revise the story in order to make it suitable for a young audience. For example, when Grumbo, the giant, captures Tom in his castle, he swallows Tom like a pill only to "throw him up" into the sea when Tom makes his stomach uncomfortable. Mulock lets the narrative stand as a fairy tale, preferring to entertain children rather than instruct them on the virtues of moral behavior.

          In Mulock's adaptation, the story does not end with Tom's death from over-exertion in jousting tournaments. Instead, after his death, Tom returns to Fairy Land until he is recovered. He is then sent back to Arthur's court where he immediately has an unpleasant encounter with the king's cook. A distracted Arthur orders Tom's execution, but Tom escapes by jumping down a miller's throat. He rolls about inside the miller who believes he is bewitched and calls a doctor. While the doctor is trying to diagnose the problem, the miller yawns and Tom jumps out of his mouth. He is seized by the angry miller and thrown into the river where he is swallowed by a salmon. When the fish is caught for the king's dinner, Tom again encounters his enemy the cook and is imprisoned in a mousetrap. A repentant Arthur eventually pardons Tom, knights him, and then takes him on a hunting trip, with a mouse as his steed. When a cat seizes the mouse, Tom fights the cat then dies from his injuries, returning once again to Fairy Land.

          After many years, the Fairy Queen sends Tom back to earth where he becomes a favorite of King Thunston. Unfortunately, he soon falls out of favor with the queen and escapes from the palace on the back of a butterfly. The butterfly promptly flies back into the palace where Tom is captured. He is sentenced to death and imprisoned in a mousetrap awaiting execution. When a cat spies Tom in the trap, he thinks he is a mouse. The cat accidentally releases Tom who promptly falls into a spider's web and is mistaken for a fly. Tom fights the spider but is overtaken by its poisonous breath and dies. This time Tom returns to Fairy Land and remains there.

          In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the narrative is further adapted for children in a variety of illustrated books. In 1888, the McLoughlin Brothers published the picture book, Tom Thumb, mounted on linen. In this adaptation, Merlin and Mab, the Fairy Queen, conspire together to grant the ploughman's wish for a child and heir. In 1908, Thomas Nelson and Sons published, Adventures of a Fairy Knight. This lengthier version combines the story of Tom Thumb with several well-known Arthurian legends and fairy myths. For example, Merlin and Mab, the Fairy Queen, conspire to grant the ploughman's wish for a son because the King of the Fairies, Oberon, is jealous of the attentions the elf, Pigwiggan, has bestowed on Mab. For his own safety, Pigwiggan is sent to Earth as Tom Thumb. As a young boy, Tom retains his elfin nature and has adventures with a cow, a giant, and a fish. When he finds himself in Arthur's court after being released from the fish's stomach, he is befriended by the kitchen-boy, Gareth.

          In Charles Stuart MacLeod's 1923 metrical version, we are told that Merlin makes Tom the size of his mother's thumb out of anger when the ploughman's wife refuses to give him food and shelter. In 1934, Helen and Bruce Gentry wrote The History of Tom Thumb. Published as a miniature book (3"x3"), this prose version retells Tom's adventures in the days of King Arthur. This version omits Tom's first death from over-exertion at jousting tournaments, and his return during King Thunston's reign. Instead, it remains in King Arthur's time. However, it is Arthur's queen who becomes jealous of the favors the king bestows on Tom, and who conspires to have him executed.

          Many particulars of the narrative have also been modified for children. Some later versions change the thistle eaten by the cow to a flower. Tom never travels beyond the cow's mouth, nor is he unceremoniously deposited at the other end, as in earlier adult-oriented versions such as in the 1630 chapbook. Instead, he is saved by his mother or falls out of the cow's mouth after creating a commotion in her throat while trying to avoid her teeth. In some versions Tom lives happily in King Thunston's court until his death, while in others, he falls out of favor with the queen. The reason for his fall from favor is either not given, or is attributed to the queens jealously. Gerda Muller's 1988 version, The Adventures of Tom Thumb, omits Merlin from the story. Instead, Tom's father finds him lying inside a flower. In Richard Jesse Watson's 1989 version, King Arthur knights Tom after he rescues the king and the Knights of the Round Table from the giant Grumbong. The story ends when Tom returns home to his parents with a tiny wagon filled with coins given to him by King Arthur.

          The story of Tom Thumb has also reached into popular culture. In the nineteenth century, the twenty-five inch tall Charles Sherwood Stratton was called, "General Tom Thumb," and became a sideshow attraction in P.T. Barnum's circus. Tom can also be found in a variety of twentieth-century animated videos. While many "Tom Thumb" animations have no connection to King Arthur, a few have retained that central theme from the early narratives. For example, the 1963 video Tom Thumb in King Arthur's Court, has a moralistic message: the size of a person's integrity is much more important than physical size. The evolution of Tom Thumb continues today. In her 2001 adaptation for children, The Adventures of Tom Thumb, Marianna Mayer brings the story of Tom Thumb in King Arthur's court into the twenty-first century in her retelling of the traditional story with new illustrations.

          Despite a variety of changes, the legend of Tom Thumb has endured for more than three hundred years. Tom continues to amuse audiences with his mischievous nature and wit, while his bravery and perseverance, despite his size, secures his place as the smallest knight of the Round Table.