Thumb Boy - Daumesdick

A story from Grimm's Fairy Tales (No. 37). A childless peasant couple wished for a child, even if it was only a thumb, and they had just that. Two men saw Thumb riding a horse in its ears and buying it for a spectacle, but Thumb escaped. He saw some men trying to break into a priest's house and joined them. He sneaked in as his henchman, but he shouted loudly to wake the maid and chased the thieves away. While sleeping in the hay, he was eaten by a cow, and when he screamed in his stomach, people thought the cow had been possessed by a demon and killed it. A wolf swallowed the abandoned stomach, so Thumb led the wolf to his father's house, where his parents killed him, and he escaped safely. The father never sold his son again. This story is found in almost all of Europe, Turkey, and India. Small children were originally something that were specially given to people through prayer to God.

[Toshio Ozawa]

"Kenji Takahashi's translation of "The Grimm Fairy Tales Collection I" (1976, Shogakukan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

『グリム童話集』（第37番）の話。子のない百姓夫婦が、親指くらいでもいいから子が欲しいと望むと、そのとおりの子が生まれる。親指小僧が馬の耳に入って馬を御しているのを2人の男がみて、見せ物にしようと買い取るが、親指小僧は逃亡する。僧侶(そうりょ)の家に盗みに入ろうとしている男たちをみて仲間になり、手下として先に忍び込むが、大声を出して女中を起こし、盗賊を追い払う。干し草の中で眠っていると、牛に食べられ、胃の中で叫ぶと、人々は牛に魔がついたと思って牛を殺す。捨てられた胃袋を狼(おおかみ)が飲み込んだので、親指小僧は狼を父の家へ誘導し、父母に殺してもらって、無事に外へ出る。父は二度と息子を売らないという。この話はほとんど全ヨーロッパ、トルコ、インドにも分布している。小さい子は本来、神に願って特別に授けられるものだったのである。

［小澤俊夫］

『高橋健二訳『グリム童話全集Ⅰ』（1976・小学館）』

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