TOM HICKATHRIFT
 

ONCE upon a time there was a man named Thomas Hickathrift. He was a poor man and   a day laborer, and the only remarkable thing about him was that he was so strong he could do two days' work in one. His only child was a son whom he called by his own name, and he did his best to give this son a good education, but the lad did not like to go to school and got very little good from the teaching.

Presently the father died, leaving Tom and his mother to get along in the world as best they could. The boy was now ten years old, and it was evident he was going to grow into an unusually large man, for he was already six feet, three inches tall, and over two feet broad across his chest, and his hand was like a shoulder of mutton. He ate as much as would serve three or four ordinary men, yet he rarely lifted a finger to help his poor mother and spent most of his time sitting in the chimney corner. Mrs. Hickathrift had to work early and late to get a living for the two of them. However, she did the best she could and never complained.

The beds on which she and Tom slept were of straw, and she, being very tidy in her habits, every now and then liked to have a new bed. So one day she went to the home of a neighboring farmer and begged a bundle of fresh straw.

"Take what you want and welcome," said the farmer.

"I will send my son to fetch it," she replied, and returned to her cottage.

It required considerable urging to get Tom started, but at last he said he would go if she would borrow a cart rope for him. Otherwise, he would not budge a step. His mother was only too glad to gain his help on any terms, and she went and got the rope. As soon as she returned with it he took it over his arm and walked off. He found the farmer and his two men in the barn threshing. "I am come for the straw you promised my mother," said Tom.

"Help yourself," responded the farmer. "You can have as much as you can carry."

So Tom laid his rope down in the right position and began to pile the straw on it. "Your rope is too short," said the farmer by way of a joke.

But Tom paid no heed to him and kept on till he had as much straw on the rope as would have made a wagon load. Then he tied it up tightly while the men looked on laughing at his folly. "You couldn't carry a tenth as much," said they.

This merriment did not last long, for he lifted the enormous bundle to his shoulders and walked away, carrying it without the least difficulty, and left them gaping after him.

Tom's strength being thus made known there was no longer any basking by the fire for him. Everyone was telling him it was a shame to lead such a lazy life, and they wanted to hire him to work. So he gave up his old ways and was always busy after this.

One day, as Tom was passing through the forest he found a party of four men, who had come with a wagon drawn by six horses to get a great log. The men were doing their best to roll the log on to the wagon, but they could not get it off the ground.

"Stand away!" said Tom, and he picked up the log and placed it on the wagon with ease.

"Well done," said the owner of the team, "and now what reward will you take?"

"Oh, a stick for my mother's fire," replied Tom. "All right," the man responded, "take any stick you please."

So Tom pulled up a tree that was bigger than the log on the wagon, laid it on his shoulder and walked home with it faster than the six horses drawing the log could follow.

As time went on, Tom became very fond of going to fairs and pleasure gatherings and joining in the sports and pastimes. At cudgels, wrestling, or throwing the hammer, not a man could equal him.

Once he went so far from home to a football play that the people who were present had not heard of his fame. For a while Tom stood by to see the sport, but at length the ball came bounding toward him and he gave it a kick that sent it over the trees out of sight.

The players ran to look for it, but it was not to be found, and when they came back they gathered about Tom to punish him for losing their football. They all rushed on him in a body, but he flung some to the right and some to the left and two or three he tossed over his head so that in a few minutes they ceased attacking. None durst venture near him and they whispered one to another that he must be possessed by an evil spirit.

Late in the evening, as he was on his way home, he was met by five lusty rogues who had been busy on the road all that day robbing travellers. They thought Tom would furnish them one more prize, as he was alone, and they felt cocksure of getting his purse.

"Stand and deliver!" said they.

"What should I 'deliver?" asked Tom.

"Your money!" they said.

"You don't ask for it very politely," said Tom. "Come, come!" they cried. "No more prating. Money we want, and money we'll have before you stir from this spot."

"Is that so?" said Tom. "Then you'll have to take it."

They were very angry and all five pounced on him together. But Tom knocked them down, every one, and took away their money, which was over two hundred pounds. Then he went on and left them, and on reaching home he made his mother laugh heartily with the story of how he had served the football players and the five thieves.

Yet, once at least, Tom found his match. In wandering along a forest path one day he met a tinker who had a stout staff in his hand and a great dog at his heels carrying his bag and tools.

"Whence come you, and whither are you going?" asked Tom. "This is no highway."

"What's that to you?" said the tinker.

"I'll make you know what it is to me before you and I part," said Tom.

"Well," replied the tinker, "you have your staff, and I have mine, and I'm ready for a bout with you, though I'm on my way to seek Tom Hickathrift. I've heard great things told of that fellow and would fain try a turn with him."

"Methinks," said Tom, "he'd prove himself your master, and if it does you any good to know, why, I may as well inform you that I am the Tom Hickathrift for whom you are seeking. Now what have you to say to me?"

"Why, verily," responded the tinker, "I'm glad we are so happily met. Let's try a match at once."
   

"Surely, you jest," said Tom. "I have never found my equal, and you 'II be lame and sore from head to foot when I finish with you."

"I'm in earnest," responded the tinker, "and beg you to waste no more words."

So they gripped their staffs, and at each other they went laying on their blows with might and main. The tinker wore a leather coat, and every whack of Tom's staff that fell on it could be heard a mile. To Tom's surprise, the tinker would not retreat an inch till at last he gave him a rap that laid him flat on the earth.

"Now, tinker, where are you?" asked Tom.

But the tinker immediately leaped up and struck Tom with such sudden force that it made him reel. Before he could recover himself the tinker landed a blow on the other side that almost cracked Tom's neck and left him so dizzy that he threw down his staff and cried, "Enough, friend tinker. You have proven yourself the better man. Shake hands and come home with me."

So Tom took him to his house where they nursed their bruises, and from that day forth there was no stauncher pair of comrades than they two. Some time afterward Tom found regular employment with a merchant who had been looking for a good, strong man to drive a cart to and from a town twenty miles distant. He carried a load going, but returned with the cart empty, and he made the trip every day in the week except Sunday. It was a wearisome journey. There was another road not half as long, only a monstrous giant had taken possession of it and would allow no passers. Tom often thought of that road and finally, without saying a word of his intentions to his master or anyone else, he one day took the short road. Presently the giant saw him and came hurrying to seize the load on Tom's cart.

"Who gave you authority to come this way?" roared he. "I'll make you an example for all rogues under the sun. Your body shall soon be hanging on yonder tree."

"We'll see about that," said Tom. "Quit your bragging and hang me if you are able."

The giant then ran off to his cave to fetch his club, and Tom began to look about to see what sort of a weapon he could find with which to defend himself. He had nothing but his whip, and that would be of little use against a giant twelve feet tall and six feet around the waist. So Tom stopped his horses, unhitched them and turned the cart upside down. Then he took off the two wheels and the axletree. One of the wheels he picked up to use for his shield, and the axletree served for a club.

 
Tom and the Giant