ABSTRACT
Having earned royal favor and the stature of a hero by preserving King Arthur’s kingdom from the giants, Fielding’s little Tom Thumb asks not for political power or monetary reward but for domestic bliss: “I ask but this,/To Sun my self in Huncamunca’s Eyes.” The King grants Thumb the Princess Huncamunca, but Queen Dollalolla objects, since she is in love with Thumb herself. When Arthur remains firm, Dollalolla threatens violence, but Arthur refuses, on principle, to “truckle to her Will”:
For when by Force Or Art the Wife her Husband over-reaches, Give him the Peticoat, and her the Breeches.
