Tom Thumb VS Issun Boshi: A comparative study

This study aims to compare two stories with the same concept, namely stories about 1-inch humans from two different cultures, British culture, represented by the story of Tom Thumb and Japanese culture, represented by the story of Issun Boshi. This study uses Comparative Literature approach focusing on Zepetnek's theory of comparing literary works with different languages or cultures. Qualitative descriptive is used for the method in this study with research design that looks for similarities, differences, and values contained in the two stories. The results obtained from this study are similarities such as: 1. The main character's body size is 1 inch, 2. The origin of the main character's birth comes from prayer, 3. The main character's profession which is a knight, 4. Setting of place at the beginning and the end of the story, and 5. The enemy of the main character who is a giant. In addition, differences were found, namely 1. Differences like the main character, and 2. The story's ending. The differences in the two stories are due to differences in family values. The family value found in Issun Boshi's is responsibility, while the family value found in Tom Thumb's is self-reliance.


Introduction
Folklore, also commonly known as folk literature or oral traditions, is a fictional story about animals, people, cultural myths, jokes, songs, tales, or quotes. The distribution of folklore is passed down verbally from one generation to the next. Although nowadays, many folklores are written in the form of novels, short stories, or picture books for children too. Folklore cannot be separated from the community, considering that folklore can symbolise a region (Alfioda & Hayati, 2021). All over the world, folklore must be told from generation to generation, usually containing moral teachings and very valuable for the community (Asmawati et al., 2019). Folklore is told from generation to generation. Because of that, folklore is called anonymous. Folklore is very different from historical stories. Historical stories must be based on facts, while folklore is oral literature that is told from generation to generation according to the listener's memory. This is why folklore has many different versions (Alfioda & Hayati, 2021).
The telling of folklore or folktales is a constant activity all over the world. However, the activity is by no means uniform in the various parts of the world, and as one moves over the continents, one finds extraordinary variability within the uniformity of the general practice (Abdivalievna, 2019). Fairy tales, as part of the folk narrative system, play a role in the development of literature and culture and plays an important role in the development of children (Abdivalievna, 2019). This is indeed common in all parts of the world because almost all cultures teach values to their children through stories from generation to generation, known as folklore. As a traditional story told from generation to generation, folktales are able to absorb aspects of life found in the supporting community groups, both in the form of social problems, ethics, and others (Noviana, 2019). Children's stories in the form of folktales or fairy tales function in life because the philosophical dialogue in these stories enhances children's sense of self, provides a safe space for the discussion of issues that they are confronted with in living their lives, and develops an admirable method for resolving conflicts that children can use in other contexts (Wartenberg, 2022). In short, it can be concluded that folktales are an effective tool for teaching children about the values contained in a community to form a value system that will ultimately ensure the sustainability of the community.
Folklore from various parts of the world certainly has differences that make it unique. Three types of folktales that are common on the European continent are 1. No Goat with Nuts, 2. Characters devour each other, 3. Tales and songs. The first type is a series of events bound together by one slender thread and a conversation consisting of increasing details. The tales show the standard threats of violence but manage the end to solve the problematic circumstances or to skirt any actual killings. The second type is the situations involving interactions between humans and an animal. To the second type, they attribute plots where the characters devour each other, for which God consistently punishes them. The third type, namely the fairy tale text, is built like songs, and here it is important to mention that such tales consist of rhyme based on cumulativeness (Abdivalievna, 2019). One country that has folklore that is known throughout the world is England. The works of English folklore have been created, polished, and enriched in terms of subject matter and ideology over the centuries. The contents of English folklore are mostly about good deeds and blessings. In English literature, the word "good wishes" is the word which is close to the word "blessings". In dictionaries and encyclopedias said that it is derived from the German word "wunschen", which means "wun" -wish, "schen"wishing (Urayeva & Khayatovna, 2020).
In other parts of the world, namely in the East, folklore from Japan has captivated many folklore lovers worldwide. Japanese folklore is similar to Western folklore, but Japanese folklore also contains the culture of the place where people created the tale. Japanese folktales typically indicate the setting by city name, province, temples, and bridges throughout the story. A detailed setting is essential to Japanese fairy tales (Okuhara, 2000). In some legends, a mallet or hammer is considered a good luck omen and can grant wishes when struck on the ground" (Roberts, 2009). Japanese people believe it is necessary to provide unconditional love to their children (Kelley, 2006). The Japanese encourage children to be dependent on family members by patiently attending to a child's every whim, which in turn creates the necessary bond to ensure the continuity of the group. Independent behaviour, such as making vocational decisions without consulting one's parents or mentors would challenge Japanese thought (Shelley, 1993).
Tom Thumb, one of the famous examples of folklore in England, talks about a glorious idea where a very tiny boy, not bigger than his thumb, had his own adventures and tried to survive and thrive through the story. He was born into a poor family of a woodman and his wife, who did not have any children. They later wish to have a child and promise to be fulfilled even though their child would be so small. Tom Thumb experienced many obstacles before becoming a knight loved by the King. However, the queen's instigation made her hunted by the royal army, and she finally died of spider venom. In the other part of the world, Issun Boshi has almost the same story. He is only 1 inch tall and was born from the prayers of his father and mother. Just like Tom Thumb, Issun Boshi became a knight working for a lord. The difference between the two stories lies in the ending of the story. Issun Boshi finally became the size of a normal human and married the child of his master, while Tom Thumb remained small and died from spider venom.
Research on tiny humans like Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi is lacking. One of these small proportions is research from Lepri, which discusses Tom Thumb, which tells that Tom Thumb is a child who was abandoned by people who wanted him to be born into the world (Lepri, 2022). Similar to Tom Thumb, Issun Boshi, which is a story about small people in Japan, also received less attention from researchers. One study that sheds a little light on Issun Boshi is research from Lightburn which examines the process towards maturity in the story of Issun Boshi (Lightburn, 2012). The two studies also cannot provide an in-depth view of these stories because these studies do not focus on mini humans but rather on folklore in general, which includes Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi. If there are only a few studies on miniature humans, let alone research that discusses comparisons of these miniature humans. Therefore, this study compares Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi with a focus on the similarities and differences between the two stories and the values contained in the two stories.

Theoretical Framework
Comparative Literature has become a debate among experts regarding its validity in the world of literary theory. Sceptics consider comparative literature to be placed as a theory or at least equal to established literary theories. On the other side of the spectrum, scholars argue that comparative literature is an approach to analyse literary works, not a theory. Comparative Literature explores an 'area of interest' rather than a special discipline (Gifford, 2021). The words 'area of interest' is often misunderstood in academic circles. Broadly speaking, the 'discipline' of comparative literature has two ways, namely 1. literature and other, 2. inclusion of literature. An explanation of literature and others, namely comparing literary works with works/ disciplines outside of literature and literary works in one language/ culture with literary works from other languages/ cultures (Zepetnek, 1998).
Comparative literature involves the study of texts across culture that is interdisciplinary (Basset, 2022). In fact, it is not only written texts that can be compared in comparative literature because things outside the text, such as paintings, sculptures, or buildings, can be compared with written texts. Javed later explained specifically that comparative literature is an interdisciplinary field whose practitioners study literature across national borders, time periods, languages, genres, and across boundaries between literature and other arts such as music, painting, dance, film etc., as well as across disciplines such as literature and psychology, philosophy, science, history, architecture, sociology, politics etc. (Javed, 2020). Broadly speaking, comparative literature is the study of literature concerned with patterns of connection in literature across time and space. This point of contact between several disciplines gives comparative literature vitality and validity in an effort to embrace human thoughts. Human thoughts from all parts of the world tend to have similarities even though great distances separate them. Therefore comparative literature tries to explore the similarities and differences of literary works with other literary works or literary works with other entities outside of literary works (Bowo et al., 2022). Also, since different disciplines might influence one's research in comparative literature, it is commonly known that the research or study is written by scholars drawn from different departments.
One field rich in comparative literature sources is literary works with different cultures/ languages. This is closely related to the nature of comparative literature, which embraces matters concerning cultures such as migration, immigration, ethnicity, and cultural diversity (Zepetnek, 1998). Indeed, at first, this comparative literature focused on works of European literature which tended to be similar. However, it developed along with the development of colonialization in the world. The discovery of new worlds also shows the diversity of literary works worldwide. The discovery was accompanied by research to compare these literary works. The results of the research revealed that differences in distance do not prevent humans from behaving in a similar way. Literary works from all over the world tend to have the same theme, storyline and sometimes also the same characters.
Common literary works to be compared are from two different cultures, such as those made by Western and Eastern literary works. Western and Eastern literature certainly has clear difference. One example is JRR Tolkien's famous works, The Silmarillion, and Firdausi's works, Shahnameh. Shahnameh does not relinquish free will, and the characters employ free will in the context of unknown rules; it is a sum of free will and determined rules that resolves the fate of a hero. The Silmarillion, unlike Shahnameh, does not represent an integrated just and fair Qaza; the task of organizing rules is assigned to the angelic spirits; the Ainur composes their personal notes and, in this way, constructs rules either just or unjust. Nonetheless, both mythological collections cherish determinism and free will in their grasp of fate (Hanif & Tadayoni, 2022). Another example of a comparison of Eastern versus Western literary works is the novel Ipung by Prie GS and the Novel the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The novel has similarities in the spirit of life, self-confidence, and seeking identity as a nation (Pramulia & Saputra, 2020). The next example is a story from British Angela Carter and a story from Persia, Ghazaleh Alizadeh. These two stories are powerful tools for escaping their era's lingering and suffocating conservatism. Facing the object and venturing into the chora serves as the two authors' anchor for performing gender and identity (Bakhtvar & Niknezhad-Ferdos, 2020).

Research Method
This research uses a descriptive qualitative research method. Research with this method relates to a set of prepositions derived from that basis (Moleong, 2018). The data source for this research comes from the stories of Tom Thumb (Bros, 2019) and Issun Boshi (Forestpub, 2022). The research design is: 1. looking for similarities between the two literary works (Tom Tumb and Issun Boshi), 2. looking for the differences between the two works, 3. looking for the cultural values of the two works, which are found based on the differences in the analysis. The data is collected from the narratives and conversations of the two works. The analysis was carried out by considering the intrinsic elements of literary works (plot, character, and setting) as well as the extrinsic elements, namely the values in British and Japanese culture.

Similarities
It can be said that the stories about Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi are two stories with the same concept, namely that humans are born with a size of no more than 1 inch. This can be seen from the illustrations provided by Bros (Bros, 2019) and Issun Boshi provided by Forestpub (Forestpub, 2022).

Figure 1. Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi
The similarity in height is also evident in the narration and dialogue in the story. An example is the story in Tom Thumb which mentions that "Mamma! dear mamma! -see-see--I have come, Just the length and the thickness of dear papa's thumb." In the dialogue, Tom Thumb's character mentions that his body size is about the size of an adult's thumb, which is approximately 1 inch in size. On the other hand, the narrator in Issun Boshi's story mentions, "Finally, one day, a baby boy was born. The child was only about an inch tall, so they named him Issun-Boshi, meaning 'One-Inch Monk'." The narratives and dialogues in the two stories make it clear that the concept of the character in the story is that of a child the size of 1 inch.
What makes it even more interesting is that the two characters in the story were born from the prayers of their parents. Tom Thumb was born from the prayers of his poor parents. A fairy heard the prayer, who then presented them with a 1-inch child that came out of their pocket.
It happened one day that the lady felt sad, and " she cried, "Oh, I wish that a baby I had!" Have your wish, then!" a voice from her pocket replied. Up went both her hands, and her eyes opened wide, and out of her pocket a fairy arose, in what shape or form there is no one who knows; But just as her handkerchief fell to the ground, she heard in her pocket another strange sound --"Mamma! dear mamma! -see-see--I have come, It can be said that Tom Thumb was born from the pocket of his mother's shirt. He was born from his parents' prayers, and the fairy answered their prayers. The strange thing is Tom Thumb was able to speak well when he was just born. Almost similar to Tom Thumb's story, Issun Boshi was born from the prayers of his parents, who had been married for a long time but had not been blessed with a child. Every day they prayed to God, and finally their prayers were answered. The narrator says, "Long, long ago, in a village far away, a married couple had no children. Every day they prayed to God to give them a child. Finally, one day, a baby boy was born." Slightly different from the previous story, Issun Boshi's story never tells whether the main character was born from his mother's womb or in some other way.
Interestingly, these two miniature figures in two cultures that stretch far apart have something in common, namely that both are knights. Tom Thumb was made a knight by King Arthur and was rewarded with a small sword and fighting training, while Issun Boshi was made a knight by a Lord and assigned to look after the Lord's daughter. The narrator of Tom Thumb reveals that "King Arthur, for fun, made Tom Thumb a knight; He was armed with a sword and was taught how to fight." Meanwhile, dialogue from Issun Boshi revealed that "Issun Boshi said to the lord, "I've come all the way to see the world. Please let me serve you as one of your guards. I may be very small, but I am very strong and full of courage." At a glance, the assignment function of the two main characters is different because one is assigned to be a knight as entertainment for royal members while the other one (Issun Boshi) seems to have a noble task. However, their task is actually the same: to become an object of entertainment; Tom Thumb comforts royalty, and Issun Boshi comforts a brooding princess.
The further similarity is in terms of the story setting. It is said that the two stories originate from a village, namely the birthplace of Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi, and then they move to the capital, namely the palace. So, the portions of the two stories are mostly found in the palace. Another coincidence is that the process of moving them from the village to the palace is similar. The two stories reveal that their movement used rivers/ watercourses as a medium of movement. The slight difference between the two stories is that Tom Thumb got into the belly of a fish to get to the palace, while Issun Boshi took a rice bowl to get to the palace.
There is a similarity to one character in the story that I find interesting: a giant character fights these two mini humans. In the Tom Thumb story, a character named Giant Grumbow throws Tom Thumb into the river, so Tom Thumb's adventure begins. On the other hand, there was a giant figure described as a terrible demon who was about to harm the princess, and Issun Boshi was the one who saved the princess. The two giants have something in common: antagonists against Tom Thumb or Issun Boshi.

Differences Jurnal CULTURE (Culture, Language, and Literature Review), 10 (1), Mei 2023, 1-10
Copyright © 2023, Jurnal CULTURE e- ISSN 2775-4618, p-ISSN 2355 6 The main difference between Tom Thumb versus Issun Boshi is characterising the main characters. Tom Thumb is told as a dishonest child and becomes more dishonest as he ages. The narrator in the story says, "But Tom was dishonest, I'm sorry to say, for he curiously stole cherry stones" Besides being dishonest, Tom Thumb is also a child who likes to steal. Even when caught stealing, he refused to admit what he had done. As he got older, Tom Thumb became a more evil and cunning child as the narrator reveals in the following quote "For the longer he lived the more cunning he grew." On the other side of the spectrum, Issun Boshi was a really good kid. He is a brave boy and strong-willed to contribute to society. Issun Boshi stated, "I want to be a strong warrior" which in the context of Japanese culture, being a warrior is a protector of society. Issun Boshi's courage and sincerity were seen when he dared to fight a tall and scary Demon to save the princess.
The most obvious difference between these two stories is the plot. Specifically, the difference starts from the Inciting Incident. In Tom Thumb's story, Inciting Incident begins when the main character is thrown into a river and eaten by salmon. The salmon was then caught by a fisherman named Simon Cole. After that, the salmon containing Tom Thumb was served before the king. When the king opened the salmon, a cute Tom Thumb appeared in the salmon. Seeing a human being so small, the king made him a knight as entertainment for the royal members. On the other side of the world, Inciting Incident in Issun Boshi begins when the main character suddenly tells his parents that he wants to go to the city and wants to become a samurai warrior: "I Thank you very much for raising me with love and care. But now I must go to the capital to see the big world. I want to be a strong samurai warrior." Issun Boshi was a healthy and energetic child who greatly loved his parents. Besides that, he was also a brave man, so he wanted to go to the capital to become a defender of his country. The desire to serve the nation is what drives the story and creates conflicts afterwards.
The Inciting Incident continues into rising action in Tom Thumb when The Queen feels that the King does not care because the King prefers to play with Tom Thumb. Due to being ignored by the King, The Queen slandered Tom Thumb by saying that this mini-human harassed him. Hearing this news, the King became angry and ordered the soldiers to imprison Tom Thumb. The king's order made Tom Thumb run away from the palace and become a fugitive. Issun Boshi entered Rising Action when the mini-human had difficulty travelling to the city. Issun Boshi climbed on the rice bowl, and the 'small boat' slammed into rocks, dropped over waterfalls, and got tossed around in raging streams.
The climax of Tom Thumb's story is when he is finally captured by soldiers and imprisoned in a mouse trap. Of course, the king ordered the arrest, but the mastermind behind Tom Thumb's arrest order was from The Queen. The king, who had lost Tom Thumb for a long time, felt that the order to arrest Tom Thumb was wrong, so he wanted to forgive all the Tom Thumb mistakes. The Queen did not like this; therefore, she secretly ordered the soldiers to capture Tom Thumb secretly, and if he was caught, he must immediately give it to The Queen. Tom Thumb was hidden (imprisoned) in a mouse trap belonging to The Queen and became the toy of The Queen's cat.
She was rather surprised when our hero she saw, and she opened the trap by a dab of her paw. Once more Tom was free; but a spider came by, and taking the knight for a blue-bottle fly, sprang forward to seize him; when our brave little knight stood his ground, drew his sword, and made ready to fight; but the spider drew near, and his poisonous breath so affected poor Tom that it soon caused his death. The 'She' referred to in the quote above is the queen cat playing Tom Thumb. Inadvertently, the cat opened Tom Thumb's 'jail' so he was released from prison. However, not for long. He fought with a spider and finally died because of the spider's poisonous breath.
On the other hand, Issun Boshi's climax occurred when he fought a demon who wanted to capture the princess. The Demon ate Issun Boshi, who was very small to become the Demon's opponent. However, Issun Boshi fought the Demon by stabbing it in the stomach. The demon passed in agony and finally vomited Issun Boshi.
One spring day, the Princess and Issun Boshi visited a temple near the Lord's house. On their way home, a terrible demon suddenly appeared with a magic hammer and started trying to catch the princess. "I won't let you touch the princess, you ugly demon," shouted Issun Boshi drawing his sword. "Ah-haha-ha! You small thing. I am going to eat you up," said the demon and picked Issun Boshi up and threw the boy into his mouth. Gulp! Inside the demon's belly, Issun Boshi began slashing and stabbing with his needle sword. "Ouch! That's hurts! The demon fell down on the ground writhing and clutching his stomach. "Stop it! I won't be bad ever again. So please stop it!" cried the demon. "Open your mouth and let me out!" Shouted Issun Boshi from inside the demon's stomach. The demon fled in tears as soon as he spit out Issun Boshi. The falling action in Tom Thumb occurs when he dies from poisonous spider breath, and finally, the King realizes that he made a mistake in punishing Tom Thumb. Issun Boshi entered into falling action when Demon had lost the battle and finally left behind a magic hammer which, if it was hit once on the ground, Issun Boshi would become 1 inch taller. The magic hammer was pounded so many times that Issun Boshi became a normal-sized and handsome human.
The denouement or conclusion of Tom Thumb's story takes place when the main character is buried under a rose bush and with a monument in gold writing stating that Tom Thumb was a valiant knight of King Arthur. The story of Issun Boshi ends with a denouement where the main character in the story marries the princess he used to protect. It can be said that Issun Boshi's story has a happy ending.
To clearly see the differences that occur in the stories of Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi, the writer has presented a table of plot differences between the two stories. The table is as follows: It can be seen clearly from the table above that the most significant difference occurs at the end of the story. At the end of the story, Tom Thumb dies (sad ending) while Issun Boshi marries a princess (happy ending). This difference raises questions because the story templates are almost the same but experience very different story progressions. This is possible because there are differences between Western values and Eastern values. The values in question are family values which are very strong in the two stories.

Eastern vs Western Family Values
In the story of Issun Boshi, it is told that a couple is married but do not have children. Therefore, they pray every day to God to be blessed with a child. The couple's prayers were answered, and even though the child God gave was a mini-human, they still loved him with all their hearts. Issun Boshi also felt the couple's affection, and he became a good person, as exemplified by his father and mother.
Family in Japanese culture is very important. Family (kazoku) is a foundational part of Japanese society. An individual's identity, reputation, obligations and responsibilities are deeply connected to their family (Scroope, 2021). Therefore, Issun Boshi really valued his family. In addition, the Lord asked him to take care of the princess he already considers as family, so he takes care of the princess with all his body and soul. Issun Boshi is not afraid to fight Demons because he will do anything to protect his family. Even after Issun Boshi married a princess, he still remembered his family. He called his parents in the village to live with him in the palace. This shows that he is devoted to his parents. The Princess' family also did not mind if Issun Boshi brought his family to the palace because, in Japanese society, family is important and should not be separated.
His strong attachment to his family allows Issun Boshi to defeat monsters. The kindness and courage of his parents passed on to Issun Boshi, so he was able to defeat the Demon. Regardless of Issun Boshi's (small body) condition, he still dared to fight the Demon. This courage arises from the family values of Japanese society, which they believe will be able to defeat all enemies. Therefore, do not be surprised if the ending of the story ends with Issun Boshi's victory because indirectly, the story tells of family ties that can overcome everything.
Unlike the Issun Boshi family, the Tom Thumb family did not pay much attention to him. Tom Thumb sleeps in a pea pod, only with the skins of two cherries as curtains. Tom Thumb's parents did not try to raise their son very hard. Therefore, Tom Thumb became a person who liked to steal. His parents never taught virtue to that tiny human, so he did not know what was wrong and what was right. Even when Tom Thumb went missing from home, his parents never looked for him. It can be said that the relationship between Tom Thumb parents and their son is not very close. This situation is not surprising because, in British society, children are encouraged to be independent and self-reliant at an early age (Evason, 2016). Self-reliance in Tom Thumb is clearly seen when he tries independently to survive the dangers that always threaten him. Starting from when he was bullied by his friends when he was caught stealing cherry stones, getting into a fish's mouth, being chased by soldiers because of the queen's slander, facing the queen's cat, and fighting poisonous spiders. Tom Thumb tries independently to fight the obstacles that always come to him without the help of his family. Even though in the end he was killed, Tom Thumb's independence deserves a thumbs up.
Fundamentally, two stories with similar main characters, namely mini humans, have different rationale. The thinking in question is the difference in terms of family values. Eastern family values, which are represented by Japanese culture, are more concerned with responsibility towards family members, while Western family values, which are represented by British culture, are more concerned with self-reliance as the right thing to do for family members. We cannot assess which family values are the best because these family values have their own rationale. We know that the apparent differences between Tom Thumb and Issun Boshi provide an interesting picture of how humans from different cultures tell stories about one-inch humans.

Conclusion
Based on the results and discussion above, it can be concluded that there are similarities between the two stories, namely; 1. the main characters have the same body size, 1 inch, 2. the main characters were born from the prayers of their parents, 3. the main characters are both knights, 4. the setting in this story is similar, namely starting from the village and then going to the palace, 5. the main characters fight against giant characters. Apart from similarities, the two stories have differences such as: 1. the main character in Tom Thumb is dishonest and likes to steal, while the main character in Issun Boshi is kind and brave; 2. the plot or storyline in Tom Thumb ends with main character death (sad ending) while the plot in Issun Boshi ends with the main character marrying Princess (happy ending). The difference between the two stories can be drawn from one main thought that becomes the story's spirit: family values. In Issun Boshi's story, the family value that sticks out is a responsibility, while Tom Thumb's family values are self-reliance.