THUMBELINA
There
once lived a couple who longed to have child, but their wish did not come true.
At last, the woman went to a fairy and asked for her help. The fairy gave her a
seed and said, “Plant this in a flowerpot and water it carefully.”
Soon
a beautiful flower sprang up. It looked like a tulip with its petals tightly
closed. “How lovely,” said the woman, kissing the flower. As she did so, the
petals opened. Inside sat a tiny, graceful girl no bigger than the woman’s
thumb. The woman was overjoyed. She and her husband named the child Thumbelina.
Thumbelina’s
cradle was a walnut shell. She had a pillow of violets and a quilt of rose petals.
At night her cradle sat on the windowsill. During the day, the woman kept a
bowl filled with water on the table. Thumbelina amused herself by rowing around
the bowl in a boat made of a large tulip petal. She used two white horsehairs
for oars. As she rowed, she sang in the tiniest, prettiest voice imaginable.
One
night a big ugly toad hopped through the window. When the toad saw Thumbelina
asleep in her cradle, she cried, “She would make the perfect wife for my son!”
The
ugly toad snatched the cradle with Thumbelina inside and carried it to her home
in the swamp.
The
toad set Thumbelina on a large lily pad in the middle of the water so she could
not escape. Then she went to fetch her son, who was even bigger and uglier that
she was.
While
the toad was gone, Thumbelina woke up. When she saw where she was, she began to
cry and wonder how she would ever get home again. Some fish swimming below
heard Thumbelina’s cries.
When
the fish saw pretty Thumbelina was, they felt sorry for her. “We must set her
free,” they said, “so she does not have to marry the toad’s son.” The little
fish began to bite at the stem of the lily pad. Before long, they had gnawed
through it, and lily pad floated away.
Just
then the toad returned with her son. “Stop!” the son called after Thumbelina.
“Where are you going? You are to be my wife and live with me here in the
swamp!” but it was too late. Thumbelina was already floating downstream.
Thumbelina
went a long way, past wide green fields and deep shady woods. Birds and
butterflies stooped to say hello to her, and she felt very happy.
Suddenly,
a big brown beetle swooped down and seized Thumbelina in his claws. “How pretty
you are!” he said. “I shall make you my wife!” how frightened Thumbelina was,
but there was nothing she could do!
The
beetle sat her on the branch of a tall tree to show her to the other beetles.
But they did not think Thumbelina was pretty at all. “How ugly she is!” they
sneered, turning up their feelers. “Her waist is so slim, and she has only two
legs! She looks horrible!”
After
that, the beetle decided he didn’t want Thumbelina for a wife after all. So he
flew her down from the tree and set her on daisy.
Thumbelina
was very sad, since she felt the beetles were right. She did not know that she
was really very lovely.
All
summer Thumbelina lived in the forest. She wove herself a bed of grass and hung
it under large leaf to shelter herself from the rain. She drank the morning dew
and ate nectar from flowers. She was perfectly content until autumn came – and
then winter.
First,
the leaf Thumbelina lived under died and shriveled. Now she had no shelter from
the wind and rain. There was no longer any food to eat, either. Then it began
to snow, and Thumbelina almost froze to death. So she went looking for food and
shelter.
She
walked until she came to a large cornfield. The cornstalks had been cut long
before. Nothing left but the stubble, which to Thumbelina seemed as tall as a
great forest. At last, she found the home of a field mouse.
She
knocked timidly on the door. When the field mouse answered, Thumbelina said
shyly, “Please, can you spare a grain of barley?”
The
field mouse, who was kind thing, replied, “Of course! Come in, you dear little
creature!” She led Thumbelina inside and fed her.
The
field mouse’s home was very comfortable, and her cupboards were full of the
food she had stored for winter. So she told Thumbelina, “If you will to keep my
house tidy for me and tell some good stories, you may stay with me all winter,
if you like.”
“Yes,
please!” cried Thumbelina. And so she did all the field mouse asked, and in
return she was kept warm and well-fed.
One
day the field mouse said, “Listen, Thumbelina. My neighbor is coming to pay us
a visit tomorrow. He is much richer than I, and he wears a beautiful black
velvet coat. Oh, he is a very clever man! But he is blind, so be sure to tell
him your best stories.”
“Of
course,” said Thumbelina. But she was not very excited about the visitor, for
he was a mole.
The
mole came the next day, wearing his black velvet coat. Even though he was very
rich and probably very learned, as well, Thumbelina did not like him. He said
dreadful things about the sun and the flowers and birds, yet he had never seen
them.
Nevertheless,
Thumbelina told him her best stories and sang him all the songs she knew. She
had such a lovely voice that the mole fell in love with her. However, he did
not say anything, because he was very cautious. Instead, he invited Thumbelina
and the field mouse to pay him a visit.
So
the three set out through a tunnel the mole had recently dug between his home
and that of the field mouse. “Now, please watch your step,” the mole told them.
“It’s quite dark here and there is a dead bird farther down the tunnel. But
don’t let that alarm you!”
When
they come to the dead bird, the mole accidentally pushed his nose through the
roof of the tunnel. The sun came shining through, and Thumbelina clearly saw
the bird.
He
was a swallow, and he did not look as if he had been dead for long. “Poor
bird,” Thumbelina thought sadly. “He must have died of the cold.”
The
mole pushed the bird aside roughly. “Useless creature, birds!” he said gruffly.
Thumbelina said nothing. But when the mole and the field mouse had gone ahead,
she bent over and kissed the bird. “Perhaps you were one of the birds that sang
to me all summer,” she said. “How nice it was to hear your sweet music!”
After
the mole showed them his house and gave them tea, he led them home again. Then
he repaired the hole so no sunlight or cold could enter. But that night
Thumbelina could not sleep.
She
kept thinking of the poor swallow in the tunnel. At last, she crept from her
bed and move a blanket out of hay. She took it into the tunnel and laid it
gently over the swallow.
Thumbelina
sadly laid her head on the bird’s breast. When she did, she heard a sound. It
was the beating of the swallow’s heart. He was not dead, only numb with cold.
Thumbelina was afraid-the swallow was much bigger than she-but she bravely
wrapped the blanket more tightly around him. Then she tiptoed away.
The
next day she slipped away to visit the swallow again. He was awake now but very
weak. So Thumbelina brought him water and honey, and all through the long cold
winter she carefully nursed the swallow back to health. She told the field
mouse and the mole nothing of this, for they did not think much of birds.
At
last, spring came. The swallow was now well enough to fly away. Thumbelina
re-opened the hole in the roof of the tunnel for him.
“Why
don’t you come with me?” the swallow asked Thumbelina. “I can take you to warm,
beautiful places.”
Thumbelina
dearly wished she could go with the swallow, but she shook her head. “The field
mouse has been very kind to me,” she said,”I cannot just leave her!”
“Very well,” said the swallow. “Farewell, kind
maiden. I hope I see you again.” And with that, the swallow flew away.
Tears
filled Thumbelina’s eyes. She was very fond of the swallow and would miss him
so much.
Spring
passed, then summer. Thumbelina worked for the field mouse, who treated her
kindly but hardly ever let her go outside into the beautiful sunshine.
One
day, as autumn was coming, the field mouse said to her, “I have good news, dear
Thumbelina. The mole has asked for your hand in marriage. We must work to get
your wedding clothes ready!”
“But
I don’t want to marry the mole!” cried Thumbelina, bursting into tears at the
thought of living with him in the dark, underground tunnel far from the bright
sun and all the lovely flowers.
“Don’t
be silly,” the field mouse said crossly. “The mole is handsome and rich. He
will make you an excellent husband. Marry him or I will bite you!” The field
mouse told Thumbelina the wedding would take place in a month. Four spiders
spun the wedding veil, while Thumbelina sewed her tiny wedding gown.
As
the wedding day drew near, Thumbelina became sadder and sadder. How dreadful I
would be to always live in the darkness. Would she ever see the blue sky or the
bright sun again? Would she ever hear a bird sing?
The
day before wedding, Thumbelina begged the field mouse to let her go outside one
last time. At last, the field mouse gave her permission.
Thumbelina
slipped out the door and stared longingly at the bright sky.
“Farewell,
beautiful sun,” she cried, stretching out her arms. “Farewell, sweet flowers!
Please say hello to my dear swallow for me if you ever see him again!”
Just
then Thumbelina heard a tweet, tweet above her head, and there was the swallow
himself! He was flying south for winter, and he had come to say good-bye to
Thumbelina before he went.
Thumbelina
began to cry. She told him how she was to marry the mole the next day.
“Oh,
no,” cried the swallow. “Come with me instead. I will fly you to beautiful
lands where the sun always shines and flowers always bloom.”
“Oh,
yes.” Thumbelina said, “I will go with you!” for she could not bear to marry
the mole.
Quickly
she climbed on the swallow’s back. Then the bird spread his wings and he and
Thumbelina flew away. They flew over tall pine forests and snow-covered
mountain peaks to warm countries where the grass is always green and orange and
lemon trees grow.
After
several days, they came to a clear blue lake. An ancient palace of white marble
stood beside it. In the garden lay a marble pillar broken into three pieces.
Large,
beautiful flowers were growing among the pieces of pillar. The swallow placed
Thumbelina beside the most beautiful flower. “I think you will be happy here,”
he told her.
Just
then the petals opened. Inside was a tiny man with shining gossamer wings. He
was the fairy of that flower and king of all the flower fairies. He was just
Thumbelina’s size, and he fell in love with her at once.
“Will
you be my wife?” he asked. Thumbelina smiled, for he was nothing like the
horrible mole. “Yes,” she said happily.
At
that all the flowers opened and each flower fairy gave Thumbelina a gift. The
best gift of all was a pair of tiny gossamer wings. Now Thumbelina would be
able to fly and flit from flower to flower.
At
Thumbelina’s wedding to the fairy king, the swallow sang a special wedding
song. Then it was time for him to fly back north. As he went he sang of
Thumbelina, and that is how we came to hear the story.
