Thumbelina

There was once a woman who longed for a little child. She received a magic seed, planted it in a flowerpot, and soon a tulip-like blossom opened. In the heart of the flower sat a tiny girl, no bigger than a thumb. She was called Thumbelina. Her cradle was a walnut shell, her mattress a violet petal, and all the world around her seemed wonderfully large.

Yet the world did not always ask what Thumbelina wished. One night a toad carried her away to the marsh, meaning that she should marry the toad’s son. Thumbelina sat frightened upon a lily leaf, listening to the water and the croaking reeds. The fish pitied her and gnawed through the stem, so the leaf floated away. Later a beetle took her up into a tree, then left her when others judged her strange.

Autumn came, and the fields grew cold. A field mouse kindly gave Thumbelina shelter underground. The mouse wished her to marry the mole, who was rich and respectable, but Thumbelina loved sunlight, flowers, and the open sky. A life beneath the earth felt heavy to her heart.

In the mole’s passage she found a swallow who seemed dead. Thumbelina cared for him secretly through the winter, warming him with dry grass and gentle words. When spring returned, the swallow was strong again and offered to carry her away. Thumbelina chose bravely, said farewell, and flew with him over forests, rivers, and shining meadows.

At last they reached a land of flowers. There Thumbelina met tiny flower people and a kind prince who gave her delicate wings. She had found a place that honored both her gentleness and her wishes.