thumbelina

Thumbelina

Once upon a time . . .

there lived a woman who had no children. She dreamed of having a little girl, but

time went by and her dream never came true.

She then went to visit a witch, who gave her a magic grain of barley. She planted

planted it in a flower pot. And the very next day, the grain turned into a lovely

flower, rather than a tulip. The woman softly kissed its ans as magic the flower

opened in full blossom. Inside sat a tiny girl, no bigger than a thumb. The woman

called her Thumbelina. For a bed she had a walnut shell, violet petals for her mattress

and a rose petal blanket. In the daytime, she played in a tulip petal boat, floating

on a plate of water. Using two horse hairs as oars, Thumbelina sailed around her

little lake, singing and singing in a gentle sweet voice. Then one night as she lay

asleep in her walnut shell a large frog hopped through a hole in the window pane.

As she gazed down at Thumbelina, she said to herself: "How pretty she is. She

would make the perfect bride for my son." She picked up Thumbelina, walnut shell

and all, and hopped into the garden. Nobody saw her go.Back at the pond, her fat

ugly son, who always did as mother told him, was pleased with her choice.

But mother frog was afraid that her pretty prisoner might run away. So she

carried Thumbellna out to a water lily in the middle of the pond.

"She can never escape us now,"

said the frog to her son.

"And we have plenty of time to prepare a

new home for you and your bride."

Thumbelina was left all alone. She felt so desperate. She knew she would never

be able to escape the fate that awaited her with the two horrid fat frogs. All she

could do was cry her eyes out. However, one or two minnows who had been

enjoying the shade below the water lily leaf, had overheard the two frogs talking,

and the little girl's bitter sobs. They decided to do something about it. So they

nibbled away at the lily stem till it broke and drifted away in the weak current.

A dancing butterfly had an idea:

"Throw me the end of your belt!

I'll help you to move a little faster."

Thumbelina gratefully did so, and and the leaf soon floated away from the frog pond.

But other dangers lay ahead. A large beetle snatched Thumbelina with his strong

feet and took her away to his home at the top of a leafy tree.

"Isn't she pretty?" he said to his friends.

But they pointed out that she was far too

different. So the beetle took her down

the tree and set her free.

It was summertime, and Thumbelina wandered all by herself amongst the

flowers and through the long grass. She had pollen for her meals and drank the

dew. Then the rainy season came, bringing nastyweather. The poor child found

it hard to find food and shelter. When winter set in, she suffered from the cold

and felt terrible pangs of hunger.

One day, as Thumbelina roamed helplessly over the bare meadows, she met a

large spider who promised to help her. He took her to a hollow tree and

guarded the door with a stout web. Then he brought her some dried chestnuts

and called his friends to come and admire her beauty. But just like the beetles,

all the other spiders persuaded Thumbelina's rescuer to let her go. Crying her

heart out, and quite certain that nobody wanted her because she was ugly,

Thumbelina left the spider's house. As she wandered, shivering with the cold,

suddenly she came across a solid little cottage, made of twigs and dead leaves.

Hopefully, she knocked on the door. It was opened by a field mouse.

"What are you doing outside in this weather?"

he asked. "Come in and warm yourself."

Comfortable and cozy, the field

mouse's home was stocked with food.

For her keep, Thumbelina did the

housework and told the mouse stories. One

day, the field mouse said a friend

was coming to visit them.

"He's a very rich mole, and has a lovely
house. He wears a splendid black fur
coat, but he's dreadfully shortsighted.
He needs company and he'd like to marry
you!" Thumbelina did not relish the idea.
However, when the mole came, she
sang sweetly to him and he fell head over
heels in love. The mole invited
Thumbelina and the field mouse to visit
him, but . . . to their surprise and horror,
they came upon a swallow in the tunnel.
It looked dead. Mole nudged it with his
foot, saying: "That'll teach her! She
should have come underground instead of
darting about the sky all summer!"

Thumbelina was so shocked by such cruel words that later, she crept back unseen

to the tunnel. And every day, the little girl went to nurse the swallow and tenderly

give it food.

In the meantime, the swallow told Thumbelina its tale. Jagged by a thorn, it had

been unable to follow its companions to a warmer climate.

"It's kind of you to nurse me," it told

Thumbelina. But, in spring, the swallow flew

away, after offering to take the little girl

with it.

All summer, Thumbelina did her best to avoid marrying the mole. The little

girl thought fearfully of how she'd have to live underground forever. On the eve of

her wedding, she asked to spend a day in the open air. As she gently fingered

a flower, she heard a familiar song:

"Winter's on its way and I'll be off to

warmer lands. Come with me!"

Thumbelina quickly clung to her swallow friend, and the bird soared into the sky.

They flew over plains and hills till they reached a country of flowers. The swallow

gently laid Thumbelina in a blossom. There she met a tiny, white-winged fairy:

the King of the flower fairies...Instantly he asked her to marry him and she

immediately said yes. And sprouting tiny white wings, she became the

......Flower Queen.

Next..Jack and The Beanstalk

NEXT STORY..JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

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