Thumbelina

There was once a woman who longed more than anything to have a little child, but she could not have one. She went to an old witch and asked her help. The witch gave her a barleycorn and told her to plant it in a flowerpot. The woman took the barleycorn home and planted it, and before long a beautiful tulip grew from the soil. When the petals opened, there sat a tiny girl on the green pistil, no bigger than a thumb. The woman named her Thumbelina and gave her a polished walnut shell for a cradle, blue violet petals for a mattress, and a rose petal for a coverlet.

One night while Thumbelina slept, a great ugly toad hopped through the broken window pane. She looked at the beautiful little girl and thought what a fine wife she would make for her son. So she seized the walnut shell and carried Thumbelina out into the garden to the broad stream. The toad placed her on a great lily pad leaf and swam off to prepare the wedding. When Thumbelina awoke and saw where she was, she wept bitterly. The little fishes in the stream heard her sobs and took pity on her. They nibbled through the stalk of the lily pad, and the leaf floated away down the river, carrying Thumbelina far from the toad.

A magnificent cockchafer beetle flew by and seized Thumbelina around the waist, carrying her up into a tree. He thought she was lovely, but when he introduced her to his beetle friends, they all declared she was ugly because she had only two legs and no feelers. The beetle was ashamed of her and left her alone in the great tree. Thumbelina made herself a little bed from a violet leaf and drank the dew from the petals.

Summer passed and autumn came. The leaves fell from the trees and the wind grew cold. Thumbelina wandered through the fields, wrapped in a dry leaf that barely covered her. At last she came to the door of a field mouse who lived in warmth and comfort beneath the roots of a great tree. The field mouse took pity on the half-frozen girl and invited her in. Thumbelina helped with the housekeeping and told the mouse stories of the world above. The mouse introduced her to her neighbor, a wealthy mole who wore a fine black velvet coat. The mole fell in love with Thumbelina and proposed marriage, but the very thought of living underground forever in the dark filled her with dread.

One day Thumbelina found a swallow lying half-frozen on the floor of the mole's tunnel. She wove a blanket of hay and brought the swallow food and water, nursing him through the long winter. When spring came, the swallow opened his eyes and thanked Thumbelina for saving his life. He offered to carry her away from the dark tunnels of the mole. She climbed on his back, and the swallow flew up through the daylight and over green forests and blue lakes to a warm and beautiful land.

There, among fields of the most glorious flowers, the swallow set Thumbelina down on a white petal. She had never seen anything so beautiful. And there, among the blossoms, sat a tiny fairy prince with golden wings on his shoulders, no bigger than Thumbelina herself. He was the king of all the flowers. He took off his golden crown and placed it on her head, asking her to be his wife and queen of all the flowers. Thumbelina said yes, and all the flowers opened their petals to celebrate. From that day she was called Maia, and she flew from flower to flower with her fairy prince, happier than she had ever dreamed possible.