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Thumbelina
There was once a woman who wished very She came to the door of a field mouse,
much to have a little child. She went to who had a little den. There dwelt the field
a fairy who said, “Oh, that can be easily mouse in warmth and comfort, with a whole
managed. Here is a barleycorn. Put it into a roomful of corn, a kitchen, and a beautiful
flowerpot and see what will happen.” dining room. Poor Thumbelina stood before
“Thank you,” said the woman. Then she the door, just like a little beggar girl.
went home and planted it, and there grew up “You poor little creature,” said the field
a large, handsome flower. Within the flower mouse, for she was really a good old
sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden, mouse, “come into my warm room and
scarcely half as long as a thumb. They gave dine with me.”
her the name of Thumbelina. She was pleased with Thumbelina, so she
A walnut shell, elegantly polished, served said, “You are quite welcome to stay with me
her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue all the winter, if you like.” And Thumbelina
violet leaves. One night, a large, ugly, wet found herself very comfortable.
toad crept through the window. “What a “We shall have a visitor soon,” said the field
pretty little wife this would make for my mouse one day. “If you could only have him
son,” said the toad, and she took up the for a husband, you would be well provided
walnut shell in which Thumbelina lay asleep, for indeed.”
and jumped through the window with it.
And the old toad swam out to a water lily leaf Thumbelina did not feel at all interested
in the stream. about this neighbor, for he was a mole.
However, he came and paid his visit, dressed
The tiny creature woke and began to cry in his black velvet coat.
bitterly when she found where she was. The
toad said, “My son will be your husband.” Thumbelina was obliged to sing to him,
Then the toads swam away, leaving “Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,” and
Thumbelina all alone. many other pretty songs. And the mole fell
in love with her because she had so sweet
The little fishes who swam beneath lifted a voice. The mole had dug a long passage
their heads and saw Thumbelina. “No, it under the earth, which led from the dwelling
must never be!” So they gnawed the green of the field mouse to his own, and here she
stalk and the leaf floated down the stream, had permission to walk with Thumbelina
carrying Thumbelina far away. whenever she liked. But he warned them
During the whole summer, poor little not to be alarmed at the sight of a dead bird.
Thumbelina lived quite alone in the wide The mole went before them through the
forest. She wove herself a bed with blades of long, dark passage.
grass and drank the honey from the flowers In the middle of the floor lay a swallow—the
every morning. poor bird had evidently died of the cold. It
So passed away the summer and the autumn, made little Thumbelina very sad to see it,
and then came the winter—the long, cold she did so love the little birds. But during
winter. She felt dreadfully cold, for her the night, Thumbelina got out of bed and
clothes were torn, and she was herself wove a large, beautiful carpet of hay. She
so frail and delicate that she was nearly spread some of it on each side of the bird, so
frozen to death. that he might lie warmly in the cold earth.

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 29 “Farewell, pretty little bird,” said she. Then So the wedding day was fixed, on which the
she laid her head on the bird’s breast, but it mole was to take her away to live deep under
seemed as if something inside the bird went the earth, and never again to see the warm
“thump, thump.” It was the bird’s heart; he sun because he did not like it. “Farewell,
was not really dead. She laid the wool more bright sun,” she cried, stretching out her
thickly over the poor swallow. arm toward it. “Greet the little swallow from
The next night, she again stole out to see me, if you should see him again.”
him. He was alive, but very weak; he could “Tweet, tweet,” sounded over her head
only open his eyes for a moment. “Thank suddenly. She looked up, and there was the
you, pretty little maiden,” said the sick swallow himself flying close by. She told
swallow; “I have been so nicely warmed that him how unwilling she was to marry the ugly
I shall soon regain my strength.” mole. And as she told him, she wept. Said
the swallow, “Fly now with me, dear little
She brought the swallow some water in
one; you saved my life when I lay frozen in
a flower leaf, and he told her that he had
that dark, dreary passage.”
wounded one of his wings in a thorn bush
and could not fly as fast as the others. “Yes, I will go with you,” said Thumbelina;
and she seated herself on the bird’s back,
All winter, Thumbelina nursed him with
and tied her girdle to one of his strongest
care and love. Very soon the springtime
feathers. The swallow rose in the air and
came. Then the swallow bade farewell to
flew where the air was fragrant with myrtles
Thumbelina and asked her if she would
and orange blossoms.
go with him. But she knew it would
grieve the field mouse, so she said, “No, At last the swallow flew down with
I cannot.” Thumbelina and placed her on one of the
broad leaves of a beautiful white flower. But
“Farewell, then, farewell, you good, pretty
how surprised she was to see in the middle
little maiden,” said the swallow, and he flew
of the flower a tiny little man with a gold
out into the sunshine.
crown on his head, and delicate wings at his
Thumbelina looked after him, and the tears shoulders, not much larger than was she
rose in her eyes. She was very fond of the herself. He was the angel of the flower, the
poor swallow. king of all of the flowers.
“You are going to be married, little one,” said “Oh, how beautiful he is!” whispered
the field mouse. “My neighbor has asked for Thumbelina to the swallow.
you. What good fortune for a poor child like
When he saw Thumbelina he was delighted,
you!” But Thumbelina was not at all pleased,
and asked if she would be his wife and
for she did not like the tiresome mole.
queen over all the flowers. She said yes to
Every morning when the sun rose and every the handsome prince. Then all the flowers
evening when it went down, she would creep opened, and out of each came a little lady
out. She thought how beautiful and bright or a tiny lord with a present; but the best
it seemed out there and wished so much gift was a pair of beautiful wings, and they
to see her dear friend, the swallow, again. fastened them to Thumbelina’s shoulders,
But he had flown far away into the lovely so that she might fly from flower to flower.
green forest.
Then there was much rejoicing.
When autumn arrived, the field mouse said, “Farewell, farewell,” said the swallow, with
“In four weeks, the wedding must take place.” a heavy heart, as he left the warm countries,
Then she wept and said she would not marry to fly back into Denmark. There he had a
the disagreeable mole. nest over the window of a house in which
“Nonsense,” replied the field mouse. dwelt the writer of fairy tales. The swallow
“You ought to be very thankful for such sang “Tweet, tweet,” and from his song
good fortune.” came the whole story.

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