She then went to visit a witch, who gave
her a magic grain of barley. She planted
it in a flower pot. And the very next day,
the grain had turned into a lovely flower,
rather like a tulip. The woman softly
kissed its half-shut petals. And as
though by 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 fast 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'd
make the perfect bride for my own dear 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 leaf 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 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 wi 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.