Thumbelina

A woman who longed for a child was given one magic barley seed by a kind fairy.She planted the seed, and a lovely flower grew. Inside it sat a tiny girl, no taller than a thumb.The woman called her Thumbelina. She slept in a walnut shell and sailed on a plate of water for a lake.

One night an old toad climbed through the window and carried Thumbelina away.The toad wanted the little girl to marry her son, so she left her on a lily leaf in the river.Some kind fish felt sorry for Thumbelina. They bit through the green stalk, and the leaf floated free.

All summer she lived alone in the wood, drinking dew and sleeping under the leaves.Then winter came. The snow fell, and poor Thumbelina was cold and hungry.A field mouse found her and took her down into a warm nest under the ground.

“You may stay with me,” said the field mouse, “if you keep the rooms clean and tell me stories.”A rich mole came visiting. His fur was soft and black, but he never went out into the sun.The field mouse wanted Thumbelina to marry him, but she did not want to live in the dark.

In one of the mole’s tunnels, Thumbelina found a swallow lying still, half dead with cold.All winter she kept the bird warm, and little by little it grew strong again.When spring came, the swallow said, “Come with me!”

It carried her far away, over fields and mountains, to a warm and sunny land.There, among the white flowers, she met a tiny prince of her own size with wings on his back — and he gave Thumbelina wings too, so that she could fly beside him always.