Like all other stories, this one too begins with… once upon a time, there was a woman who really wanted to have a baby, so she went to an old lady who was said to fulfill any wish and asked her if she could give her a child.

– Here’s a barely-corn! Take it, but remember it is no ordinary barely-corn, like those you see on the fields or like those you feed to your hens. Put it into a flower pot.

And lo and behold, the moment she put it in the pot, a big, beautiful flower bloomed.

– What a lovely flower, said the woman, kissing its yellow and red petals.

Whoosh! The moment it was kissed, the flower opened and, right in the middle, stood a little, dainty girl, no bigger than a thumb. This is why they called her Thumbelina. Her parents made her a cradle out of a walnut shell and fit it with a matress and blankets made out of columbine and rose petals. It was a joy to look at her and hear her sing.

One night, a big, ugly frog jumped through the window.

– This little girl would make the perfect bride for my son, thought the frog, and stole the walnut shell in which Thumbelina was sleeping, taking her to his muddy stream, where he lived.

Waking up surrounded by water, the little girl started cyring. When he heard her, the frog came up to her and introduced his clammy son, telling Thumbelina he was building a mud room, where they would live after they got married.

No! It couldn’t be! So the fish gathered around the water-lily where the walnut lay and chewed it up, so the leaf could float away. As she was sailing, happy that the frog couldn’t reach her anymore, together with a white butterfly who had stopped by her side, came a cockchafer, who grabbed Thumbelina and took her to a trree.

– She has only two legs! Poor thing! Said a lady-cockchafer, who lived in the same tree.

– And no feelers! said another one. She’s ugly!

So they took her down and placed her on a daisy. Upset that she had been called ugly, Thumbelina started crying again. But this wasn’t true! She was the loveliest girl the world had ever seen!

Poor soul, she spent the entire summer alone in the woods, eating honey from the flowers and drinking the dew on the leaves every morning. Then winter came, with its big, cold snow-flakes, and Thumbelina started shivering. Right next to the woods was a large field – Thumbelina thought she had nothing left to lose and ventured through it – eventually she reached the house of a field-mouse, whom she asked for some corn.

– You poor thing! Come, come in, sit here, eat something and get warm. You can stay here all winter long if you tell me stories, for I looooove stories.
And so she did. But one day, the field-mouse told her:

– We have guests today! A neighbour of mine, a mole, is coming to dinner! He’s rich and he has beautiful, thick fur. You should marry him.

Marriage was the last thing on Thumbelina’s mind, but she had no choice and had to meet the mole, who instantly fell in love with her sweet voice. He had just dug a long tunnell through the ground and asked Thumbelina and the field-mouse to join him on a walk:

– Don’t be scared, said the mole, but in the tunnell you will see a swallow who froze to death. Such a cruel fate, the life of a bird.

– Maybe it’s the same bird who sang for me all last summer and who brought me so much joy, thought Thumbelina, saddened.

That night, the little girl plaited a blanket of straw and lay it on top the swallow, then covered him in some cotton she had found, to keep him warm.

– Farewell, you lovely bird, said Thumbelina and laid her cheek against the bird’s heart.

But… all of a sudden, Thumbelina was startled. She thought she could hear the bird’s heart-beat. So he wasn’t dead, just frozen.

– Thank you! Now I’m warm again and soon I shall be strong enough to fly away! Come with me, I’ll take you to warmer lands.

And so he did. Thumbelina stretched her feet on the bird’s wings and the swallow flew over forests, rivers and mountains covered in snow. And so they flew and they flew, until they reached a white-marble palace. Thumbelina looked around and saw a tiny, thin man, wearing a crown. The tiny man was the the King of flowers and he fell madly in love with her.

– Will you be my wife and become the Queen of all flowers?

Thumbelina said yes and all flowers and insects came to celebrate their union. The most precious of gifts was a pair of wings and now she too could fly from flower to flower.