Once a kind woman longed for a child of her own. A friendly witch gave her a magic barley seed. She planted it in a flowerpot, and soon a beautiful blossom opened. Inside sat a tiny girl, no bigger than a thumb.
“I shall call you Thumbelina,” the woman said joyfully.
Thumbelina slept in a polished walnut shell and played on a water-lily leaf. One night a mother toad saw her through the window.
“What a pretty wife for my son!” croaked the toad. She carried the sleeping Thumbelina to the marsh and set her on a broad leaf in the stream.
When Thumbelina woke, she cried softly. Kind little fish chewed through the stem of the leaf, and the current carried her away from the toad family. A butterfly helped pull her leaf like a boat until a big beetle snatched her up and then, finding her too strange, left her alone in the summer wood.
All summer Thumbelina lived among flowers and moss. When autumn came, cold winds blew. She found shelter with a field mouse who offered food and a warm corner.
“You must marry my neighbor, the mole,” said the mouse. “He is rich and has a fine underground house.”
Thumbelina did not wish to live forever in the dark. In a passage of the mole’s tunnel she found a swallow lying still and cold. Everyone thought the bird was gone, but Thumbelina covered him with soft hay and brought him water drop by drop. Slowly the swallow opened his eyes.
“You saved me,” he whispered. “When spring comes, I will carry you to a warmer land.”
Spring arrived in golden light. Thumbelina climbed onto the swallow’s back. They flew over forests and seas to a bright country of blossoms. There, in a white flower, lived a tiny prince with a golden crown—no bigger than Thumbelina herself.
“Will you stay and be my friend?” he asked kindly.
Thumbelina smiled. She had found a place where she truly belonged. The swallow sang above them, and the flower petals shone like little lanterns of joy.
The end.
Based on the public domain tale by Hans Christian Andersen, gently adapted for bedtime.
