Thumbelina
Once there was a tiny girl. She was sweet and pretty and no taller than your thumb, so Thumbelina was her name.
Every night she slept in a bed made from a walnut shell, with a violet-petal mattress and a rose-leaf coverlet. Every day Thumbelina played in a small garden, where she rowed her tulip petal boat from side to side on a tiny lake.
She made a most charming sight, and as she went along in her boat, she sang in the sweetest little voice you ever heard.
One night as Thumbelina lay sleeping in her pretty bed, a great slippery bullfrog came hopping by and saw the lovely girl.
"She would make just the wife for my son," thought the frog.
So she snatched up Thumbelina and hopped back to her home in the muddy bank of a brook. She put the sleeping Thumbelina on a water lily leaf.
In the morning, when poor Thumbelina woke up and saw where she was, she cried most bitterly: The big green leaf had water all around it, so she could not possibly escape.
The little fishes that swam in the water below heard Thumbelina crying, and had to see her, so they poked their heads out of the water.
When they saw Thumbelina they could not bear to think that she had to marry the ugly Frog, so they gnawed through the root of the leaf with their teeth.
Then, with Thumbelina on it, the leaf floated down the brook far from the toad and her son.
After some time the leaf came to rest against a tree root in a strange forest world.
All through the summer she lived quite alone in that enormous wood.
From patches of moss and a giant wild rose petal she made her bed. For food she mixed flower nectar and sap from trees, and her drink was water from a spring not far by. Above her bed was a tall and broad rhubarb leaf so she was sheltered from the rain, and so she survived the summer and fall.
But then came winter. The harsh, cruel winter.
The leaf under which she had found shelter shriveled up, and all the birds that had given her entertainment flew away.
She looked around, trying to find something that might give her some warmth, but she found nothing, so she began to freeze. She was wandering and half dead when she came to a little door. Hoping that someone was home, she knocked.
A field mouse answered. Thumbelina asked if she could come in and maybe have a bite to eat. The field mouse had immediately taken pity on the poor girl and decided that she should stay, so she answered "Of course. As a matter of fact, why don't you stay with me for the winter, and help me keep house and tell me stories."
So that is where Thumbelina stayed for the winter. The field mouse, whose name happened to be Ranita, often had her neighbor visit.
Ranita said "He has such a lovely blue velvet coat, that if only he were the right husband you would be well of. But, alas, he isn't the proper husband, for you is he?"
Thumbelina shook her head no, and the field mouse said "I thought not. Now it's your bed time. Off you go." so the winter passed.
When spring came, Thumbelina enjoyed running through the field, and often wandered to the edge of the forest to pick a flower.
She and Ranita enjoyed many nights and days together spinning silk from spider webs and collecting flowers for nectar, but one day the Ranita took Thumbelina by surprise.
"You should not stay with me much longer. I am getting older, and I would not burden you with the care of an old field mouse. If only you could get a husband…"
Thumbelina was shocked
"Oh Ranita, taking care of you would never be a burden! It would hardly repay my debt to you for letting me stay here through the winter!" She exclaimed.
Ranita knew this was true, but she still was persistent.
"No child, there is a land filled with flowers and butterflies as large as sparrows, where it is always warm. In that land live the flower sprites, and I have decided that you will go there and live and be happy."
Thumbelina was heartbroken. I will not go, she thought. I will not leave my dear Ranita!
But, it would not have mattered. For the field mouse grew ill one day, and died a few weeks later. But before she passed, she whispered these words to Thumbelina: "Take the whistle that lies on the storeroom wall. Blow into it, and a raven will come to take you to warm lands. Mind that you where your blue silk dress, so that you look your best when you meet the flower sprites… I love you Thumbelina."
At this, Ranita closed her eyes and opened them no more. She was buried in a clearing in the woods.
When she finally stood alone in Ranita's burrow, Thumbelina wept. But she did not forget the dear field mouse's last words.
She did as she had been told, and put on her best, blue-spider-silk dress. She styled her hair in a beautiful centipede braid, and crept to the store room. There on the wall was an ivory whistle.
She stood outside and blew it, lightly at first then stronger. At once, a beautiful raven with wings black as ink appeared. He spoke in a very soft, sweet voice.
"I am sorry that the field mouse is gone, but come with me to the warm countries, where there is food aplenty, and the sun always shines."
Thumbelina took one last look at the small burrow that had become her home, then climbed on the ravens back. He bid her not be afraid to hold on to his feathers, but she needn't do so, so smooth was his flying.
They flew on and on, and stopped only to eat and drink. For many days they traveled, and the sun got brighter and warmer the farther they went.
Then one day, the raven glided down to an ancient marble palace that was covered with large, star-shaped, flowers. He landed on the steps and suggested that Thumbelina explore her new home. Then he left her and flew to his own nest, high in the ancient pillars.
She climbed to one of the flowers, intrigued by their unnatural beauty, and lie down to sleep for a bit in the warm sun.
When she awoke, she was surrounded by men and women of her own size! She was so surprised that at first she could not find the words to speak. Just then the king of the sprites asked her where her wings were, for she was certainly a sprite like them. When she found her voice, she said: "I have never had wings."
The king was astonished at this. "But certainly you must desire them?" He asked her.
Thumbelina agreed, and was granted beautiful wings that much resembled a large dragonfly's.
She became friends with all of the sprites, including the prince, and they spent much of their time gardening.
One day, the prince asked Thumbelina if she would be his wife, and she happily agreed. That day she changed her name to Alatum Filia Reginae, meaning "Winged Princess."
They were soon married, and because sprites are immortal, they still live today, in that beautiful warm country, happily ever after.
The End