A Tale of Little People

by disneyclassics101

What if Cornelius and Thumbelina had known each other for a longer time? Would the story change? And what if the audience was more privy to some behind-the-scenes action? Disclaimer: I do not own Don Bluth's "Thumbelina" nor H.C. Andersen's "Thumbelina"

A Tale of Little People

~0~

An old wind mind whirls at the slight breeze. A beam of sunshine gold bounces off the dreary clouds. A slight gray mist lazily lays over the village. A small sailboat rocks down the river. And a kingdom slowly welcomes the start of a new day. Farmers awake to till the fields. Bookkeepers open their shops doors. Mothers wake their children up for school. And priests begin their morning prayer.

It is a quiet morning like any other. Until…

"Oh… La la-la-la-la la-la la la
If you follow your heart
Ho ho-ho-ho-ho ho-ho ho ho
When you follow your heart….

Hello! Welcome to Paris, city of love. Who am I? I am Jacquimo, swallow extraordinaire and lover of beautiful things" bellowed a black and blue bird wearing a checkered vest, a feathered hat, and boots right before he flew off a weather mane.

"You're sure to do impossible things
If you follow your heart
You're sure to fly on magical wings
When you follow your heart"

Landing on a stone statue of a church, the French swallow turns and continues, "Oh, that is very nice, n'est-ce pas? And I like what it is saying. It is saying follow your heart and nothing is impossible!" Laughing as he entered through the shattered glass window of the church, we follow the swallow as he enters and lands on another feathered hat almost thrice his size.

"If you follow your heart…

Ha Ha! I love the sound of my voice.

…When you follow your heart
When you follow your heart!"

Kicking off his boots and dancing a little jig, the blue swallow drops down on the hat behind him, and putting his hands behind his head, he claims: "I love great romances. I myself am a swallow of great passion. Vive l'amour." And gesturing to the great collection of fine works of the written word, he continues, "These are stories about the people with impossible problems. Samson loves Delilah. Ah, that was impossible. Romeo et Juliet—Oh, impossible. Ha ha ha ho! But the most impossible of all the stories is impossible small. The story of Thumbelina….

Once upon a time…

~0~

The day was dark and dreary from the summer rain clouds, growing darker as the sun passed the horizon and the land welcomed the black, invincible new moon. Most of the people were off getting cozy in their homes; windows were shut, lights were being put out, and mothers sang their children to sleep.

Only few brave souls ventured the wet stoned road, mostly men but the occasional woman. One of these women was dressed in a dark cloak bringing more attention to the pale face it surrounded. Dark bags were found under her eyes and her nose was pink-tipped. She suddenly was racked with coughs as the sky decided to let down buckets of cool water, which quickly soaked the poor woman's clothes.

All the other town residences quickly scurried into their warm, dry houses, never looking back at the slowly moving woman. She sneezed and continued on, willing her sore muscles to aid her to a safe spot for the evening. She only made it so far as the secluded house yards away from the main town. Her vision grew blurry before all she saw was black. Her body fell limp onto the ground with a thud, her cloak covering most of her body except for her scraped hands and feet; the rain never stopping its assault on the land below.

~0~

The next time she opened her eyes, she noticed she was staring not at the sky or the ground, but a slightly cracked ceiling. The surface beneath her was soft and comfy. A wet, cold towel was on her forehead and the smell of a freshly made pie hung in the air. And just like she had since her eyes opened, she wondered where she was.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" a quiet motherly voice came from her left.

She jumped and quickly turned her head to gaze at an old middle aged woman with grey hair and blue eyes. A small smile aligned her red lips and her cheeks were light shade of pink.

"I'm alright, but…" the woman looked around at the room she was in, and quickly came to the conclusion that she was in the woman's bed, before looking back and asking, "… what am I doing here?"

"Why I found you outside, you poor dear. You were burning hot with a fever! It's a good thing I had looked out my window just as you fell or who knows how long you would've been out there!"

"And you helped me?" the woman exclaimed totally taken by surprise.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I dear?!"

"Well, it's just that most people wouldn't take me in, since I will 'cause them problems' they say." The woman struggled to sit up, and was only able to manage through the help of the older woman.

"Oh! You're not causing me any problems. I'm happy to help." She left the room, only to return a few seconds later carrying a tray of food. "Here. You need to get some food in that empty stomach of yours, before you go take a bath."

"Oh no. I couldn't."

"Oh, I insist! Trust me, there's no trouble. I've been wanting a little company anyway…" The older woman sighed out.

"Well… if you insist."

Sometime later, after the younger of the two had a full belly and was dry from her bath, the two women sat by the fire place talking about idle things. The elder of the two was knitting a blanket whilst the younger was gazing out the window, not that there was much to see other than a white landscape from how much rain was pouring. She sighed and turned from the depressing scene.

Gazing for a moment at her generous host, she said "I cannot thank you enough for your hospitality. Not many would be as kind as you are to me."

"Oh! Think nothing of it, my dear. I couldn't very well leave you out to fend for yourself in the freezing rain in the state you were in." Pausing with her knitting for a moment she asked, "Whatever were you doing outside by your lonesome anyway?"

"Oh, ah… well-"

Seeing her fumble for an answer, the elder gave her a tender smile. "It's alright. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just hope I won't catch you in the rain again."

Smiling back, the younger giggled. "Thank you. I hope I won't ever have cause to brave the rain again either."

Pausing for a moment and glancing around the otherwise empty house, the younger wondered why her host seemed to only have animals for company. Seeing only a slumbering dog in the house and no others, she gnawed at her lip and wondered if she wasn't being too forward when she asked, "May I ask where your husband is?"

Pausing at her knitting for a long moment, the host stared with glazed eyes at the fire before quietly admitting: "He's… gone."

"Oh." Feeling awkward and afraid that she brought up painful memories, the younger sat back and tried of thinking up a new subject of discussion.

But just as she opened her mouth, her host said, "He died from pneumonia four years ago. It was just after a rainstorm like this one when he developed a fever. He had been working on the henhouse outside when the rain hit. He was stubborn, you see, and he didn't want to come inside until the rain was too strong to see through. At first we thought it was a mild cold, until it progressed to the point where he couldn't leave the bed anymore." She sniffed, and looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Seeing the look of concern, she swiped at the single tear that escaped her eye-lids. "I still remember the loud racking cough he had in his last moments."

"I'm sorry that I brought up such bad memories," the younger said as she rubbed the teary woman's shoulder.

"No, no. It was a reasonable question. I'm sorry that I spouted my burdens on you."

"No worries. Hearing your story was the least I could do after you helped me today."

The rest of the night was spent quietly in each other's company and seeing how the rain was not letting up anytime soon the elder woman insisted upon setting up a bed for the younger one. After much protest, the younger relented and the two slept without further drama until the sun rose in the sky the next morning.

The rain had stopped sometime in the night and so with the beginning of the new day, the two ladies parted ways, with the younger continually thanking the elder and insisting that if there was ever anything she could do to help her savior to call upon her without a second thought. The lady of the house smiled and thanked her, never believing that she would take her up on her offer.

But as time went by, and loneliness began to weigh down upon her, she found out from gossipers in the town square that the young lady she saved was a witch that lived on the outskirts of town. And thinking back on her once-visitor's insistence to come to her if she ever wished for anything, she began to dress one morning intent on speaking with the witch.

After all, she longed to have a child to call her own.

Her visit could not have gone more smoothly. Upon arriving at the good witch's home and explaining her desire, the young woman – no longer hiding the wings that marked her as a magical being – jumped at the chance to help the kind woman.

Giving her a tiny barleycorn, she said "Plant it in a flower pot and see what happens."

The elder did not even for a moment doubt the woman's sincerity and doing as she was told the moment she arrived home, she watched anxiously as each day the flower began growing until at last…

"Oh, what a pretty flower." And acting upon impulse, gave the pretty bud a kiss, which, to her surprise, bloomed upon the gentle impact. Staring as the tulip's petals spread, the woman was only mildly surprised at seeing a little girl dressed in white and blue laying in the center of the flower.

"Oh…" yawned the girl as she stretched her limbs and stood.

The tiny being, who looked no older than fourteen years, turned to see a vastly bigger female standing next to her, smiling a tender smile as she gazed at her with twinkling eyes. Already knowing who she is, the little girl walked to the edge of the petal in front of her, calling "Hello, Mother."

Tenderly picking up her new daughter with the palm of her hand, she gazed elatedly at the girl and said, "I will call you Thumbelina."

~0~

"Thumbelina…" sighed the pretty swallow. "but can you imagine the troubles for a little girl no bigger than your thumb? Hmm?"

~0~

"Who is the girl no bigger than a bumble bee?" sang a duck before she quacked.

"Who is the angel with a funny name?" caroled a goat right before little Thumbelina fell into the animal's water bowl.

"Oh, we don't know where she's from or how she came to be" mooed a cow as he leaned down so that Thumbelina could grab hold of his nose ring, accidently dunking her for a second time, to save her.

"But happy was the day she came
Thumbelina
She's a funny little squirt
Thumbelina
Tiny angel in a skirt
Thumbelina
First she's mending then baking, pretending, she's making things up
Thumbelina"

Thumbelina giggled at the antics of her furry and feathery friends. She loved hanging out with them outside on warm, sunny days such as these. They were about the only beings she could actually talk to outside of her mother. Being the tiny being that she was, not many people took notice of her and when they did, most just scoff and ignore her. But she tried not to let feelings of hurt weigh down on her. But still she wondered…

Seeing her mother taking up the broom to sweep the yard, Thumbelina grabbed hold of a single feather of the floor. And with thoughts of her size still whirling in her mind, she sang:

"Who would believe the wonder of the world I see"

She tried not to cry as she fell through a hole in the wood and into one of the hens' nest of eggs, right as they began to hatch.

"Each little minute brings a new surprise
There's only one peculiar thing that bothers me
Seems I'm the only one my size"

When the inside of the henhouse darken a little, Thumbelina looked up to see her mother gazing through the hole down at her. She smiled sheepishly when her mother giggled and left, presumably to open the door for her daughter. After doing so, and finishing up the sweeping, her mother left to get her bag of feed.

Seeing their owner walking out of the house with a sack of corn, the chickens clucked and flapped their wings in excitement before running over, as did one of the baby chicks. But fearing that it would get trampled, the chick didn't join in the feeding in time before one the bigger chickens pushed him out of the way.

"Thumbelina
Thank the Lord and save our meals
Thumbelina
Maybe if you had high heels
Thumbelina"

Seeing the sad chick's dilemma, Thumbelina took advantage of her size and join the frayed, successfully gathering four pieces of corn without hassle. Chirping happily, the chick rapidly chowed down on two pieces while giving Thumbelina grateful eyes.

"If you stay here forever we know that we'll never be glum
By gum!"

Sometime later, Thumbelina found herself helping her mother lode a pie with cherries, one of the few tasks she could successfully do as well. But one rather large cherry, about the same size as she, caused her to lose her balance and she fell into the pie right as her mother closed it off with a layer of dough.

"Thumbelina
She is always in the thick
Thumbelina"

Squirming her way out of the pie, she got out just as it was raised to her mother's eye level.

"But I get out in the nick" she sang as she climbed out and pulled off the cherry on her head.

"Thumbelina
Fortune sometimes has tricked us
but this time it's picked us a plum"

Thumbelina gazed dismayed at the pile of plums she stood on, as picking plums was one of the aforementioned tasks she could not do. Trying to pick even one of the low hanging ones was difficult as one of the ducks had to help her with picking off the twig.

"Oh, a plum so big
And a fig so big
And they call it a twig
But a twig's so big"

Almost at the end of her chores, Thumbelina's mother took this time to join the antics as Thumbelina began running across the field.

"It's a great big world
Thumbelina
Thumbelina
Thumbelina….

That's me!" Thumbelina giggled, finishing the song the farm animals so carefully crafted together. Having been lifted by her mother, she hugged her mother's thumb as that was the only way she could do so.

~0~

Several hours later, as darkness set upon the little village, Thumbelina's mother sat in the rocking chair she kept in Thumbelina's room, getting ready for story time with her daughter. It was one of the few daughter-mother moments they had where it was just the two of them – not including the ever guarding dog, Hero – with no work needing to be done.

Opening one of the many books she collected over the years to share with any child of hers, Thumbelina's mother addressed the girl who sat upon her nose, as she had taken to doing for the past four months, "Now here's a story about the noble dog ("Woof, woof" barked Hero, posing as if he were the character in the book) who saved the king from the wicked wizard. Once upon a time…"

"Oh, Mother, please" cried the now fifteen year old girl, whilst looking into her mother's eye. "Are there any stories about… about little people?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, there are, Thumbelina. Look." Making sure to hold out her hand as she bent over, Thumbelina's mother flipped to another story, and set her daughter upon an illustration of a finely dressed male, only half the size of a mushroom he called a house.

Thumbelina gazed wonderingly and amazedly at the little painted figure who couldn't be much taller than herself on the page. This being the first time she heard of others such as she possibly being real, Thumbelina couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, they are little, just like me" as she gestured to the picture. Turning to gaze at it once more, she noticed a peculiar set of objects sprouting from behind the little man.

Unable to figure out what they are, she asked "But—But what are those?"

Smiling at her daughter's enthusiasm, Thumbelina's mother answered, "They're wings, Thumbelina. These are fairies, and fairies have wings so they can fly."

Dancing and twirling in her excitement, Thumbelina couldn't help but wonder why she has never seen little people like them. And wondering if they even existed outside of fairy tales, she paused her dancing as she gnawed at her lip in puzzlement.

"Mother, have you ever seen a fairy?"

Cocking her head to the side, and briefly remembering a time in which unexplainable sparkles of light passed her window when she was around her daughter's age, Thumbelina's mother said, "Well, I thought I did. Once."

"Really?" Thumbelina sighed happily. If her mother claims to have seen one than why couldn't they exist?

Her mother giggled. "Yes, and here, the fairy prince and princess are having a wedding." She took off her glasses in order to magnify the image.

"And they lived happily ever after." Thumbelina smiled.

"Ho ho ho. Usually, dear." Thumbelina's mother said as she fingered the locket around her neck, a gift from her late husband as an anniversary present.

Looking at the picture for a moment, Thumbelina couldn't help the pang of sadness that passed through her. Crawling under the glass covering the picture, Thumbelina played with her thumbs a little as she looked up at her mother. "Hmm. I—I suppose it works best if, uh, if two people are about the same size."

Creasing her eyebrows a little, Thumbelina's mother hesitantly responded, "Yes, of—of course."

"Yes. Well…" Turning sad eyes away, Thumbelina stood to sit at the corner of the page. Thumbelina's mother gazed at her sadly, knowing what was going through her mind. "Well, that's not fair. I—I—I must be the only little person in the whole world." She sighed almost teary eyed. "I wish I were big."

"Oh, no, Thumbelina. No. Don't ever wish to be anything but what you are." Trying to pat her daughter's shoulder as best as she could with her index finger, Thumbelina's mother didn't even look up when Hero growled and woofed in agreement with her words. When Thumbelina barely even acknowledged her actions, she sighed, and not knowing what else to do called for bedtime.

Carrying her daughter over to her nut bed on top of the crib – which was commissioned by her late husband – Thumbelina's mother explained, "It's been a long day. You must go to sleep now. Sleep tight."

Setting aside her sadness for the moment, Thumbelina smiled at her mother. "Mother, will you please leave the book open?"

"Of course, dear."

"I want to look at the pictures while I go to sleep."

Setting her daughter next to the window and wishing her goodnight, Thumbelina's mother had no idea how much her daughter's world was going to change soon.

~0~

Elsewhere at the same time, away from the prying eyes of the humans inhabiting the same land as them, fairies of all shapes and sizes gathered around the outside of their homes in preparation for the seasonal royal parade the royal family partakes in as they help nature run its course. Many wings fluttered in excitement as neighbors whispered and betted on who was to be a part of the action this season.

Aside from the royal family only a pre-selected group of individuals were allowed to help them in their endeavor. Along with being a part of the procession for a brief moment, these helpers got to meet the royal family first hand, and were always given a hefty reward for their troubles at the end of the night. It was a worthy and honorable cause for those lucky fairies, and many longed for the day in which their talents proved useful enough to merit a spot on the committee.

But while many viewed this occasion as an extraordinary moment, one particular individual looked upon this time with dread. He could never understand why this event was so grand as it happened four times a year every year.

Looking at the white butterfly which was to be transportation, he looked at his mother in exasperation. "Do I really have to go, Mother?"

"Of course, son! Why do you even ask? You know this has been a tradition of the royal family for decades now! You can't just skip it and go gallivanting god knows where!" cried his mother as she waved her wand about, causing golden fairy dust to sparkle across the room.

"Why?! It's not like I help you out much anyway. Need I remind you that I only have this sword in my possession?" He crossed his arms and glared a little when his mother frowned at him.

"Cornelius, son. We've been over this. As part of the royal family, you must partake in the duties of the royals. What kind of impression on the court will you make if you continually slack on your responsibilities?"

"But what about what I want to, Mother? I have plenty of time before I have to take over for you and Father! It's just one season. There will be plenty more."

"That's what you always say every turn of the season. No, Cornelius. You are not permitted to shack your duties."

Seeing his son open his mouth to argue some more, Colbert stepped in to assuage the situation. "Cornelius, please, don't argue with your mother. After all, it is your responsibility as the Crown Prince to 'prance around', as you say. Your time to reign is drawing ever closer and your mother and I worry about you."

Cornelius sighed exasperated. "It's not like I haven't done this before, Father."

"There is always room for improvement." Tabitha chimed in. Cornelius rolled his eyes. "And besides this is the perfect opportunity for you to make an impression on the available ladies of the court. We're not getting any younger."

"Ha! I think it should be the other way around, Mother. None of those girls interest me."

"You just haven't found the right one, son." Colbert said.

Cornelius rolled his eyes and stalked off toward his bumble, which had Tabitha wrinkling her nose at the sight.

A few hours later, as night began to paint the sky black and several stars introduced their lights, the royal family and their small entourage prepared to board their designated transportation. But seeing as the Crown Prince was taking his sweet time meandering over, Tabitha began to get irritated at the delay. "Where is he?!"

"Tabitha dear, relax. He'll come eventually."

"He needs to be here now!" she cried just as Cornelius appeared around the corner. "Where were you?!"

"Admiring the artwork, Mother." Cornelius claimed cheekily. In truth, he was making plans with a certain bumble in hopes of escaping the dull parade. No way will he spend the whole night sitting on a butterfly while he could be out exploring.

"Admiring the—Oh, never mind. We're late! Hurry up!" Tabitha glared as her son slowly waltzed over to the white butterfly, looking as if the world would wait for him, before turning and fixing her dress. Signaling to the others in her party to begin takeoff, she sighed when she heard from behind her:

"Are you sure I can't take Buzzby?"

~0~

"You take good care of her, Hero." Getting a muttered response of compliance back, Thumbelina's mother made her way out the room.

Waiting until her mother's footsteps could no longer be heard, Thumbelina leapt out of her nut bed to gaze upon the book once more. Giving a curtsy to the painted fairy prince, Thumbelina bit her lip and walked closer to the window.

"I know there's someone, somewhere, someone
Who's sure to find me soon…"

Picking her skirt up, Thumbelina gazed at her reflection in the different colored panels of the window.

"After the rain goes
There are rainbows
I'll find my rainbow soon"

Hearing the beautiful voice of his charge, Hero leapt upon the desk with a happy sigh.

"Soon it won't be just pretend
Soon, a happy ending
Love, can you hear me?
If you're near me
Sing your song
Sure and strong
And soon"

Letting the note resound across the room, Thumbelina crept closer to the image until her lips settled upon the males painted cheek.

"I wonder if there really are such things as fairies. Hmm…"

~0~

As more and more stars littered the sky, golden hues of dust fell on the plants and trees that covered the ground for miles and miles around. Stems and leaves turned from brilliant shades of green into bright shades of orange and red. Fruits and vegetables everywhere grew ripe for the picking and a slight cold breeze began to blow through the foliage, bringing testimony to the successful work of the fairies flying through.

Tabitha smiled with pride seeing her fairy dust at work, at least, until she turned and saw the empty seat where her son was supposed to be instead of just his crown.

"Oh, my dear. D-Don't look now, dear husband, but our son is missing again." Can't say she wasn't too surprised. She didn't fool herself into thinking that their earlier conversation would get anywhere with him.

Looking to where his wife gestured, Colbert answered, "So he is. I think he feels a bit silly riding that white butterfly we gave him."

"Why should he feel silly?" Tabitha frowned. She found the butterfly to be quite astonishing.

"It doesn't quite make the right impression on the young ladies," Colbert retorted as he grabbed a leaf within his reach to hand to his wife, unconcerned over his son's whereabouts. If he had been forced to ride a butterfly during his youth, he would be embarrassed too.

"Well, what about the impression on the court? Colbert, my love, it is autumn today, and we've begun the golding of the leaves. He should be here!"

"Tabitha…"

"He'll hurt himself. I just hope he's not out buzzing the vales on that wretched bumblebee. He is the crown prince, for heaven's sake." Her leaf fan kept flapping faster and faster as her nervous rambling progressed.

Placing his hand over his wife's, Colbert chuckled. "Tabitha, dear, have you forgotten what it's like to be 16?"

Neither of them noticed as said aforementioned bumblebee, along with its royal rider, passed right through the dandelions they had just sprinkled dust over.

"I don't remember ever being this reckless when I was 16." Tabitha ground out.

"Maybe not as often as our son, but I do remember our courting days. Remember when we snuck out to fly with the northern winds? And how long it took us to find our way back?" Colbert chuckled out.

Tabitha blushed and huffed slightly. "I'll give him two more hours to himself. Nothing more."

~0~

Cornelius couldn't help but bellow his laughter. He had managed to escape! And without his parents noticing! No doubt they knew by now but it was too late to catch him!

"Great job, Buzzby! It couldn't have gone more perfectly!" Cornelius grinned as his bumblebee buzzed back in reply and sped up his trek across the small town they were in. "Now to find something to d-What was that?"

Hearing a humming noise a little ways off, Cornelius steered his ride a little further into town. Passing a slightly open window, and hearing the humming noise briefly increase in volume, Cornelius pulled back at the antennae in his hands.

"Whoa!" he cried, flying back a little, and getting off Buzzby to investigate the noise, Cornelius was slightly surprised to see a human – who was to his surprise just a few centimeters shorter than him – dancing next to the window sill. And a beautiful human girl at that.

"Oh, hello…" was whispered as the prince gazed at the girl in amazement. "I wonder who she is." Looking a little longer at the twirling girl, Cornelius decided to take a closer look. "Stay here, boy. I'll check this out."

Walking across the windowsill close to the wall, Cornelius couldn't have been more glad – and amused – that the girl's eyes were closed. But not wanting to take any chances he waited until she twirled away before squiring over behind the book, trying to make his footsteps as silent as possible. Once he was certain that she couldn't see the light all fairies emitted when they take flight, he took to the air and flew slowly, keeping his own natural twinkling noises as low as possible until he reached the open page. He smirked at the image of the 'fairy prince' and almost let loose a chuckle when he heard "Oh, do you have to go now?" coming from the girl. Seems someone is interested in seeing a fairy prince.

"I see."

He looked down at the sword on his hip and slowly dragged it out, biting down on his lip to hold back his smile.

"You are a wonderful dancer."

He most certainly was.

"Will I ever see you again?"

Deciding to play along with the humorous girl, Cornelius prepared to cut through the paper, being sure to aim for the 'window'. "May I cut in?"

In hindsight, suddenly talking and waving a sword at a girl that didn't know he was there probably wasn't the best idea.

Seeing the girl gasp in fright, before running toward a ceramic figure, Cornelius really should have thought his plan out better.

"No, wait. Wait! Come back!" Dropping down to the closed book on the floor, Cornelius shook his head as the girl dropped into the oddly shaped ceramic figure. "Oh, I—I apologize. I didn't mean to frighten you."

Seeing something white wave into his peripheral vision, Cornelius looked at the sword still in his hand. "Oh! Tsk tsk tsk." He forgot that he was still waving the thing around.

Sliding the sword back into its sheath, he called out to her, "There. See? No more sword." And flying over to the opening at the top, he looked down at her, and asked "Now will you come out?"

The girl gazed at him for a moment and he laid his head down on his hand, signaling with his other that he was waiting. Giving a wiggle of his fingers in greeting, as the girl turned and went up the hole in the side, he wondered why the girl still hid herself.

Looking up and seeing that the girl was actually coming out of her hiding spot, he "ah"-ed in understanding.

"W—Wait—Wait a minute. What are you staring at?" he asked, upon seeing the peculiar look on her face. Getting annoyed, he jumped closer, only to have her back away. "Say something, will you."

"You're…" She gasped, finally. "You're one of them." She gestured to the picture Cornelius saw earlier and he couldn't help but wonder what was so amazing. Didn't this girl ever see a fairy before? She must have, cause she was most definitely not a human at that size.

Confused, Cornelius asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"I thought I was the only one my size in the whole world."

So she hadn't seen a fairy before, but how is she here than? As far as he knew, only fairies had human-like appearances and no human he had ever seen before was the same size as them. But at the same time, she had to be a human. He had never heard of a fairy ever being born wingless before.

Whatever she is, she certainly is beautiful, though. Cornelius thought to himself. But his thought process was interrupted upon hearing a growl from behind him.

Not stopping to wonder how he missed the giant dog when he entered, Cornelius took out his sword and jumped in front of the lady. But apparently the lady didn't need any saving.

"Oh no. Hero, no, no, no. He's a friend. Look." Smiling at the dog awkwardly as his 'friend' gestured to him, Cornelius looked back at her in puzzlement. "Uh, hello. My name is Thumbelina. How do you do, sir?" What was she doing? "Uh, thank you—thank you for coming to visit."

Looking down and seeing her hand gesture and the pleading look she gave him, Cornelius finally figured out what was going on. "Oh, Oh, Oh. No trouble at all. The—the pleasure is mine." He played along, looking back at her constantly to make sure he was doing this, whatever this was, right.

He felt kind of silly bowing to the dog.

Gazing at her as she continued to smile at the dog, Cornelius once again had to admire how beautiful the girl was. And her voice! Oh man, was her voice the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. Peculiar, though she was, she was interesting to him.

His smile widened when she looked back at him.

"Ooh! Sorry about that." Thumbelina said.

Oh yes, was Cornelius happy to know her name now.

"Thumbelina." He sighed. He liked how it rolled off his tongue so easily. "Oh, it's a lovely name."

Thumbelina blushed at the compliment and smiled bashfully. "Thank you."

"I'm Cornelius."

"C-Cornelius. Ha ha ha! Well, that's a funny name." Catching how rude that might sound, Thumbelina amended, "Oh, I—I mean, it's perfect."

Not taking offense, Cornelius just moved closer, and seeing as she had her back turned, he raised his arms to wrap around—

She turned. "Uh, tell me about the fairy court." Trying to play off his gesture, Cornelius acted coy as she asked, "Is there a-a-a prince?"

Smirking in amusement, he mumbled "Yes." He wondered what she'd do if she found out that he was the prince in question.

"He must be terribly handsome." Of course.

"Oh, he is."

"Strong and brave." Oh yes, please keep going.

"None like him."

"I would love to meet the prince." I love meeting you too.

"Oh, I'll tell him."

This close to her he couldn't help but see how beautiful her eyes were or how nice she smelled.

Thumbelina blushed under his intense gaze as he moved his face closer. "Oh, thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome." Her lips looked so nice.

Buzzby buzzed. "What was that?"

Really?!

Frowning in annoyance when her back was turned, Cornelius answered. "Oh, that's Buzzby, my bumble. See I left him on the sill. He doesn't like staying in one place too long." Cornelius could swear the bumble had done that on purpose.

"Why didn't you say something? Come on." Surprised at having his hand suddenly snatched, Cornelius followed her without protest.

Upon arriving outside and seeing the bumblebee waiting on her sill, Thumbelina let out a gasp of astonishment. What a beautiful bumble!

"Oh, my. Why he—he's amazing."

Seeing the girl's amazement and delight, Cornelius got a sudden idea. "Hey, would you like to go for a spin?"

Thumbelina paused for a moment, looking at the bumble. She had never ridden one before, especially with a guy she just met. Oh, what would her mother think if she saw her now?

"I don't know…" she answered, playing with her fingers.

Cornelius got closer to her, and grabbed at her hands. "Come on. What are you worrying about? I promise I won't drop you." She bit her lip. This would be her first time leaving the house without her mother or even Hero with her.

Cornelius, seeing her indecision, thought quickly of places that might appeal to her, and when a certain place crossed his mind, he grinned widely. Putting pressure on her hands to bring her attention back to him, he slyly asked, "Have you even seen lightning bugs?"

That got her attention. "Lightning bugs?" she asked wonderingly.

"Yes, lightning bugs, bugs that glow brightly at night. I know where they live…." Cornelius said in his best persuasive tone. Seeing her thoughtful look slowly turn into a smile, he grinned.

Throwing caution to the wind, Thumbelina allowed Cornelius to lift her up onto his bumble, and grabbing hold of his waist after he hopped on, Thumbelina smiled at the thought of a new adventure.

She hoped to have many more, maybe even with the man sitting in front of her.

Unknowingly to her, Cornelius' thoughts ran along the same lines.

~0~

Riding on a bumblebee had to be the most thrilling moment of Thumbelina's life. Never, not even when she rode on Hero's back or sat on her mother's shoulder, had she gone so fast and seen so many sights as she did now. Feeling the wind flowing through her hair and adrenaline racing down her veins, Thumbelina couldn't help but laugh and squeal every time Cornelius took a rough turn or sped down in a spiral.

Cornelius, for his part, was paying more attention to the girl sitting against his back than the passing scenery. This was the first time he had taken anyone with him on Buzzby and he couldn't be happier. He grinned whenever she let loose a laugh, and purposely turned without warning just to feel her snuggle into him tighter. In fact, he took the longer route to their destination just to have her with him for a little longer.

Arriving at their destination a few minutes later, Cornelius guided his bumble to land behind a fern, and quickly climbing off, he offered a hand to Thumbelina. He gulped slightly when her dress rode up a little on her way down.

"Where are the lightning bugs?" Thumbelina asked, shaking Cornelius out of his thoughts.

He quietly shushed her quickly, and grabbing her hand, he whispered, "Stay quiet. They don't really like company and they get spooked easily. And—And cover your eyes." He smiled at her.

"Why?"

"Please? I want it to be a surprise."

Thumbelina pursed her lips but did as he said. A moment later she felt a tug on her hand and an arm wrap around her waist. Putting her trust into her companion, Thumbelina let him lead her under upturned roots, over rocks and gravel, and through tall grass blades. Feeling him pull away, she stayed where she was, until he pressed on her back and quietly whispered, "Okay, now open them."

Thumbelina could never have imagined the sight that befell her eyes. Looking up at the sky from a clearing in the middle of the forest, Thumbelina gasped in delight at the many floating lights up ahead. Twinkling like the stars millions of miles above, the lightning bugs swayed and danced in the new autumn breeze. With the coming of the new season, these precious bugs were preparing their homes to house them until next summer. Being one of the few bugs to hibernate this early, they had a lot of work left to do.

Looking down at the wonder on his companion's face, Cornelius was glad to have caught them in time to show Thumbelina. He hadn't much appreciated the view when he first discovered the place but seeing how Thumbelina reacted to it, he took in the sight with a new found appreciation. Although… he much rather liked gazing at the girl in his arms instead.

"Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" Thumbelina mumbled.

"Yes. Definitely," Cornelius breathed, still looking at her.

Feeling that he was talking about something else, Thumbelina turned and blushed when she caught him looking at her. Was he was talking about her? Thumbelina thought that he was, but having never met any other male her size, she didn't know if she was attractive or not. Her mother told her she was pretty but all mothers tell their children that. Right?

Deciding not to comment, Thumbelina leaned against Cornelius a little more as they both watched the fireflies flitter about until only a handful were left in the sky. Hearing Buzzby start to buzz with boredom, Cornelius led Thumbelina back to their transportation. And just like before, took the longest route back to her house, with many more twists and turns than before.

Landing on her windowsill again, Cornelius helped Thumbelina down reluctantly, knowing that the night was quickly coming to an end. Thumbelina, for her part, also felt saddened that they were back home, but still riding off the adrenaline of the flight and the lightning bug display, she giggled and twirled. Cornelius laughed at her display.

"So I take you had fun?" Cornelius asked, already knowing the answer forthcoming.

"Oh, yes! Very much. I have never seen anything like it before! Do you think we can do it again?" Thumbelina enthusiastically implored.

Cornelius was delighted at the prospect. This meant she wanted to see him again! "Of course! But we're going to have to wait until summer comes again," he replied, but seeing her face fall slightly, he quickly said, "But we can do other things in the mean time. Like tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Thumbelina perked up. He wanted to see her tomorrow?

"Yes. Do you want to?" Cornelius implored hopefully.

"Yes!" Thumbelina squealed. "Yes, of course."

"Great!" Cornelius exclaimed, doing a turn in his excitement. "I can't wait."

"Until tomorrow, good sir." Thumbelina said playfully.

Playing along, Cornelius answered "Until tomorrow, my lady."

~0~

And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that, until finally Cornelius had been visiting Thumbelina every night for the past two months without failure. He was surprised at how long their meetings had been going on, especially as he wasn't originally looking for a relationship with anybody. And yes, he said relationship. Although he hadn't outright asked to court Thumbelina, both of them knew that their relationship was far more than just mere friendship.

Cornelius smiled at the thought of being in a relationship with his beautiful Thumbelina. Never had he expected to find the girl of his dreams that night he snuck away, but here he was, currently flying toward her window for the nth time in a row.

Arriving at his love's home, Cornelius took a moment to see if her mother was in the room before fluttering through the window. On the lookout for his dear Thumbelina, he called out, "Thumbelina! Thumbelina, are you here?"

"Down here!"

Looking in the direction her voice came from, Cornelius flew over to the fireplace where Thumbelina sat trying to keep warm as the night's grew colder and colder the closer to winter it got. Upon setting foot on the floor, he braced himself for Thumbelina's hug, and whirled her around when he had her in his arms. "Hello, Thumbelina." He chuckled.

"Cornelius! Oh, what a surprise. What are you doing here so early?" cried Thumbelina in excitement.

Cornelius laughed. "I just missed you so much."

"You saw me yesterday!" Thumbelina laughed in reply.

"I know. I just had to see you." Cornelius said, momentarily forgetting what the real reason he had gone to collect her so early for was.

A growl and huff from behind alerted them to the un-amused forgotten third inhabitant of the room. Turning at the sound, Cornelius smiled, bowed, and said "And hello to you too, Hero."

Getting a mumble, smile, and a head shake in greeting from the dog before he went back to sleep now that he knew no danger was present, Cornelius shook his head in amusement. Turning back to Thumbelina, a thought passed his mind, and he snapped his fingers. "Oh, yes! Now I remember. Will you come with me, Thumbelina? There's something I want to show you."

"Now?" Thumbelina breathed, biting her lip worryingly. Every other time they had gone on an adventure, they had done so while the moon was already up in the sky. The moon was nowhere close to coming out yet.

Cornelius grabbed at her hands. "Yes, now. I know we normally go out later but this can't wait." He stepped closer to her as he continued to stare into her eyes. "Please Thumbelina?"

Thinking it over for a bit, Thumbelina came to a conclusion. Turning away from Cornelius, she called out to Hero. "Hero? Hero, do you think you can distract Mother for a bit?"

Cornelius beamed but Hero snuffed and growled in denial. "Oh please, Hero? It's just for a few hours." Thumbelina begged. Hero grumbled some more. "Please? There's no other big, strong dog like you around I can trust."

Knowing where Thumbelina was going, Cornelius played along with "She's right, Hero. I've never seen a more worthy dog than you around. You must be the best of them all." Cornelius grinned.

Hero, hearing the praise being thrown at him, posed much like he did when Thumbelina's mother talked about the story of the noble dog who rescued the king. Giving a bark, Hero grinned with pride before happily nodding at his charge and her friend.

"Oh, thank you, Hero!" Thumbelina exclaimed, already being pulled by Cornelius toward the window where Buzzby awaited them.

"I'll take good care of her, Hero. Don't you worry, boy." Cornelius told him.

After helping Thumbelina up onto his bumble, Cornelius took off as fast as he could toward the festivities hosted by the humans. Every year, as far as he could tell, inhabitants of the human village celebrated the end of a good harvest, and remembering the location of the one he found last year, Cornelius took a detour that morning just to see if it was still there. It was, and he could only hope that Thumbelina found the celebration to be as fascinating as he found it.

He couldn't have been more right. Upon catching sight of the first stalls of the festivals, Thumbelina squealed, "Oh, the autumn festival?! You took me to the autumn festival!"

Cornelius chuckled. "I take it you like it?"

"Yes! I've heard stories about it but Mother never bothered to come." Thumbelina replied. "Thank you for bringing me, Cornelius."

Cornelius hugged her to him. "Anything for you, darling" he said, making Thumbelina blush at the endearment.

Grabbing hold of Buzzby's antennae again, Cornelius encouraged the bumblebee to fly closer to the stalls to which Thumbelina ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the merchandise being sold. They even got to see one of the many performances a traveling group passing by presented from behind a pillar. Unfortunately, neither one of them could join in the festivities on account of one being no bigger than a thumb and another being of a different species. But aside from that one detail, the couple immensely enjoyed seeing the sights and smells.

Hearing music off in the distance, Cornelius directed Buzzby toward the sound, and feeling Thumbelina start to wiggle in rhythm to the music, instructed Buzzby to land in one of the trees. Jumping off of the bumble, Cornelius turned to see Thumbelina looking confused. Bowing and holding out his hand Cornelius asked, "May I have this dance, my lady?"

"Oh!" Thumbelina said with realization, and grinning, took him up on his offer. "Why, of course, kind sir." She grabbed at the outstretched hand.

They started off with a slow waltz but as the music they listened to increased in tempo so did their steps until eventually they ended up close to a body of water close by. And seeing how still and calm the waters were, Cornelius held on to Thumbelina tightly as he stepped onto the small lake.

Slightly surprised, Thumbelina tightened her hold on Cornelius' hand, expecting to fall in the water any second. But when she remained dry and still suspended in the air, she turned surprised eyes to Cornelius. Getting a reassuring smile in return, Thumbelina relaxed her hold slightly, trusting that Cornelius wouldn't suddenly allow her to suddenly plummet into the frigid waters below. She smiled when they began to glide across the surface of the lake in a dance not unlike those of ice-skaters.

But the lake was a small one and soon their dance of over. However, to Thumbelina's surprise, the other side of the lake was privy to a nice stone chateau. Scurrying over to a small slab of rock wall, Thumbelina turned to sit down, with Cornelius not far behind her.

Throwing one leg over the rock and then the other, Cornelius shimmied close to Thumbelina. Throwing an arm across her shoulders and another across her waist, Cornelius leaned his head on Thumbelina's, just breathing in the scent of her hair. He sighed in contentment.

Thumbelina hummed a little tune in happiness.

Sitting in silence for a few minutes, Cornelius started to rub his hand on Thumbelina's arm. In response, Thumbelina nuzzled her head into her beloved's neck. Grabbing hold of her chin with the hand on her waist, Cornelius lifted her head, and started leaning in. Thumbelina did the same.

Their eyes drifted shut, their breath mingled, and their hearts pounded in their chests, until...

Their lips touched in a kiss.

~0~

Thumbelina was still smiling as they left the festival. Never in her wildest dream did she ever hope for a relationship with anyone. Sure, she wished to have a love and a happily ever after. But her size was always on the forefront of her mind, and never previously knowing that there were others the same size as she, she lamented never being able to have a partner in life. She always assumed it was impossible. When Cornelius showed up on her windowsill, and her fright at seeing a stranger inside her room passed, Thumbelina could not believe her luck. Here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and suddenly her dream of love and happiness no longer seemed so impossible. No longer was she unhappy and upset over the unfairness of her size. Instead, she looked forward to the coming of each day as it brought with it Cornelius' arrival.

Arriving at her home, Thumbelina was glad to see that her mother wasn't waiting for her in her room, meaning that Hero had succeeded in distracted the elder woman successfully. Not having her around for the moment meant that she could spend a few extra minutes with her beloved.

Feeling Cornelius grab onto her waist, Thumbelina leaned over to help aid him. Once down, she threw her arms around his neck and nuzzled his neck, sighing his name in happiness. "I had the best time of my life."

Hugging her back tightly, Cornelius replied, "I'm glad, Thumbelina." He kissed her forehead. "You have no idea how happy I am right now." In a spur of excitement, he twisted Thumbelina around so her back was to his chest, nuzzled her neck, peppered her with kisses, and swayed to a song only they could hear.

Thumbelina giggled. Turning her head, she found Cornelius' lips and pecked him. In a burst of playfulness, she flittered out of his reach when he leaned in for a longer kiss. "Wha-Why? Get back here!" Thumbelina laughed at him.

What followed was a game of cat and mouse, with Thumbelina in the role of mouse. If anyone from the town was to walk close enough they would hear the squeals of a female, the grunts of a male, and the buzzing of a protesting bumblebee. If they were to look up they would notice the tiny girl successfully dodging the advancing fairy, occasionally hiding behind the large bumble and using it as a shield. They would notice when the fairy trapped his companion against the wall and how the girl ducked when he leaned in.

And they would also notice when the fairy changed tactics and unfairly tackled the girl and flew her into the air.

"Cornelius! That's not fair. I can't fly like you can." Thumbelina gasped in false indignation.

Cornelius wiggled his eyebrows. "You shouldn't have run away, Thumbelina. Now hold still and let me kiss you." he said, taking her lips in a deep kiss as they drifted down to the floor. She sighed.

Their kiss was interrupted a few seconds later when Buzzby pushed against Cornelius' legs with a buzz. Cornelius grunted as he steadied Thumbelina from falling. "What did you do that for, boy?"

He frowned when Buzzby buzzed in urgency. "What is the matter?" Thumbelina asked worried.

Cornelius sighed in frustration. "I have to go. But I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Thumbelina pouted in disappointment. "Come back soon."

Pecking her lips, Cornelius turned to hop on an awaiting Buzzby, "Good night, Thumbelina."

"Good night, Cornelius," Thumbelina cried back as her love took off.

~0~

The next time Cornelius came to Thumbelina's house, he came with a grumpy disposition.

"What's the matter, Cornelius?" Thumbelina asked.

Walking briskly up to her, Cornelius gathered her in his arms and planted a deep kiss on her lips. Thumbelina gasped and pulled back slightly in surprise, but feeling Cornelius follow with his lips she gave in and kissed back eagerly.

The need for air pulled them apart. Licking his lips, Cornelius answered, "I'm sorry, Thumbelina. But I won't be able to see you for a week."

Thumbelina grew worried. "What? Why? What's wrong?"

Seeing her worry, Cornelius placed a hand on her cheek. His thumb rubbed the underside of her eye. "Nothing's wrong, Thumbelina. It's just-My mother told me we would be leaving on a…business trip soon." He dropped his head on her shoulder. "I won't be able to see you for a week."

Thumbelina un-furrowed her eyebrows a little at that. "Oh...uh, well. A week isn't too bad."

Cornelius grimaced. "It is when it's just another stupid meeting with more stuffy old men than I ever want to see in my whole life!" he suddenly growled as he pushed himself away from her. "Why can't my mother just let me enjoy my youth! I have the rest of my life to learn all the rules and responsibilities of the mona-business!" Cornelius quickly interjected the last word, taking a peek at Thumbelina's face. He hadn't meant to almost reveal what he really was in the world of the fairies.

Thankfully Thumbelina didn't catch his almost slip as she grabbed his shoulder in support.

"Have you talked to her about that?" she asked.

"Of course I have!" Cornelius yelled and jumped away to face her. "But she doesn't listen to me at all! It's all 'You must keep tradition going!', 'What will the Court think?', 'Cornelius, my son, why must you fight what's been in the family for centuries?' I'm not fighting tradition! I just want to live my life before I'm tied down for the rest of my life!" He sighed out in frustration as he slumped onto a nearby thimble.

Seeking to comfort him, Thumbelina wrapped her arms around her love. She rubbed his back and laid her head on his. She smiled when he reciprocated the embrace. "What of your father? Have you talked to him?"

"Yes." Cornelius sighed. "He's not much help. He just tries to keep the peace between us without picking a side." He groaned in frustration as he furrowed his head into her stomach.

Not knowing enough about the situation, Thumbelina had no clue how to comfort her beloved. Cornelius had told her about his relationship with his mother before, and from what Thumbelina could tell from only hearing one side of the story, she knew his mother loved and worried over her son very much. It seemed, to her, that what the woman most worried about was her son's future. She couldn't recall exactly how many times Cornelius had mentioned an argument between his mother and him, but she did recall that almost all had to do with his future, even if it seemed like she worried more over what society thought of him than her son's wishes. After all, one of the most important things to a mother was seeing her child(ren) settled and happy once they flew the nest.

Thumbelina knew her own mother thought the same.

Rubbing his back some more, and occasionally passing her hand through his hair, Thumbelina waited for Cornelius to settle his thoughts for the moment.

She didn't need to wait long as only a few minutes later Cornelius pulled back to look at her with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry Thumbelina. Our last night before I'm gone for a week and here I am wasting it."

Running her hand down his cheek, she replied, "You're not wasting anything, Cornelius. I'm happy you feel that you can talk to me."

He reached to grab the hand on his cheek. "Oh, Thumbelina... these days I think you're the only one that I can really talk to about anything."

Hearing a buzz, Cornelius amended, "Of course, you're a great listener too, Buzzby."

Thumbelina giggled. Cornelius' lips twitched at the sound.

With the recent argument in his head still Cornelius looked upon Thumbelina with thoughtful eyes. While the argument had been over his recent neglect of his responsibilities, one thing he had deliberately failed to mention to Thumbelina was that his mother had also mentioned his continual 'bachelor' status. He had never told his parents of his newfound relationship, not for shame of Thumbelina not being a fairy or of the Court, but from a need to keep this part of his life untouched by his mother's worrisome and slightly controlling ways. But looking at his beautiful Thumbelina now, Cornelius imagined having his girl next to him once he took the throne. It wouldn't be the first time he thought of making Thumbelina his princess. The past few months have been the best of his life and he couldn't imagine a day in which Thumbelina wouldn't be there to kiss him goodnight. But would she be happy becoming royalty? Not only has he withheld such vital information as him being the crown prince of the fairies, but Cornelius knew that the life of a royal came with vast responsibilities, endless spoken and unspoken rules, and a distinct lack of privacy.

He also knew how much she would miss her Mother.

As this thought passed through his mind, Cornelius tactfully asked, "Thumbelina? Do you plan on living with your Mother the rest of your life?"

Thumbelina frowned. "Why would you ask that?"

Plowing on Cornelius continued with, "If I asked you to live with me in the Vale of the Fairies, would you go?"

Thumbelina took a step back in surprise. "What-Cornelius? What are you saying?"

Pulling her back to him, Cornelius said, "I'm not asking you to come with me now but if in the future... would you leave your mother to be with me?"

Looking down at the floor, Thumbelina's mouth opened and closed as she tried to come up with a response. "Leave Mother? I-I-I never thought of leaving her before. I mean, I'm the only one she has besides the farm animals and Hero." She looked into Cornelius' eyes. "What brought this on so suddenly?"

"It is not sudden, Thumbelina. I've been thinking about it for a while. You have no idea how difficult it is to leave you every night, to kiss you goodbye." He pulled her hand to his chest. "Please, Thumbelina. I don't want to only see you a few hours every day."

Shaking her head, Thumbelina answered, "But Cornelius! I'm not even a fairy! How can I live in the Vale of the Fairies with you? How would that work?"

"You not being a fairy makes no difference." Cornelius chimed in.

Thumbelina threw her arms up. "Yes, it does, Cornelius! I'm not like you. I have no wings, no dust, no powers. I don't even know how to maintain a house very well. Mother had to take over with everything being so big!"

"That doesn't matter to me, Thumbelina."

"It does to me, Cornelius." She turned to look at him. "What would your fairy friends think of me? A wingless thumb-sized human? No. What would your parents think of me?! I'm probably what they least suspect-" Thumbelina stopped as Cornelius jumped in front of her. She hadn't realized she was pacing.

"What if I were your wings?" Cornelius asked excitedly.

Thumbelina blinked. "What?"

Grabbing her hand, Cornelius pulled her towards Buzzby. "Come on! Let's go."

Practically throwing her onto Buzzby, Cornelius was quick to take flight. "Hold on tight." he said, looking back at her. And grabbing hold of Buzzby's antennae, Cornelius urged his bumble to speed off into the meadows. Complying, Buzzby took off as fast as he could. "Whoa!"

Feeling the wind smack into her face, Thumbelina's worry was pushed into the back of her mind and she laughed. And of course, hearing her laugh had Cornelius laughing.

"Let me be your wings
Let me be your only love...

Seeing three jitterbugs ahead of him carrying a flower necklace, Cornelius leaned forward as they flew to drop the arrangement over Thumbelina's head. And directing Buzzby to fly over a creek, he leaned back to drape an arm around Thumbelina's waist when he felt her shift to the right.

Let me take you far beyond the stars...

Thumbelina smiled as she watched the water part under her finger. When she sat up, Cornelius had Buzzby land in the very same water. Lifting off of his ride, Cornelius turned to grab hold of Thumbelina and began to dance with her over the surface of the stream.

Let me be your wings
Let me lift you high above
Everything we're dreaming of
will soon be ours...

A swan flew by them and getting an idea, Cornelius flew with Thumbelina to land on the swan's head.

Anything that you desire
Anything at all
Every day I'll take you higher
And I'll never let you fall...

Cornelius took off when he felt the swan settle into the water. Spotting next a golden pumpkin growing in a field, Cornelius flew in that direction as he continued:

Let me be your wings
Leave behind the world you know
For another world of wondrous things
We'll see the universe
And dance on Saturn's rings
Fly with me, and I will be your wings.

They left behind the floating pumpkin to fly over a meadow. They were too entranced in each other to notice two jitterbugs - a mother and son pair - gazing at them. Nor did they hear as the son asked his mom, "She's gonna marry the fairy prince, huh, Mama?" to which she responded, "Well, perhaps."

They didn't even notice when they flew through a dandelion.

"Anything that you desire
Anything at all...

Thumbelina, entranced, joined in the song with, "Anything at all", as Cornelius twirled her away and back into his arms.

Every day I'll take you higher
And I'll never let you fall...

In a complete show of faith, Thumbelina purposefully let go of his shoulders when she felt him remove his hands to gesture. Showing no fear as she free-fell through the air, Thumbelina continued to sing.

You will be my wings...

Cornelius was quick to dip and catch his love bridal style before she fell too far.

Let me be your wings
(You will be my only love)
Get ready for another world of wondrous things
(Wondrous things are sure to happen)

They flew over to a floating boat in a nearby pond.

We'll see the universe
And dance on Saturn's rings...

Cornelius turned Thumbelina around to sit on the boat's edge.

Heaven isn't too far
(Heaven is where you are)

Knowing that at least one of the boat's inhabitants was watching their display, Thumbelina blew a kiss to the toad. Cornelius rolled his eyes at her action, before lifting her up on her feet again.

Stay with me
And let me be your wings"

Flying off with her in his arms, Cornelius lifted his love further above him as she threw back her arms and enjoyed the feeling of wind on her face.

They wouldn't know how much trouble Thumbelina's simple action would cause for the both of them later on as two toads spoke beneath them.

~0~

Minutes before the lovely couple made their appearance around the pond in which they lived, Mrs. Toad and Grundel were speaking once again of Grundel's mischievous older brothers. For what had to be the hundredth time, Grundel had brought Mama outside to complain of how his brothers were mocking his dance moves and hoped that his Mama would interfere with his brothers' teasing.

"How many times must I tell you, hijo, to stand up for yourself?" Mrs. Toad hissed. She was tired of hearing her youngest hijo to complain like a little niño to her. He was old enough to solve his own problems.

Grundel threw out his arms. "But Mama..."

"Pero nada, niño. I won't help you. You need to fight your own batallas. You hear me." Staring her son down, Mrs. Toad waited until he sighed and nodded his head before walking away. She didn't walk far when she heard two voices harmonizing outside her door.

One of them sounded suspiciously like a certain fairy prince, who was known across the vale to have a magnificent singing voice.

But that wasn't what caught her attention.

No, it was the voice that accompanied the prince's that had her walking briskly out to her patio/stage again.

Stepping up next to her son just as the couple lifted up into the air, Mrs. Toad commented "Ay, pero que voz mas bonita. Her voice is fantastica." in awe.

Her hijo sighed. "Mama, I love her."

Is that so?, Mrs. Toad thought. Well, it seems their act would be having a new chiquita as a member.

~0~

Quickly locating Buzzby again, Cornelius flew his beloved back to her home. Something had shifted between them, he felt, and he couldn't have been happier with the result. Singing to Thumbelina had been a spur of the moment idea but it was the best idea he has had yet. Everything he sang to her was -is - true and he hoped he brought her some reassurance because he now knew that he definitely wanted Thumbelina around for the rest of his life.

Particularly as his wife.

Landing on her by now very familiar windowsill, Cornelius whirled Thumbelina in a circle bridal style. "Oh, Thumbelina." he sighed. "Something-Oh." He turned in excitement. "Something happened to me tonight. Something-something I never want to forget."

Thumbelina smiled. "Me too," she said softly. Remembering the flower she acquired during their flight, Thumbelina reached to take it off. Incidentally, the flowers were forget-me-nots. They were perfect for what she said next. "Do not forget me," she said, not forgetting how he was to leave her alone for the following week.

Cornelius lowered his head so Thumbelina could place the necklace around his neck. He also didn't miss the type of flower it was made of. "Forget-me-nots." he breathed.

Wanting to give her something in return, Cornelius removed the ring on his finger, which symbolized his royal status. Having noticed that Thumbelina neither knew nor recognized what the ring represented he hadn't bothered removing it. He was glad he hadn't.

"Oh, I'll never forget you. Never." he continued and cheekily slipped the ring onto Thumbelina's left ring finger, knowing what such an action meant to humans.

Also not failing to notice his actions, Thumbelina grew giddy inside. "Never. Never." she whispered, leaning in for a kiss.

"Cornelius!" cried a woman in the distance.

In annoyance, Cornelius replied "Oh, Mother." automatically before pausing as he turned back to Thumbelina. "What-Mother?" What was she doing here?!, he thought frantically as he fluttered his wings in agitation. He pulled Thumbelina inside away from sight as the voice registered in his mind.

"Cornelius! Come now!" was heard from the same source.

Cornelius grew more panicked when Thumbelina obviously not having missed his reaction to the voice, asked "Cornelius, who are those people?"

Pushing an also panicking Buzzby out the window, as there was no time to move the gigantic window frame at the moment, Cornelius was quick to shush her. "Shh! There's no time to explain. That's the queen of the fairies." He rolled his eyes in annoyance. And hoping to show her the urgency of the matter, he continued with "My mother."

Not fully registering the comment yet, Thumbelina asked, "Your mother?"

Cornelius tried and failed to stamp his worry over his parents finding his secret getaway spot - and his secret love - down as he said, "Yeah. Look, I must go now, but, well... I'll see you in a week, alright?"

Thumbelina, however, was still reeling over what has just been revealed to her. "Wha-Your mother?" She pulled away to hold her head. "Uh, then you're the... you are-are the-" Not able to register the newfound information quite yet, Thumbelina decided to turn her attention to the second matter at hand. "Wait. You're leaving already?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting for my mother to find me here." And not failing to notice her inability to comprehend his earlier statement, he pulled her down to him again and clarified, "Yes, I'm the prince." He smiled a half smile, sheepishly.

"The prince?" Thumbelina breathed out.

"Yeah," he said. And knowing the gig was up, as well as hoping to make her part of the family one day, Cornelius said, "Look. Will you meet my parents?" He looked imploringly into her face.

"Cornelius!" came from outside again, closer than before.

Feeling the sense of urgency, especially as Buzzby was plainly visible outside, Cornelius begged, "Oh, say you will."

"I-" Thumbelina started, only having to think for a moment. "I will." She said determined. She didn't need to think too long on something that she had fantasized about before already.

"You will?" Cornelius asked in happy surprise. He thought she would at least take longer to reply.

"I will." Thumbelina said again. Already fantasizing about what to wear when meeting her love's parents, Thumbelina giggled in excitement. "I will, Prince Cornelius, yes!"

Well, I guess I needn't have worried over her reaction so much, Cornelius thought as Thumbelina threw her arms around him.

Initially accepting her hug, Cornelius struggled to unwind her arms when she didn't let go immediately.

"Cornelius!" cried his mother again.

"Cornelius!" joined in another voice.

His father was here too?!

Shrugging off his love's arms quickly, Cornelius whispered frantically, "I-I've got to go."

He turned at Thumbelina's inquiry of "Will they like me?" and grimaced when he noticed her looking out the window. "Shh! Get down! Yes. Yes, they'll love you." he said, but realizing how his actions might make her think that he was trying to hide her from shame - which he wasn't, as he hoped he showed her with his song earlier - he continued, "But, uh, let me talk to them first tonight. Alright? And when I return, I'll take you to meet them, okay?"

Thumbelina smiled. "And then you can meet my mother."

Having heard so many storied of the woman, Cornelius was happy to do so. "Well, great, but... well, wait here." He grabbed her hands.

Knowing from various stories how meeting the parents signified a great step into creating an everlasting relationship, Thumbelina happily sighed, "And then we'll live happily ever after."

Cornelius gladly interjected with, "Oh, much longer." He leaned in to seal the deal.

"Cornelius!" yelled his father this time.

Said male groaned in frustration. "Oh! Good-Goodbye!" He pecked her lips and ran out.

Thumbelina followed him. "You won't forget to come back, will you?"

"I promise." he said, leaning in for his goodnight kiss. He never got it as Buzzby flew off when he couldn't hold his fear back anymore.

Thumbelina continued to wave goodbye until even Cornelius' bright fairy dust could no longer be seen by her human eyes.

"Oh, Cornelius..." she sighed and hummed in pleasure.

~0~

A few minutes later, Cornelius could be found following behind his parent's chariot. They really had been close to finding out where he went to every night. He had picked up on their trail of fairy dust just as they reached the gates of the human town. Any longer and they might have spotted his bumble resting on one of the closest houses.

"Cornelius!" yelled his mother again.

"Yes, Mother?" he asked, grinning inside at the jump his mother did.

She turned upset eyes at him. "Cornelius, my sunshine, where have you been?! Do you know how worried we were?! And what are you doing on that wretched bumblebee again? You could've been hurt! What have you been doing?"

Cornelius opened his mouth to answer, but Tabitha held her hand up. "Nope! Never mind, tell me when we get home. It's late, young man. We shouldn't even be out here. What were you thinking?!"

"Tabitha..."

"Let's go, Colbert. Cornelius, we'll talk about this at home. First, we have business to attend to."

Colbert sighed as he flicked the reigns in his hand.

Cornelius stayed right next to them, not wanting to risk more of his mother's wrath. And he stayed right next to them as they conducted last minute business before they all left for business with the fairy monarchs of the south.

But in retrospect, he probably should've spoken with his parents about his 'bachelor' status before he announced to the entire fairy court that he had found the girl of his dreams and planned to ask her to marry him when they returned from the trip.

Standing in his parents designated 'flower bedroom', Cornelius scowled as his mother ranted about how she should've known he would find all kinds of trouble out by his lonesome.

"Thumbelina is not trouble, Mother. She's the love of my life and my future princess!"

"How could she be the future princess? We haven't even met her!" Tabitha shouted. "I certainly don't know of any fairy girl named 'Thumbelina'!"

Cornelius shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Ahh... Thumbelina isn't a fairy, Mother. She's human."

His parents gasped. "A human?!" his mother screeched.

"What do you mean, son? How did you fall for a human?" inquired his father, shocked at the new development. The surprises just didn't stop coming.

Cornelius grinned at the thought of his love, and both his parents glanced at each other upon witnessing his eyes sparkle. "Well, you see, she's no ordinary human. She's our size. Smaller than me, actually! If she wasn't missing wings, I would swear she was a fairy who lost her way!" Cornelius commented, excitedly.

"Wha-How can that be? That's impossible!" Tabitha exclaimed.

"Oh, but it is, Mother. She's who I've been seeing every night since the golding of the leaves. She's amazing! You'll love her, Mom. I know it!" Cornelius grinned at her.

Surprised at hearing him call her "Mom" as he hadn't done since he was a child, Tabitha paused before she unleashed exactly what she thought of this mysterious maiden. Was this girl really so extraordinary as to capture the attention of her wayward son? She knew how hard it was to keep his attention for long, as can be witnessed by his continual escapes from royal responsibility and his countless unfinished lessons. The sword on his hip - which she knew he didn't much know how to use - being one of them.

She sighed. "Cornelius, dear, before you go ahead and ask this girl to be part of the royal family I want to meet her." She was skeptical but she'll give this girl a chance.

Cornelius jumped and gestured excitedly with his arms. "Well, that's perfect! I told her she could come meet you the day after we return. I'll even get to meet her mother!" He turned in one place.

His parents were surprised at this. They hadn't expected for the two to already have planned their meeting.

"Does she know who you are, Cornelius?"

Looking at his father sheepishly, Cornelius answered, "Uh, yeah. I told her tonight. She kind of heard you two calling for me."

"Do you mean to tell me you heard us calling for you? You had me worried for nothing?!" Tabitha was quick to interject.

Cornelius rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Mother."

"Tabitha, dear..." Colbert trailed off.

"What? He had me worried sick! Who knows what could have happened to him when we didn't know where in heaven's sake he was!" Tabitha started and Cornelius had to sit through another long lecture about safety and propriety feeling as if he was a kid again.

But his safety while on his escapades would be the least of their problems as trouble brood in a pond nearby.

~0~

Exactly one week later, on the eve of Cornelius' arrival at Thumbelina's home once again, a female toad hopped to the front yard of a certain human home.

Mrs. Toad had had a particular stressful week. Not only did most inhabitants of the Vale have no clue as to who the girl was - let alone where she lived - but rumors of the girl's impending engagement to the fairy prince was running amok. And worse, some were even calling the girl their fairy princess as if she was already married to the boy! Mrs. Toad had to work fast, but as time passed and no information could be gathered on this mysterious girl, Mrs. Toad became more frantic to find the niña who could make her big in show business. She could not let talent like hers get away!

But as luck would have it, on that very same day she spotted the girl amongst some captivated animals in the backyard of a human's house. Ay, que suerte tuvo ella!

And now here she sat, in the dark, gazing up at the lit window as she waited for the niña's madre to leave her alone for the night.

She didn't wait long before the lights were blown out and all sound seized. Waiting for a few more minutes just to be sure, Mrs. Toad began her trek up to the second floor window.

She was ecstatic to note the opened window. Probably to let the silly fairy boy in if he came, she thought.

Spotting a small bed made from a nut not far away, Mrs. Toad only paused long enough to make sure the niña was inside before she slammed the bed closed. "Gotcha!" she cried in success.

She failed to notice the dog sleeping not too far away.

She knew she got the right niña when she heard la voz fantastica say, "Oh. What?" from inside. Tuning her cries out of her immediate attention, Mrs. Toad focused on carrying the rather heavy bed over to the window and getting it through the crack.

Suddenly hearing a growl and having the window slam shut on her, Mrs. Toad looked up and cried, "Oh! A dog!" It growled at her some more and barked.

In terror, Mrs. Toad jumped away with her prize. "Ay! Get away from me!" Speeding away from the dog as quick as possible, Mrs. Toad paid no mind to the now suspiciously silent girl in the nut in her hands.

Eventually getting to the window, which opened under the force of Mrs. Toad's jump, the mother of three boys was quick to jump down to the river close by. It would take her directly to the pond on which her home was temporarily planted.

She watched in fear and anxiety at the approaching dog in the sky and barely got through an opening in the town's gate.

When the river took her far out of the dog's reach, Mrs. Toad took off her mask and waved goodbye at the dog with it, victorious.

~0~

Getting close enough to her home through ways of the river, Mrs. Toad made quick strokes to her home with her new member close at hand.

Grundel waited for her on the porch/stage. "Did you find her, Mama? Is that her?"

"Si, mi hijo. Had to fight dog for her but as ever, your mama gets what she wants." she said as she jumped onto her home and set the bed on one side of the stage.

"Can I see her? Can I see her?" Grundel jumped from leg to leg much as a human child might when their parent mentions there being a new pet in the box they held.

In response, Mrs. Toad opened up the top half of the bed to reveal an unconscious tiny human girl within.

Mrs. Toad tsk-ed at this. "Must have been all the jumping." she murmured.

Grundel looked on with his hands pulling on his lips and his tongue hanging out.

"Well," Mrs. Toad clapped, "off to bed. We can't put on good show if we sleep on our feet."

She grabbed at Grundel's shirt and dragged him off when he made no move to do so.

~0~

The next morning proved to be a devastating one to the mother of the tiny girl in the nut bed.

Thumbelina's mother had woken up much as she did on any other day. She woke up just as the sun hit the horizon and set out to dress herself so she may cook breakfast as always. Poor Thumbelina had tried to help her out once but her tiny size didn't allow her much movement with the kitchen utensils. Ever since, Thumbelina's mother made sure to have breakfast made before her daughter woke up as to not make her feel bad for her size.

Once she had the ingredients for a stew set out, Thumbelina's mother went outside to collect some firewood to heat the stove later on.

As she approached the stacked pieces of firewood next on the side of her home, she paused when she heard what sounded like a familiar whine coming from a little further away. She turned toward the sound, and wanting to help the creature, walked briskly toward the river.

She gasped when she discovered it was Hero making the noise.

"Hero? Hero, what are you doing here? Where's Thumbelina?" She wondered if her daughter had woken up earlier than usual.

Hero let out a louder whine at her last question and sniffed once more at the opening he was situated in front of. He turned to his owner and barking raced back to her home to show her.

Starting to feel dread well up in her chest, Thumbelina's mother raced behind the dog as fast as she could and gasped when she reached her daughter's room.

It was trashed. No doubt because Hero gave the intruder a tussle.

How could she not have heard anything?

"Thumbelina?" she cried out in fear. "Thumbelina? Thumbelina, please, answer me!" She felt tears well up her eyes as she continued to call out to her daughter and rummaged through the overturned furniture.

When she thoroughly scored the room, Thumbelina's mother turned her attention to the rest of the house until all the rooms had been checked as she arrived back at the kitchen.

Practically falling into the only chair in the room, Thumbelina's mother began to sob.

Hero left the room in shame.

~0~

At the same time Thumbelina's mother found out of her daughter's kidnapping, a certain fairy prince made his way eagerly back to his beloved's home, wearing a helmet his mother insisted on him wearing. He bore gifts he acquired for her while on his trip to the south.

"Thumbelina!" His quick jump off of bumble cause him to drop all the gifts in his hands. "Ooh!" Unflustered, Cornelius chuckled and called out, "Thumbelina. Thumbelina!" as he popped the tight helmet off his head. "Oops." he sighed. "Got it."

Putting the helmet under his arm, Cornelius wondered why his love hasn't come crying his name happily yet. "Thumbelina, it's me. Where are you?"

He looked around and finally spotted the disaster that was his Thumbelina's room. He gasped, horrified. And much as Thumbelina's mother had done earlier, Cornelius searched the room for his girl before hearing whimpering from the corner of the room.

Spotting Hero, he flew right over and stood on the dog's nose.

The dog opened his eyes at feeling a foreign weight on his nose and began barking at his charges' nightly visitor.

Cornelius was unprepared to be tossed into the air by the dog's enthusiastic greeting. Cornelius chuckled slightly. Knowing that Hero would know, Cornelius asked, "where is she?"

Hero whimpered. She's gone.

"What? What happened?" Cornelius was surprised at this news.

A growl. Stolen away...window.

Cornelius flew away in more surprise and with impending dread in his stomach."She was stolen away? Wha-Out the window?"

Hero woofed, happy the fairy comprehended what he said.

Growing angry, Cornelius demanded, "Who did it?"

Hero whimpered and half growled, half murmured a response which took a moment for the prince to comprehend.

He snapped his fingers once he got it. "A toad?" He dropped his head in his hands, remembering the toad pond he took Thumbelina to last week on their latest flight together. Was this his fault? he wondered.

Hero continued to bark at the flying boy.

Cornelius murmured a brief, "good dog" before flying over to an awaiting bumblebee. He dragged his sword out in anger and flicked it as he made a promise to Hero. "I'll find her."

Hero ran after him wanting to help. Cornelius turned to the determined dog. "No, no, Hero. Look, you stay here and take care of Thumbelina's mother. Let her know everything will be all right." He took off toward his home.

Hero whimpered as Thumbelina's only hope flew away.

~0~

Not too far away from the scene of the crime, said girl in question was just coming to full wakefulness as the morning sun's rays hit her eyes. She groaned at feeling a pounding headache and raised a hand to her head. She frowned when she felt a bump on the side of her head that was thankfully not bleeding. When the smell of pond water invaded her nose, Thumbelina opened her eyes only to shut them at the brightness. "Oh, mmm." Trying again but slowly this time, Thumbelina gasped at seeing clear blue waters in front of her, covered with lily pads and surrounded with giant green grass.

She jumped when she heard a strongly accented voice next to her.

"Buenos dias. I hope you sleep very, very good." Mrs. Toad cheered.

Turning, and holding up her bedspread as if it could shield her, Thumbelina cried, "Huh? Uh, w-who are you?"

Shrugging off her pink rode to reveal a green spotted dress underneath, Mrs. Toad answered with, "Nosotros? We are the very happy family Singers de España. These are my sons Mozo, Gringo, and Grundel." The former of the two jumped in with smiles on their faces but the latter had to be made to smile. "We are very rich and famous." She danced a little.

"Rich and famous?" Thumbelina repeated dumbly, still wondering what was going on.

"Si. Si, mucho." Mrs. Toad said with pride. "I bring you here to become famous singer like me." She wiggled her fingers over her head.

Initially imitating her move to try to understand what she spoke about, Thumbelina grew surprised when what she said sunk in. "Oh, goodbye." She had no desire to make a living by singing. "Uh, my mother will be very worried." She cried out when the three sons blocked her path. She missed the lovesick look the youngest one gave her.

"Mama, no worry. Mama proud." Mrs. Toad reassured. "When you are a star, she make big fiesta, and invite all the neighbors to come see her little niña who have become big, big, very big."

Honing in on the last word Mrs. Toad said, Thumbelina asked, "Big?" momentarily forgetting about Cornelius as she heard something she wanted for years. Standing up on her head and spreading her arms Thumbelina excitedly asked, "Oh, you mean big?"

Her grin fell when Mrs. Toad corrected her. "I mean important and loved by everyone."

Now remembering about Cornelius, Thumbelina commented, "But, uh, Cornelius loves me already." She shimmied to the edge of the bed. "I think I'm gonna marry him." She only added the first part as Cornelius hadn't asked for her hand yet.

She had no idea most of the Vale already thought of her as his fiancé after she announcement he made a week prior.

"Marry him?" Mrs. Toad asked in disgust. "Ay, chihuahua. That will be a very big mistake." she said, remembering how she almost lost her starlight at the hands of her late husband. "It will get in the way of your career in show business, while doing all the time those things domesticos."

"What things?" What was 'domesticos'?

"The scrubbings and the washing
And the noses with the drippings
And the sopas always boiling"

Her three sons nodded their head in agreement.

"Si, Si"

"The panes and windows falling
With the diapers changing
With the rood, she's leaking
And the enchiladas spoiling...

The boys groaned dramatically.

Do you know how to do these things
Like you will have to do these things
Or does the very thought of it make you wince?"

Thumbelina grimaced at hearing all the work she knew she would not be able to do with her tiny size.

The boys chimed in with an "Uh." of disgust.

"I thought so." Mrs. Toad said, not knowing the real reason Thumbelina grimaced.

"Then don't marry the prince...

Still not knowing what exactly she got herself into, Thumbelina breathed "Oh, dear" in worry. She looked at the fast moving hips of the female toad wondering how she was able to do that.

"You see, hey? You become a big a-star like me. We make big moneys together. You make Mama rich. You're important person. You are famous. You are a star."

Giving up her imitation of Mrs. Toad, Thumbelina moved to the edge of the boat home. "A star?" Would Cornelius not mind her being a star? "Well, I suppose."

"Now, repeat after me."

"We are the Singer de España , the original cast
And there hasn't been a town we haven't played in
(We are the Singers de España
And we sing very fast
We get on
We get off
We get paid)

"Sing!" Mrs. Toad demanded.

"Could you say that a little slower?" Thumbelina begged, unable to keep up with the foreign music, foreign words, and fast tempo.

Mrs. Toad wrinkled her nose. "Slower? We don't do ballads."

"Oh, maybe I could take notes."

"We are free and independent
We go everywhere
And we goochee goochee goochee all the way
We're going to teach you how to samba
And to rumba y la bamba
And every number Thumbelina say ole!

The audience they accumulated cheered.

"Come on the road, my little castanet
Come on the road
And famous you will get
I'll make you star
Get your small guitar
You'll be hot muchacha once I gotcha
On the Road

Thumbelina started to grow annoyed with the toads pushing her every which way. Backing away from Mrs. Toad, she didn't notice when her three sons showed up behind her until she turned to get away and saw them conga lining toward her. She backed away from them swiftly.

"Thumbelinacita
No one could be sweet-a
Sing with mamacita
We go on the road, uh!

Thumbelina found herself jumping back onto the lily pad she escaped from when she could not back away any more. The lily pad rocked under her feet, and fearing a fall into the water she jumped onto the next one, effectively placing her front and center to the musical going on around her. She tried not to cringe at the high pitched... something that Mrs. Toad let out.

"Ay, yi yi yi yi. Ay, pero que bien bailan mis ranitos la conga!"

Thumbelina pulled at the hand that grabbed her arm. She wished these toads would stop manhandling her. Unfortunately, Mrs. Toad was behind her again.

"We open Monday in Medina
Then we do Babylon
Then we hop to Barcelona for a week
Then for a month in Athens
At the Parthenon
Where they love us cause we do the show in Greek

Thumbelina almost fell over when the three boys hopped onto her lily pad to dance.

"We are the finest in the business
It's a well-known fact
And you'll forgive us if we have to blow the horn

They turned to grab at Thumbelina's legs. And Thumbelina couldn't hide the fact that being pushed into the air was exciting. It reminded her of how Cornelius would sometimes lift her higher than himself so she could feel like she was flying.

"Cause this isn't any ordinary animal act
And today a star is born!

The toads jumped away again.

"Go on the road
You'll hear the peoples roar
You're not a toad
(But that's what makeup's for)
Just sing on pitch
We get very rich

Grundel rubbed his hands together seeing Thumbelina seize her struggle to get away. He knew that lift earlier was a good idea. Never mind that his brother, Mozo, was the one to think of it.

"Wait until they see the Thumbelina
(On the road)

But just because Thumbelina seized her struggle to leave, that didn't mean she wanted any part in the ordeal. She refused the behest of Mrs. Toad to start singing and dancing. She shook her head vigorously at all the toad's prompting.

"Singing Thumbelina
Dancing Thumbelina
Something Thumbelina

Growing tired with the niña's refusal, Mrs. Toad sang, "Now I make her sing."

Thumbelina didn't expect the sudden pain in her foot. She cried out in pain and decided to join in in fear that Mrs. Toad would do something similar.

Satisfied with the result, Mrs. Toad kissed herself. "Bueno. Muy bueno. You got it."

"Come on the road
We make you big success
Come on the road
(You're in the union, yes?)
The life, she's sweet
Lot's of flies to eat

Thumbelina gagged at witnessing firsthand a toad catch and eat a fly raw.

"Yum. Yum." Mrs. Toad went and pushed her back into the boys.

Thumbelina stayed still in hopes that they wouldn't drop her and raised her arm to hide her nervousness.

"So why be little fish in little pond
When you can go so far beyond
(I think perhaps we make you blonde)
When we get on the road

Thumbelina's heart almost jumped out of her chest when she was thrown onto the lily pad.

"Ay yi yi yi yi!"

Even Thumbelina had no clue why she joined in with:

"On the road...

The toad family weren't complaining as they harmonized:

"Let's hit the road...

"Ole!" they yelled, posing at the end and making their audience cheer is appreciation.

Hearing the applause, cheers, and seeing the money they made Thumbelina grinned and seriously wondered for a moment whether a career in show business was the way to go. She bowed under their praise.

From behind her Grundel told his mama, "Mama, you'll give her to me. I will marry her."

Not seeing a problem with that, Mrs. Toad answered with, "Very well. You can marry la niña. We can keep the money she earns in the family." She turned when la nina ran up to her.

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Toad. Thank you." Thumbelina couldn't help but say. Never before had she been so readily accepted by anyone outside of her family and Cornelius. Being a creature that didn't much belong to any species, as she was a thumb-sized human without any wings, she wasn't one to have many people look at her and actually talk to her like they would anybody else. Here and now she had other beings actually praising and applauding her. She felt like she had worth. "They really like me." Glancing around once more, she asked, "Am I a star?"

"Yes, and you can call me Mama."

"Mama?" Thumbelina frowned. Why would she do that?

"You are going to marry my son Grundel."

What?! "I-what?" Thumbelina was stupefied and looked at the toad in question. She grimaced at the look the boy had on his face.

"I love Thumbelina." Grundel sighed.

"You wait right here, Thumbelina chiquitita. We'll be right back with the padre."

When did she say yes to this?! "Oh, no, no, no. See, I love Cornelius."

Unhindered Mrs. Toad continued, "Today you marry my son."

"Oh no, no, no. No, I'm not marrying-no, come back here. Now, now wait a second, w-where are you going?" Thumbelina grew desperate as she cried out to leaving toads.

When they were no more than a speck on the horizon, Thumbelina looked around and saw that she had been left alone, and frustrated and fearful she called, "Doesn't anybody care what I think?"

She fell over, unaccustomed to an ever shifting surface under her. "Oh." she groaned.

~0~

Not far away, drifting with the breeze, a full grown swallow hummed to a tune that only he knew. He was a friendly swallow who more often than not took to the skies to dream and fantasize about whatever struck his fancy. Most recently, it was the idea of achieving the 'impossible' that occupied his thoughts.

As he flew over a pond, Jacquimo was disrupted from his thoughts as he heard a cry for help. "Whoa, whoa! Help? Who is saying help?" He looked around and finally the girl crying for his attention.

"Mr. Bird? Over here."

Landing on a cattail plant, Jacquimo took in the worried look of the little girl. Her unique appearance did not even cross his mind. "Oh! Oh, little one. Are you having a bad day?"

The little girl stood. "I was sleeping on my windowsill waiting for Prince Cornelius to come back. And he said he would come when he returned because he loves me."

Jacquimo gasped. "He loves you?" A love story!

"Yes."

Jacquimo shook her hands enthusiastically. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." The girl sniffled. "But-but I was stolen away by Mrs. Toad, who says I have to marry her son, and I just-"

Jacquimo grimaced. "A toad? Ptooey! Toad." Of all the creatures he had ever met, toads had to be the worst. They were slimy, cunning, selfish, and egotistical. What a poor girl indeed to have been stolen by such créatures dégoûtantes. "That is a very bad day, mademoiselle. Uh, mademoiselle..."

The girl curtsied. "Thumbelina."

"Ah, Thumbelina. I am Jacquimo. How may I be of service to you?" He reciprocated her greeting with a bow.

The girl - Thumbelina - stumbled. "Well, I must get off this lily pad, but that's impossible."

Jacquimo laughed at Thumbelina's negativity. "Ha ha ha! Nothing is impossible." To show her just how wrong she was, he took it upon himself to dive into the water and snip at the stem of the lily pad, making it start to float away with the current. "Voila!"

Thumbelina fell over with the movement. "Oh my, well that was easy." Jacquimo chuckled. "Now...if I could just reach the shore before those awful toads come back."

Jacquimo looked up from his wringing in time to see the edge of the water disappear down a cliff. He looked back at Thumbelina in alarm. "You mean if you reach the shore before you go over the waterfall?"

"What waterfall?"

"That one!" Jacquimo jumped about in panic.

"Is it bad?" Thumbelina questioned with unease.

In response, Jacquimo dove to grab the edge of the lily pad in a futile attempt to pull it away from the waterfall that was fast approaching. "I am slipping!"

"Hey, don't let go!" Thumbelina yelled in despair.

He didn't, but knowing the futility of his efforts he asked, "Can you swim?" Her response made him panic some more.

"No, I can't swim. I can't even float!"

They both began to cry for help. "Please, somebody help!"

"Help!"

"Somebody help!"

Thankfully that last cry grabbed the attention of a lovely fish couple quietly enjoying the morning on their patio. Seizing her hanging and seizing his reading, the helpful Samaritans raced to help out.

They also grabbed the attention of two Jitterbugs cutting a cattail with a saw. Jacquimo called out them in fear, "Jitterbugs, help!"

"Look out!" one of them screamed helplessly.

They both screamed as they came within inches of the waterfall. Fortunately, a fish's tail reached them in time to slap them further back. Unfortunately, the slap also hit Thumbelina on the still healing bump on her head. She passed out from the pain.

Still not out of danger yet, though, the two fish, the Jitterbugs, and a still awake swallow continued to pull and/or push on the lily pad as much as they could. "Pull, mes amis, pull!" Jacquimo cried.

Feeling the lily pad move further and further away, albeit slowly, he yelled encouragement to all. "That is it. That is it. Higher! Higher!" He accidently swallowed water from his efforts and unable to fly due to his wet feathers the male fish had to slap him out of the water and onto the land.

At the same time, the jitterbugs and the remaining fish were able to pull Thumbelina's makeshift flotation device onto the very same land.

Jacquimo gasped and held his chest. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest. "C'est bon."

"What is it?"

"Yeah, who is it?"

"Look, Mama, she's waking up."

Indeed she was, and with only a minor headache to boot. "Aw, are you feeling better, little one, hmm?" Jacquimo asked.

"Yes, I think so." She wiped some water from her face. She looked around to see unfamiliar faces gazing at her in relief(and some more who showed up at hearing the commotion). "But who-who are you?"

"Thumbelina, these are the Jitterbugs."

"The Jitterbugs?"

"How do you do?"

Remembering from that fateful night they flew over them, the youngest Jitterbug - Baby bug as he was called - asked, "Are you really going to marry the fairy prince?"

Everyone surrounding the two - excluding Jacquimo who already knew - gasped at the question. As stated before, news of the fairy prince's announcement had spread like wildfire and every critter and animal aware of the existence of fairies knew of the prince's new found love. Of course, as he had never introduced the actual lady in question nor even revealed her name, no one outside of the couple or his parents knew who the girl actually was. Yet here was the very girl in question!

Said girl giggled at the question, unaware of the whispered that now occurred between the jitterbugs around her. "If he asks me. He will call for me at my house." But remembering how far away from said home she was, she explained, "That's why I want to go home. Beside's Mother will be terribly worried." She sighed. "If only I could find my way home."

Even without the newfound knowledge that she was the future fairy princess, the sadness in her voice would have caused even the most stubborn and indifferent Jitterbug want to help the poor girl.

As it was, Baby Bug volunteered all their services for them. "Aw, we'll help you Thumbelina."

"Yeah, nobody'll hurt you, Thumbelina."

"Not with us on the job, right?"

Smiling at the ready willingness to help, Thumbelina acknowledged them by saying, "Oh, you are all very brave. Well, thank you, but I'm afraid I'll never see my home again."

Not liking the hopelessness in the girl's voice, Jacquimo chirped in with, "Oh, do you love the prince?"

"Yes." she affirmed.

"Well, then follow your heart! It will lead you home." But secretly knowing that would not be enough asked, "Now, where does the prince live?"

Thumbelina grew hopeful as she knew the answer. "Oh, oh, he-he lives in the, um..."It was on the tip of her tong-"the Vale of the Fairies." But she quickly deflated at the realization that "Oh, I don't know where that is either."

"Do not worry. I, Jacquimo, will find it and bring him home to you." He chuckled.

In a pessimistic state Thumbelina couldn't help but claim, "Oh, it's impossible."

Jacquimo could not believe his ears. "Impossible? Nothing is impossible."

"You're sure to do impossible things
If you follow your heart
Ha ha
Your dreams will fly on magical wings
When you follow your heart

Growing excited with the singing swallow, three jitterbugs - including the one who asked about Cornelius earlier - pushed Thumbelina toward where the swallow danced and three little birds rested. She sat on a nearby mushroom, slightly upset she was being guided again, even if by little jitterbug children.

"If you have to journey far
Here's a little trick
You don't need a guiding star
Trust your ticker, get there quicker
Ha ha

Thumbelina shook her head in disbelief and resisted the efforts of the jitterbugs to pull her up to dance.

"You're sure to do impossible things
If you follow your heart

Flying up to two flower buds covered in dew, Jacquimo yelled out, "Come on, Thumbelina! You are going home. Your mother is waiting. Get up. Get up."

Hearing his vehement encouragement, she did so and was soon running through a path made up of dancing and cheering birds.

"Yay!"

"Yay!"

"You're sure to do impossible things
If you follow your heart
Your dreams will fly on magical wings
When you follow your heart

Landing on the ground again, Jacquimo twirled and addresses Thumbelina directly.

"North or South or East or West
Where to point your shoes?
Which direction is the best?
If the choosing gets confusing
Maybe it's the map you're using
You don't need a chart to guide you
Close your eyes and look inside you

He accompanied the line by covering and uncovering Thumbelina's eyes much like someone would do when presenting a surprise. She smiled widely, playing along. He held out his arm and strutted with her down a half buried book on the ground.

"You're sure to do impossible things
If you know where to start
Your dreams will fly on magical wings
When you follow
Just trust the Swallow
And always follow you heart...

Jacquimo let her go so the jitterbugs could hold on to her hands. "Bon voyage, Thumbelina! Never fear! I will find the prince!" he cried out to her as he took to the air.

Thumbelina giggled, now hopeful. "Goodbye!" she said back to him with a wave. "Oh, he's wonderful. And... I'm going home." she commented happily to her new little friends, who parted some blades of grass to let her pass.

~0~

At the same moment in the Vale of the Fairies the other half of the famous couple was fast approaching insanity as he spoke to his parents. His wings turned down to reflect his mood.

"Oh, Cornelius, my sunshine, first you buzzed in here the other day on that wretched thing and announced in front of the entire court (here Cornelius frowned and thought, 'Why must she always bring up the court?') that you'd found the girl of your dreams and now you've come back to say she's vanished?"

Tabitha was skeptical about this new development, especially as she had yet to meet the girl in question. If she had to be honest, she wasn't too sure that the girl was any good for her son, and with the new discovery of her disappearance she wondered if perhaps the girl wasn't playing her son for a fool. She desperately hoped her son didn't fall for a girl who has after him for his title.

Hearing the skepticism in his mother's voice, Cornelius was quick to jump to his beloved's defense. "Kidnapped, Mother. She's been kidnapped."

"You're joking." she said in disbelief.

"Tabitha." Colbert scolded. He was not as close-minded as his wife was.

Choosing instead to focus on his father, the more of accepting of the two, Cornelius begged. "Father, please delay the winter frost as long as you can. I need time to find Thumbelina." He gestured wildly before he set out to do what he most desired.

"Cornelius!" his mother yelled.

Not stopping his trek, Cornelius yelled back assuring, "Don't worry, Mother. I'll be back."

"Cornelius!" his parents yelled simultaneously.

"I'll find her!" they heard from the trail of dust flying away.

No matter her reserves over the matter, Tabitha was worried for her son. "Oh, my poor boy." She moaned. "Colbert, my love, we can't delay the frost for more than a day." She bit her lip with a frown on her face.

~0~

Simultaneously, another creature of the vale was biting its lip. But this time it was in despair and anger. Despair that his would-be wife was no longer where they left her or even anywhere near there (they checked) and anger that his brothers immediately started laughing upon the discovery.

"Maybe next time you should make sure that you have a bride before rendering my services." El padre reproached, dryly. "Good day to you all. I have other matters to attend to."

Grundel didn't bother to turn at the splash behind him, still gazing in disbelief at the empty water in front of him.

"What a loss. We would have made big moneys with a voice like that." Mrs. Toad tsked and walked off, uncaring for her lamenting son. After all, relationships never last when you have a career in show business.

"Guess she couldn't stand to see an ugly face like yours anymore." a heavily accented voice laughed.

"Only a face our mama could love." laughed the one next to him.

Grundel snarled even as the voices faded into the background. Looking around at some of the artifacts and souvenirs collected, he began to grab and throw the objects in frustration and anger. He grunted and growled, but the violent catharsis proved not enough to make him feel better. This only caused him to become more violent.

The noise was enough to bring his mother back outside. "Ay! What is wrong with you?! Stop! Stop!" Grundel grunted as his mother wrestled the vase in his hands away from him. "Have you lost tu mente?! You clean up right now! Estoy para darte una galleta!"

"She left me, Mama!"

"Si, she did. But there are other toads in the pond." Mrs. Toad hissed. "Now clean this up. Or no flies for you tonight!"

One hour later, the boat was cleaned up and Grundel was sufficiently tired. He currently lounged on the very edge of the boat's stage dipping a finger into the water below thinking of what could have been.

"Hey bro-"

Grundel's eye twitched already knowing what was coming- again. "Go away."

"Pond talk say Thumbelina gave you the slip and is going to marry a fairy prince." He mockingly flapped his hands.

Truthfully, this was news to him. While he had been aware that Thumbelina was with someone the first night he saw her, he was so entranced by her beauty and her voice that he neither paid attention to the person she was with nor what she was actually singing. Hearing of her 'engagement' made him feel like the floor was pulled from under him. In his mind, Thumbelina was his and was meant to be his wife. This 'fairy prince' was intruding on his territory.

"What fairy prince?" he ground out.

Mozo laughed. "You'll not be able to show your ugly face on the stage no more."

"Everybody laugh at you," Gringo mocked.

Grundel slapped his hand down. "Nobody laugh."

They guffawed in response.

Annoyed beyond reason, Grundel grabbed his brothers in a chokehold. "I said nobody laugh."

They cackled some more.

"I go get Thumbelina and bring her back." Grundel asserted. His brothers laughed in disbelief, their stomachs' contracting painfully.

Beyond upset, by his failed wedding, by his missing wife-to-be, by his brothers laughter, by this new rival, Grundel made a decision. Grabbing onto his brothers he used all his strength to throw them into the water and claimed, "I marry her." Oh yes, he would.

He tried to walk with as much dignity as possible into the surrounding foliage.

~0~

In all the years that Mr. Beetle had been in show business, never has he been in danger of losing his job. Vastly popular with the ladies and highly talented, if you asked him, he had always had a gig lined up before his current gig even ended. Now however, his show at the beetle ball was in danger of going funk. Currently he was strolling along - more like jumping, running, and wallowing - at the bottom of the beetle ball tree in hopes of coming up with a new idea.

"I cannot believe this! What do they think I am? How can they want to be rid of me? Me! The greatest performer of all!" He gestures wildly to himself, turning and stomping along the beaten dirt path. "They think they're gonna get anyone better than me? Ha!" He yelled this out to the sky. "I'll sure show them." He twisted his moustache mischievously. "I'll give them the best show they'll ever have and when they beg on their knees for me to stay, I'll quit! Ha! I'll make those sucker cry." He rubbed his hands together, cackling.

"Hey boss!"

"What?!" He screeched, turning to see one of his back up dancers - his youngest cousin - perched on his stomach on a nearby mushroom. He was looking at something further along the path.

"It's a wingless fairy!" was the response.

"What?" He asked again. "Move out the way! Move out the way, grub lover!" He squinted at the figure coming up the rear. He whistled. "Boys, I think we found ourselves our next show!"

~0~

The subject of their scrutiny remained unaware of the eyes trained on her. Instead, she focused on the three Jitterbugs that danced around to her humming. They hardly spoke throughout the journey, which may seem unusual for three little kids, but they were content to simply guide their new found friend through their forest home.

They were too entranced by her voice to sense anyone near them until they already saw the shadow of a looming figure on the ground. And looking up, they barely gave Thumbelina time to react when they shouted "Look out!" and ran into the surrounding flora.

"Aha!"

Thumbelina screamed as a male beetle suddenly jumped in front of her.

The beetle laughed at her fright. "Hiya, toots! Beetle's my name, and razzmatazz is my game." He leaned close to her face. "How do you do? How you feeling? Everything O.K.?" He made sure to tickle her face with his moustache.

Thumbelina didn't much appreciate his touch. "I'm not your toots." She slapped the moustache away from her face. "Where do you come from?"

"Where?" Beetle shouted obnoxiously. "Up there." Changing the subject, he leaned against the base of a nearby fungi. "I'm a connoisseur of sweet nectars, " he switched to rubbing the base, "a designer of rare threads," he backed away and twisted his moustache, "and a judge of beautiful women." Hooking his walker on Thumbelina's back, Beetle turned her to lean on the fungi. "And you are beautiful, Miss, um..."

Cringing, she answered, "Thumbelina." Slapping away his moustache again, she pointed at him. "And I'm going home."

Spinning to block her path, Beetle told her, "Relax. Take a loaf off."

Thumbelina moaned in disgust when his facial hair touched her again. "Ooh, I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Perhaps you'd prefer this..."

What he did next disgusted her more.

"Oh, Mr. Beetle, I don't even know you." Not even Cornelius had kissed her arms like that. "Would you stop?"

"Stop?" He switched arms. "How can I stop?" Another smooch to her hand. "I'm crazy about you, toots."

Thumbelina's conviction lowered. "Stop."

"You're gorgeous."

"Oh." She sighed, her conviction almost nonexistent. However, she pulled her arm from his reach.

Barely noticing how her hand was no longer in his, Beetle continued to kiss his own. "Ooh, you're exciting, ooh, delicious!"

Not seeming to notice how his appreciation transferred to himself, Thumbelina asked, "I am?"

Remembering what his mission was, Mr. Beetle got back on track. "And I love the sound of your voice."

"My voice?" Thumbelina sighed happily.

"Don't talk!" Mr. Beetle demanded, not really caring. "Sing, sing to me."

Thumbelina hummed thoughtfully. After a moment, she sang, "I have an idea. Can you fly me up there?" Thumbelina unknowingly pointed to the same tree that housed the beetle ball. Earlier on their trek through the terrain, the Jitterbugs had commented their idea to fly her up to the tallest tree around in hopes that she may spot where her house was located. Of course, being that they were only small bug, and children at that, they had no idea of how exactly to get her up the tree in the first place. They had planned to simply have her yell up to one of them what her house looked like, but with it having no unique features they weren't too sure how well that plan was going to go. Now, with a full grown beetle standing in front of her, perhaps their dilemma was solved, Thumbelina thought to herself.

Mr. Beetle, who was not apt to help out others out of the goodness of his heart, frowned. "And why should I, toots?"

"From the treetops I could see my house. Then I'd know if I'm traveling in the right direction to get home."

Seeing an opportunity to trap the girl in his scheme, Mr. Beetle slyly claimed, "That would be a big, big, oh, very big favor."

"I'll sing," she sang, making Mr. Beetle smirk in victory. "I'll sing for you."

"No, no, you'll sing at the beetle ball...and dance." With no warning, he threw Thumbelina over his shoulder and laughed as she screamed in terror. "We're gonna be the talk of the town, toots!"

Thumbelina covered her mouth, hoping her queasiness would go away soon, but at hearing his favorite nickname for her, she had to say, "I'm not your toots! And I don't even look like a beetle."

Oh, he knew. Mr. Beetle knew oh so well.

He was counting on it.

~0~

Off to the side, forgotten by both Thumbelina and the beetle, three Jitterbug children looked up at the two leaving adults with apprehension. They had heard everything that was spoken, not wanting to leave Thumbelina alone even if they were unwilling to stay present around the beetle. They weren't too sure what his motive was for stopping them after all. Most beetles tended to stay amongst themselves but the rare few that interacted outside their own species were prone to trickery and manipulation. Seeing what this beetle had planned with Thumbelina, they were glad to have stayed around.

"Come on, let's get help." the elder Jitterbug whispered.

~0~

It was a good thing Mr. Beetle found Thumbelina so earlier into the week or otherwise his new idea might not have come to fruition. As it is, they had just enough time to come up with the music and force the beetle ball designer to construct an outfit for Thumbelina...

...but with a little twist.

You see, when Mr. Beetle had initially seen Thumbelina, he had found her to be one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen. Being one of the few beetles who interacted outside of his own species, he had seen his fair share of creatures, ranging from tall to short, wide to thin. However, he had also spent enough time around his own kind to know that they did not take well to creatures who lacked certain... features. The poor girl would definitely be ugly in the beetle world. Due to this, halfway into creating a song about how beautiful Thumbelina is, Mr. Beetle decided to take a route never explored by him.

He settled on surprising the audience with a comedic reveal.

So, he made sure to tell the costume designer to make a collapsible outfit.

Poor Thumbelina never suspected a thing.

And speaking of Thumbelina, the tiny girl spent the better part of the whole week locked away in a room by herself. In fact, the only people who knew she was there was Mr. Beetle, his backup singers, and the costume designer. And for the most part, they only entered on special circumstances. Fortunately for the lonely girl, there was a surprising amount of books and magazines, perfect for someone of her size. Unfortunately, they were all about beetles, the history of beetles, famous beetles, historical beetles, the anatomy of beetles, and so on, and so on.

Oh yes, beetles were definitely full of themselves.

Thumbelina tried not to complain, still believing Mr. Beetle fully intended to help her once the show was over.

Days later at the end of the week, after much advertising by way of mouth to mouth, Mr. Beetle and co. plus Thumbelina set up for their first (and only) show. To Mr. Beetle's delight, it was a full house that night. If the show went according to plans than everyone was sure to have heard about Mr. Beetle and gang by the end of the night. He would be a sensation!

"Let's go, you munch crunchers! Get to your places!" Mr. Beetle screeched, waving his arms frantically. Hearing a giggle behind him, he turned with a frown and smirked. "And you..." he tittered, kissing Thumbelina's hand again, "little lady, are a vision of loveliness. You should get going to center stage." He wiggled his antennae, fortunately not in her face this time, "The show can't go on without you."

"Oh, why, thank you..." She giggled again and made her way to her dedicated place.

Mr. Beetle grinned darkly after her. And then the lights turned down. He quickly hurried to his spot. Minutes later, Mr. Beetle could hear the enthusiastic cheers from the crowd as the curtain hiding them from view rose.

To the beetles waiting down below, the sight of the well-known but not yet famous band had them applauding in mild excitement. They knew all about the band that went around making a name for themselves across the glades but they also knew about the recent decline in the group's popularity. In fact, many of the ones in the audience were present due to a desire to watch the 'very last show' of the group's career. They wanted to get a good laugh out of the gig.

They would be laughing for a whole different reason.

"Ladies and gentlebugs, Berkley Beetle proudly presents... Thumbelina!"

The crowd's attention was brought to the figure they previously paid no mind to. They gasped at vision presented before them. They hardly paid any attention to the choreography of the five beetles in front of her until Berkley Beetle himself started singing.

"Baby, it's the beetle ball
And bugs are crawling to get in
When they hear that beetle beat
Those beetle feet'll start to spin
And how they'll cheer
For you, my dear
You're beautiful, baby...

Thumbelina blushed and acted bashful.

"Oh, my little butterfly
You flutter by, and there's romance
Every chance to dance with you
Puts the ants back in my pants...

Thumbelina wiggled a little to the song, not really able to move around much in the outfit. She turned to face Mr. Beetle when he jumped onto her platform. He held out his arm to strut with her down a little ways.

"Let's cut a rug
My ladybug
You're beautiful, baby...

By this point, the audience had taken out their magnifying glasses to get a better look at the beauty.

Mr. Beetle twirled Thumbelina before 'serenading' her on his knees.

"I get a burst when I have you on my wing
You tie my antennae in a knot
Now the room's reelin'
And I'm feelin'
So ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-
Hot to trot!

Jumping back onto the platform, Thumbelina smiled at Mr. Beetle's crazy movements.

"Let's dance Baby!" he sang as he began to dance a little jig next to her.

"Isn't she beautiful?" commented the male of an older couple in the audience.

His wife, hearing the comment, agreed. "Just adorable, darling." Another beetle, who overheard the commentary, wiggled his eyebrows in accord.

The same could not be said for another couple in the audience as when the male said, "What a piece of work", his date was not at all amused. The commenter smiled apologetically.

Up on stage, Mr. Beetle, knowing that it was his cue to introduce the secret twist to the show, spoke up with, "O.K., toots, let's wing it."

Thumbelina's eyes widened in surprise and she frowned in worry. As was said before, she had no idea but this 'sudden change' in the show. "I-I can't wing it," she protested even as Mr. Beetle unapologetically grabbed her hand, "I don't have any wings," and twirled her under his arm, "I'm getting dizzy!"

The backup dancers expressed their disgust as her outfit 'fell' apart, revealing the humanoid figure underneath.

It was all going according to plan.

And just as Berkley Beetle predicted, the audience absolutely loved the twist to the song as they laughed at the tiny human girl.

"Ha ha ha ha ha
Hee hee hee, ho ho ho ho
She's she's she's she's, so so so so
Hey, that bug is a dog...

Apparently deciding to settle onto what she did understand and know, Thumbelina began to dance the routine taught to her before.

"My, My."

"Unattractive."

"The word, my dear, is ugly." A wife said to her husband.

"She's so ugly, she's hurting my feelings." A male interjected.

"I hope it ain't catching."

"Disgraceful!"

Of course, these words weren't quiet enough for Thumbelina not to hear. All throughout the routine, she appeared to be smiling but inside she was having a raging battle with herself to keep the smile on her face. She gave up the act to hold her knees in mild pain when one of the dancers hit her popliteal with their stick.

"Would you look at that?
She ain't got no wings
Good gracious me, what are those things?
She ain't go no feelers...

"No feelers?" the audience gasped to the rhythm of the song.

"She ain't got no shell
("Do tell")
She got scrawny legs
And knobby knees
For all we know, the gal's got fleas
She can't even fly
No that won't do...

Mr. Beetle frowned when one of his dancers stepped on his foot.

"So say goodbye, she's not for you"

Dancing up to Thumbelina, Mr. Beetle dramatically claimed, "I'm sorry, toots, I guess you're too-" He slapped her butt with his stick. "-too ugly!"

Thumbelina yelped.

"Don't worry," he assured her arrogantly. "You'll get over me." He tipped his hat to her in mock politeness.

Thumbelina, however, was more focused on what he said before. "I'm ugly?" she whispered brokenly to herself.

~0~

Not far off - in fact, a little too close for Thumbelina's liking if she had known - was her self-acclaimed fiancé, the Toad. Ever since she had managed to escape his capture, Grundel had taken it into his head to search out his missing future wife. And so far, he was having little luck locating her. At first, he had only searched out the immediate vicinity surrounding his temporary home. When that proved useless, he began to expand the area, even heading out directly to where his mama said she had found Thumbelina. Gazing through the window of her room, all he had found was an empty room - neat and clean. Searching the perimeter, and finding only other animals and a very large human woman, Grundel had left grumbling and wondering where his precious girl could be hiding from him. Returning to his home after, he was immediately met with an angry mama, who started hissing at him over his neglecting their show last night. A fight ensured between them and he left feeling more upset than before, vowing to get Thumbelina back so they can make up the money they had lost over his neglect.

Heading out east from his home, Grundel moaned over where to next look for Thumbelina, until he came across two beetles talking about some kind of 'going away' show at the beetle ballroom. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have interested him much as he was already aware of how beetles loved entertainment, but the words "beautiful girl" caught his attention. Vaguely hoping that the "beautiful girl" they talked about was Thumbelina - as there was none as beautiful as she - he set out in the direction of the big tree the beetle ballroom was housed in. It was only pure luck that he came across three Jitterbugs crying over helping Thumbelina.

"Hey, wait for me!" cried the one with a hat.

"Hurry up! Thumbelina needs help," yelled back the seemingly older one.

Taking pleasure in scaring the wits out of the children by jumping in front of them, Grundel roared. The Jitterbugs screamed and ran. He laughed as he shook the dead tree they were under to make debris fall down. Unfortunately for the children, enough dead bark fell down to cover the only escape route they had.

"Help!" they cried.

"Do I hear one of you say Thumbelina needs help?" Grundel implored.

Unthinkingly, Gnatty blurted out, "Yes."

"Gnatty!" his friend said nervously.

"The beetle took her and flew way up there." He was shushed way too late.

"Hmm. The beetle?" So the beautiful girl was Thumbelina, which means she was captured by the beetles. He spit at the thought. "I want her back!" He claimed angrily.

The Jitterbugs screamed. "Come on, let's go!" They took the opportunity to run under the toad's body. The toad laughed amused. "You big ugly wart face!"

Grundel laughed again before sobering up. "Now we see about this beetle."

~0~

Fortunately for Thumbelina, even if (and when) Grundel managed to find the beetle the Jitterbugs spoke about, she was no longer with the guy. Unable to stand the jeering and mocking laughter of the beetles after the show concluded, Thumbelina had taken the first chance she had to run away from the ballroom. And knowing that the beetle would most likely not be holding up his end of the bargain, Thumbelina tried her hardest to climb down the big tree all by her lonesome. She only made it so far, however. Only a few steps away from the entrance, Thumbelina dropped exhausted onto a broken tree limb that had dandelions growing out of it. She scowled as her face was reflected back at her from a dew drop. Sniffing a little she dropped her face into her upturned knees and cried silently for a while.

When no more tears fell from her eyes, she turned her head to look at the scenery.

She frowned at hearing an increasing fluttering sound. She breathed out at seeing Jacquimo appear next to her.

"Why, what is the matter Thumbelina." Jacquimo asked.

Hearing the concern in his voice, Thumbelina's tears made an appearance again. She sniffled. "I'm cold... I'm lost... And I'm hungry. And the beetle says I'm ugly." She glanced sadly at the dew drops. She almost felt like they were mocking her just as the beetles had done before.

"The beetle?" Jacquimo had an idea of what beetle she was talking about. "Ho ho," he chuckled. He found it funny that Thumbelina would pay attention to such an egotistical person. "You love the beetle?"

"No."

"Then never mind the beetle. Good riddance to the beetle." And remembering how the girl was here in the first place, "And good riddance to the toad." He blew at the dandelion to make a point. "Does Prince Cornelius think you are ugly?"

A sniffle, and then, "No. He thinks I'm beautiful." Thumbelina smiled at the thought of her love.

"And so you are, mon amie." He turned her around. "Look."

With the thought of her beloved in her mind, and the reassurance of her feathery friend, Thumbelina gazed at the dew with new eyes. She gasped, and smiled. "I'm going home."

Walking over to her friend, Thumbelina called, "Jacquimo."

He hummed.

"Will you find the Vale of the Fairies?"

"I promise." He yawned. "I promise, but now we must sleep." He sighed. "Bonne nuit." he whispered holding out his arm for her. "Bonne nuit, Thumbelina."

She laid down on his chest. "Thank you, Jacquimo. Thank you." All her crying had her tuckered out.

"Tomorrow is a new day, and I will go to the forest and see if I can find your Prince Cornelius." With that, both the swallow and his friend fell asleep to the gentle breeze. Only the bright sunshine of the new day waking them up.

A few days later, Jacquimo found himself working hard at maintaining his promise when he came across a running rabbit. He didn't even think about what the rabbit could be running from.

"Bonjour! Eh, nice sunny day." He landed himself on the rabbit's nose.

"It's sunny, all right, but I'm not too sure about the nice." was the response.

"Oh, well, I am, uh, looking for the Vale of the Fairies."

Annoyed already at the distracting swallow, the rabbit asked nasally, "Fairies, huh? Beats the heck out of me. Why don't you ask a fairy?"

"Oh, you know one?" Jacquimo asked, hanging on for dear life to the rabbit's hat.

"No, but he might." The rabbit replied, bringing the swallow's attention to the pursuing fox he hadn't noticed somehow.

"Oh, ah, merci." Jacquimo let the wind slam him into the rabbit's pursuant. "Uh, excuse-moi, monsieur. I am looking for the Vale of the-"

The fox was not as friendly as the rabbit was. "Amscray!" he interrupted, and almost succeeded in knocking off Jacquimo thoroughly with his paw.

Jacquimo didn't let this deter him, but he grew a little nervous as he found himself in the fox's open mouth. "Where were we? I can see that you are a very busy fox, so I will be brief."

The fox was irritated. "Buzz off, buster!" He slapped away the pesky stranger with his tongue.

Sadly, this action forced Jacquimo into a dead tree, whose limbs were so jagged that one of them rammed a thorn into Jacquimo's left wing.

"Now, now look, look what I do." Jacquimo winced. "I have a thorn in my wing." Pain shot through his wing as he moved it slightly. "Oh, this is bad, very bad." He stood. "Oh, mon dieu. I hope I-I still can fly."

Fortunately he could, though not without a fair share of pain. "Oh, oh, I fly. Oh, merci." He flew to where a vine stuck out from the ground. "It only stings a little," he assured to no one in particular. "Now, where was I?" Several leaves falling from a tree was his response. Jacquimo gasped, not having realized how far into the new season they were. "Autumn. It is Autumn. Oh, I must hurry to find the fairy prince. Winter is almost here."

~0~

Jacquimo could not have been more right as only three days later a mighty gust of wind swept through the forest, bringing with it a taste of what the winter frost would be like.

Prince Cornelius knew all too well how awful the upcoming winter can be.

"Thumbelina!" Buzzby and he fought against the leaves blowing onto them. "Thumbelina, where are you?" Cornelius groaned when a leaf slammed him off of Buzzby. The wind was too powerful for him to take control of his fall. He grimaced in disgust when he fell into muddy water. "Oh no." Buzzby barely gave him enough time to brace himself when he fly under his master's legs. "Whoa!"

Seconds later, Cornelius reached his original destination of the Jitterbugs' den. Thankfully, it was still warm enough that most Jitterbugs had yet to fly further in to the log they took possession of, so Cornelius was able to quickly inquire:

"I'm-I'm looking for a beautiful young woman. Her name is- is Thumbelina." Cornelius looked down as a small Jitterbug - Gnatty - walked up to him.

"Are you the fairy prince?" he asked.

"I am."

"Thumbelina's gone."

"Gone?" Prince Cornelius couldn't believe his ears. "Where? Where did she go?" Why didn't she wait for him?

"The beetle took her away." Gnatty replied sadly.

Beetle? Wasn't it a toad? "What?"

"They're out there. Somewhere." answered another Jitterbug.

Cornelius' stomach dropped. "She-She's out there..." He pointed. "...in that?"

"There's a toad after her too."

Slapping his face, Cornelius muttered, "Oh, no. I've got to find her. Winter's almost here." One day off in fact.

The Jitterbugs looked on in encouragement as the fairy prince flew off on Buzzby.

"Hurry, Buzz! The father can't hold back the frost much longer."

~0~

It didn't take long for Grundel to find the very beetle that he searched for. Aside from the fact that very few beetles actually cared enough to go into 'the public', this particular beetle liked to brag about how fantastic his show was, what a genius he is, how much fame he would get, and how upset he was for losing Thumbelina before he could get any more inspiration from her.

"Did you say Thumbelina?" Grundel spoke up angrily.

"What? Who said that? Come out and show your face!" Beetle asked bravely before yelling in fright when a toad jumped in front of him. His back up dancers weren't so brave. They immediately hid behind some nearby boulders.

"Where is Thumbelina?" Grundel asked menacingly.

"Thumbelina? The tiny wingless fairy? That chick? What do you want with a gal like her?" Berkeley Beetle cowered.

"I marry her!" He declared. "Where is she?"

"You're marrying her?!" Beetle asked bewildered. "I heard she and the fairy prince were engaged to each other?"

Grundel growled and reached to choke the beetle, who wasn't able to move out of the way fast enough.

Mr. Beetle let out some choking sounds, "O.K. O.K." He tried to gasp in some air to continue. "Can I explain something?"

"What?"

Some more chocking sounds. "Look, I don't know where she is." Mr. Beetle made sure to articulate each word for the simple-minded toad. "We didn't hit it off too good, so I let her go. She's not my type. She's an ugly type. I don't like ugly." He shook his head at the thought.

This wasn't the best thing to tell the toad as he punched Berkeley Beetle's head to the ground. "She is beautiful!" he declared angrily and stomped on the beetle's foot.

With a scream of pain, Beetle amended, "Whatever you say." Fearful for his safety, he continued, "Look, I got an idea. I hear that she loves the fairy prince, right?"

Annoyed at the audacity of the beetle to say that Thumbelina loved anyone but him, he beat at the beetle's head as he roared. Mr. Beetle screamed. "I crush fairy prince." Grundel emphasized this statement with a hand gesture.

"O.K. O.K. Shut up and listen." Mr. Beetle said annoyed. He straightened his antennae. "Why don't you just nab this prince, and set up a trap for the girl, using him as the bait? You know, get her to come to you."

Grundel rubbed at his chin in thought. "Nab the prince."

"And set up a trap." Mr. Beetle was glad seeing the toad think about his idea. Maybe he would leave him alone after this.

"Nab the prince." he muttered again.

Annoyed now, Mr. Beetle reiterated, "Yes, nab the prince and set up a trap." He shook the toad. "Do you speak English? Try to keep up, Grundel, O.K.?" In all the years he had known about the pond-side road show, Berkeley Beetle was now glad he had never bothered to go see the toads in action. If he had to keep talking to this fool even one more minute he was going to explode.

Grundel pulled at his hat. "Don't shout!"

"You're making me very nervous here."

"You go capture prince." Grundel growled at the beetle, clapping onto the man's back before he cheerfully removed his wings to ensure his compliance.

Mr. Beetle shouted in surprise and anger. "Aah! My wings! You took my wings! You can't do that."

"Yeah?" Grundel cheekily asked as he held back the beetle. "I keep wings until you nab prince." He waved the wings menacingly.

"Listen, pal," Mr. Beetle started with false confidence, "this harassment has gone far enough, and I know my rights!" He bumped into Grundel's chest. "I'll report you to the pond patrol."

Grundel chocked him in response.

"O.K., O.K., cool it. Cool it!" His bravado left him as quickly as he pretended it came. He coughed when Grundel let him go. "Where's your sense of humor?" Grundel shook his hand in warning. Mr. Beetle's sense of preservation kicked in in high gear. "All right. I'll nab the prince. Come on, guys, mind the wings. I'll be back."

He walked off with false confidence.

~0~

Jacquimo was not sure about this. He was not sure at all.

Winter was only days away and most hibernating animals were packing the last of the food and water they needed for their seasonal sleep. Which made Jacquimo more diligent to get through as many creatures as he could in his quest to find the Vale of the Fairies.

Coming across a cave dwelling which housed a sleeping bear, Jacquimo tried not to let nerves get to him as he flew in.

"Excusez-moi, Monsieur Bear." A snore, but his head lifted up slightly. "I am looking for the Vale of the Fairies."

Apparently, the bear wasn't too awake. "I don't want no berries." The bear grumbled, ending with a sigh that knocked Jacquimo off his feet.

Annoyed, Jacquimo said, "No, no, no." He lifted one of the bear's eye-lids. "Fairies, not berries." A snore. Even more annoyed at being ignored, Jacquimo grabbed into an ear. "Wake up, you fat lummox!"

Awake now, the bear looked around for the noise, not noticing the bird he accidently lifted and dropped into his empty honey pot until said bird cried, "I said, wake up!"

Unwilling to wake up and hear what the bird wanted, he simply knocked the pot out of his cave.

Jacquimo oomph-ed as he went air-born and slammed into a tree. He groaned at his misfortune. "I am having a very bad day." He climbed out and shivered at the cold breeze. "Mon dieu, it is so cold." A piece of icicle bumped his head. Jacquimo gasped as he looked up to see ice settling on the tree behind him. "Winter! Winter is here." A sudden gust of wind threatened to blow him away. "Whoa!" Jacquimo cried out as he held on for dear life to the honey pot, but eventually losing in the battle.

Trying to take control of his involuntary flight, Jacquimo winced at the pain in his wing, which grew in intensity the longer it went without treatment. "Oh, this thorn. Oh, it hurts to fly."

~0~

Jacquimo was not the only one having trouble with the incoming winter as the cold wind quickly turned into a snowstorm. Cornelius and Buzzby were having a grand old time trying to steer through the tumultuous storm, which actually did come later than normal. Well, just one day late, Cornelius couldn't really fault his parents for such a small delay.

"Don't worry, Buzz. We're going to make it." Cornelius said encouragingly even though he felt the opposite was true. But trying to push back the negative thoughts, he yelled out, "Thumbelina!" right before flying at top speed through a leaf. So fast they went that Cornelius had to look back to see what exactly they had hit in the first place. Unfortunately, this little action was enough for them to lose control of their flight and Buzzby quickly did a downward spiral. Cornelius was quick to react and managed to keep his friend from slamming them both into the ground, however, he was not quick enough to stop them from landing haphazardly onto a rock face.

Cornelius didn't have time to call out as a ball of snow knocked him off of Buzzby and into a thin sheet of ice floating on a pool of water.

But so cold was the weather that Cornelius didn't have enough time to swim out before the water froze. As it was only his right index finger met the air.

It was a good thing indeed that fairies had magic circulating within their bodies. If not for that and their vastly hotter body temperature, he would have surely perished in an instant. Of course, that is not to say that they could live for millennia while encased in ice but Cornelius could very well survive through the winter with no problems. This ability to perpetually 'hibernate' was a closely guarded secret of the fairies, which fairies used to their advantage when wars or battles broke out.

It was so close a secret that even Buzzby had no idea of this ability and therefore, he could not be faulted for buzzing in despair as he landed on the frozen water.

He flew off to the Vale of the Fairies, unable to help his master.

Thumbelina's forget-me-not necklace broke and flew off with the wind.

Not too long later, just a few hours after he froze, an 'infamous' wingless beetle and his four pals shivered across the snow covered terrain and onto the frozen waters. And apparently the leader of the group had been complaining about a certain toad the whole way.

"See, no, he takes my wings away. Now I have to walk to find the prince. See, if he let me keep my wings, I could fly after the prince and bring him back in two seconds." Mr. Beetle complained as he shivered in his dress shoes and faced away from his cousin, currently on his knees to see what the dark matter under the ice was.

He turned at his cousin's excited claim of: "Hey, Beetle, this guy's the prince!"

"The prince?" Mr. Beetle muttered, taking a second for the information to sink in. "Aah! The prince!" he shouted when it finally did. "Somebody up there loves me!"

"The prince. O.K., O.K. You pick him up." Beetle directed to his cousins as they cracked the ice with their feet and lifted the encased prince out of his prison. "Let's get out of this stinking weather before we're statistics." Beetle shivered. His cousins began to push at the ice cube he stood on. "I can't even feel anything in my feelers anymore."

He complained about the cold until they got to a cliff side, where an old human's shoe rotted on the edge, and where he switched back to the original topic of discussion. "A guy with my brains, I got to talk to a toad. What kind of conversation can you have with a toad? They're toads. They're greens. They're toads..."

He trailed off when he turned to look at his dancers and noticed a silhouette moving toward the old shoe they passed. "Wait. Wait. Wait. You guys wait here. I gotta see if that's who I think it is." Mr. beetle was quick to scurry back to where the shoe laid and smirked when he noticed a familiar head of hair.

He waited.

~0~

A month and one week. A month and one week since she last saw her beloved prince. And a month since she last saw her beloved mother. It really was true that you didn't know what you had until it was gone.

Moving out of the tree trunk cavern they trekked through Thumbelina almost turned back when she felt the bitter cold of the winter. But plunging on through the cold, Thumbelina actually did plunge through a half-frozen puddle when she flew through some grass blades. She coughed as she climbed out and shivered when she fell onto the snow bank. Looking around in despair, Thumbelina's gaze caught sight of an shoe and taking her chances - because what else was around that might help her? - she climbed to the cliff edge.

Burrowing under the old sock still present, Thumbelina grumbled, "Jacquimo was wrong. I will never find my way home. It's impossible." She pulled the sock over her head and got as comfortable as she could. "Oh, Mother, where can you be?"

She began to sob.

~0~

It appeared that two hearts can beat as one as both mother and daughter's hearts panged with need and sorrow for each other. As Thumbelina wallowed over missing her mother, so too did her mother reciprocate the feelings.

Once again spending the evening in her daughter's room, Thumbelina's mother stood to close the wind from the frosty draft flowing in. She gazed sadly and worriedly out to the white landscape. She wondered if Thumbelina, wherever she may be, was somewhere safe, sound, and warm. She refused to believe that her daughter was anything but.

"I know there's someone
Somewhere
Someone
Who's sure to find her soon...

Bringing out the formal yellow dress she had hoped to gift Thumbelina for Christmas, she laid it out on the crib's pillow.

"After the rain goes
There are rainbows
She'll find her rainbow
Soon...

She opened the last book she had read to her daughter.

"Soon my breaking heart will mend
Soon a happy ending
Troubles behind her

She patted Hero's head.

"I will find her
Homeward bound
Safe and sound
And soon..."

~0~

Mr. Beetle waited far longer than he actually needed to. And waiting cost him the chance to act. But he couldn't say that the alternative actually upset him too much. You see, originally, Berkeley Beetle intended to wait until Thumbelina fell so deeply asleep that he could drag her off to the toad without her noticing. Maybe then he would gain his wings back since he would bring both the prince and the girl at the same time! But he had waited too long and apparently he wasn't the only one to see the girl take refuge in the old shoe as he found out when a female field mouse showed up sniffing right as he was about to act. He cursed inwardly as he watched the field mouse scurry off with his prize. Following silently, he saw the mouse enter a underground dwelling and he hung back a moment, watching to see if she came back out.

She didn't.

He hurried back to where his cousins waited.

~0~

It was a while before Thumbelina became fully conscious again as Ms. Fieldmouse would come to find out. Well, in actuality it would be a little more than a while before Thumbelina would wake. Three days in fact. Ms. Fieldmouse had had a mighty tough time taking care of her unconscious guest as just hours after rescuing her from the shoe, the girl had developed a high fever, the likes of which Ms. Fieldmouse had never seen before. On and off, her guest would awake with rough coughing fits and shivers, and Ms. Fieldmouse would have to wipe her down with warm water from her kitchen. So much so that she had to keep the poor girl right in the room so she wouldn't have to continually roam back and forth inside her house. But thankfully, after two days of fighting off the fever, Thumbelina was on her way to a full recovery. Sadly, news from across the Vale might upset her back into a relapse.

Midday on the third day, Thumbelina showed signs of waking up. First, with a flutter of her eyelids. Second, with mumbled nothings every once in a while.

In the mean time, Ms. Fieldmouse began to prepare the corn cakes Mr. Mole - her neighbor since she could remember - absolutely loved. It wasn't something she did all the time for her neighbor, but with her new guest dwelling not far from here, she felt it was something she had to do. You see, during the springtime, Mr. Mole and her had had a very enlightening conversation about what he sees for his future. Aside from keeping his riches and furthering his studies, Mr. Mole was searching for a wife to keep him company. And the more talented she was the better for him. Ms. Fieldmouse had smirked at the time because he had also mentioned that he would pay handsomely to anyone who acted as matchmaker between him and his wife. Coming across the very girl that rumors had mentioned had a lovely singing voice was just pure luck and a blessing.

Of course, that was not to say that she wouldn't have saved anyone else that was freezing to death but her generosity wasn't free either.

Hearing movement behind her, Ms. Fieldmouse asked, "Feeling better, my dear?" She checked the soup she was making and sniffed at the air appreciatively.

"Ohh..." moaned the girl. "Where-where am I?"

"In my kitchen." Ms. Fieldmouse answered as she brought over warm tea. "I'm Ms. Fieldmouse, and we're snug and safe underground."

"I'm underground?" Thumbelina asked astonished.

"Yes, dearie. Three feet under. I dug it myself with my own two hands." Ms. Fieldmouse replied proudly. She poured some tea in a mug. "Here. Drink this."

"At least that toad won't find me down here." Thumbelina commented, passing the mug between her hands waiting for it to cool down.

Knowing about the toad through the grapevine Ms. Fieldmouse let out a "Ha." She scurried back to her kitchen to check on her soup. "You know, there's something I don't understand. Did you really think you could survive the winter in that old shoe?" She giggled. "Honestly." She shook her head.

Thumbelina sighed. "I want to go home."

"Well, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait here till spring, Thumbelina."

It took Thumbelina a moment to realize that she never told this stranger her name. "You know my name?"

"Oh, that's easy. I know much more like, you were engaged to the fairy prince, um, Cornelius, I believe."

"Well, almost." Thumbelina answered not noticing the use of the word, 'were'.

"Oh, that is so sad."

"What?"

"That he was found stone-cold-frozen dead in the snow." Ms. Fieldmouse said unthinkingly as she batles with the carrot she was cooking into her soup.

Thumbelina gasped as pain slashed up her body and through her heart. ("But of course, you knew that.") She didn't feel the tears that poured from her eyes. She fell back onto the bed when her knees wobbled and failed under her. "No, no, no... Cornelius," she gasped out around her sobs. The tea mug shattered on the ground. "No!" she cried in despair.

Up above a certain beetle listened through the smoke pipe, and he smirked at hearing the despair from the girl. It sure showed her, he thought with a chuckle. He listened for a few more minutes before quickly leaving to report back to the toad.

"That is so sad."

"No, it's not true. No!" Thumbelina sobbed.

Ms. Fieldmouse bit her lip not knowing how to comfort the girl so hanging back for a second she turned to finish her soup. She frowned hearing the wet sobbing behind her go on for minutes, almost an hour, before it turned to dry heaves and sniffles and finally finishing with the occasional sniffle and gasps. She carefully walked back to the girl to see her wiping at her tear tracks. She frowned.

"Oh, Thumbelina, forgive me. I just blurt things out without thinking." Ms. Fieldmouse said, but not truly sympathetic, continued, "You're still young, though. There'll be another."

"He was perfect." Thumbelina sighed.

"Nobody's perfect." Ms. Fieldmouse wiggled her finger at the thought. "Now, if you like, you can stay with me the whole winter, but you must keep my room clean and neat, and tell me tales, for I am very fond of them."(1)

Thumbelina, not seeing any other alternative, agreed. Ms. Fieldmouse handed her a bowl of soup and they ate quietly for the next half-hour, mostly as Thumbelina was lost in memories of her departed prince.

Seeing this, Ms. Fieldmouse cut into her thoughts, "Come on, Thumbelina, everyone this side of the Vale knows of you through the fairy prince. I'm sure you'll be getting marriage proposals again soon." Hopefully from a certain mole, she added in her head.

"Cornelius was the only one-"

Ms. Fieldmouse interrupted her with a thrown shawl. "Now, put this on. We'll take these corn cakes to Mr. Mole. He lives just down the tunnel."

"I'd rather not." Thumbelina whispered.

"Oh... I saved your life this very day and you'd rather not?" She put a hand to her chest to emphasize the statement.

Thumbelina sniffed. "Very well."

Taking the pan out of the oven, Ms. Fieldmouse asked, "Oh, one more thing. Is it true that you have a beautiful voice?"

Thumbelina's head fell into her hands. "I don't feel much like singing."

"Oh, you must sing for Mr. Mole. He loves sweet things." Turning to Thumbelina, she implored her to stand. "Come on." She handed over the basket of corn cakes. "Mr. Mole loves his corn cakes."

Pausing as a thought crossed her mind, Thumbelina muttered sadly, "Cornelius was looking for me." She sniffled. "That's what must have happened."

~0~

Walking under a sign that announced "What's mined is mine", Thumbelina followed Ms. Fieldmouse through what appeared to be a crown turned into a mud room. Walking through another door, she heard her host say "Good afternoon, Mr. Mole."

"Oh, yes..." said the other person in the room. He sniffed. "Ms. Fieldmouse. Good afternoon. Lovely day." He answered back, spilling his tea every which way.

"Meet a new friend of mine-Thumbelina." Said girl stepped up unsure. "She just came down from... up there."

"Up there?" Mr. Mole tilted his head up, not noticing as Thumbelina held out the basket of corn cakes.

"Up there." Ms. Fieldmouse reiterated.

"Terrible place." The mole groaned in disgust. He sniffed and hummed at the delightful smell - of Thumbelina. "How do you do, Miss Thumbelina? Please to make your acquaintance."

As he looked a little lower than was appropriate and held his hand much higher than he should've, Thumbelina finally realized what Ms. Fieldmouse withheld on their way here. Mr. Mole was blind.

"Uh, h-how do you do, Mr. Mole?" Thumbelina stuttered, unsure how to handle someone like him. Thank fully he turned away just as quickly.

"Come in. Come in. Uh, don't touch anything." He turned to give them a sharp look. "These are my things."

"We brought some corn cakes for you." Thumbelina felt her be pushed forward. "Just you try one, Mr. Mole."

Thumbelina held out the basket again.

Mr. Mole ooh-ed and hummed as he forcefully grabbed one - almost causing Thumbelina to drop them - and stuffed his face with it, barely even chewing it before swallowing. "Very nice," he complemented, spitting out crumbs without care. "Now, tell us about... up there. Went up there once, nearly blinded me. Hurried as fast as I could back down where it's dark and decent."

Choosing to push back depressing thoughts to focus on more happier ones, Thumbelina set down her basket. "Oh, but, uh...I love the light." She twirled.

"I hate it. End of story." Mr. Mole said, forcefully ending the discussion.

Seeing an opportunity to show how amazing Thumbelina could be for a future wife, Ms. Fieldmouse interjected with, "Story? Thumbelina, tell Mr. Mole a story, a lovely, sad story." She fell back into the chair she sat in.

"Well, uh-" Thumbelina sighed unsure, but still set down her cargo.

"Stand right there where I can see you." Mr. Mole demanded, gesturing to a music box he used as a coffee stand. He squinted as he moved to sit next to Ms. Fieldmouse where a giant 'M' indicated his ownership of the furniture.

"O.K. Um-" Thumbelina muttered before climbing up on said music box.

"Oh, I love love stories, don't you?" Ms. Fieldmouse commented to Mr. Mole, subtly trying to appeal Thumbelina to him. She turned back to her guest when she began speaking.

"Once upon a time, there was, um, the sun."

"Sing it, Thumbelina. Sing." Ms. Fieldmouse demanded. She smiled inwardly when Mr. Mole finally showed interest.

"She sings?"

She shushed him.

"Oh. Um..."

"Once there was the sun
Bright and warm and wonderful
Shining like the love within my heart...

Thumbelina smiled at the memory of when Cornelius took her to the autumn festival and danced with her across the water. Acting out their dance moves, Thumbelina grinned until she remembered how they will never enjoy a moment together again.

"Now there's no more sun
Winter has killed everything
And although it's dark December
Forever
I'll remember sun"

She finished with a pout as the memory of their dance faded away. "Winter has killed everything...even the sun." She rubbed her hands sadly.

"Wonderful story." Ms. Fieldmouse sighed content, after all she was not a big believer in love.

"Dreadful thing, the sun." Mr. Mole commented. He picked up his walking stick. "And now, I have a story to tell you." He walked to a door on the other side of the room. "Just this morning on my early morning stroll, I stumbled across the most extraordinary thing in my tunnel- a dead bird."

"No." Ms. Fieldmouse gasped softly.

"Yes." Mr. Mole assured strongly.

Thumbelina paid no attention as she looked disturbed at her surroundings. While the sight of rare gems and treasures amazed her, the sight of cobwebs and moth-eaten fabrics sent chills through her body.

"How do you suppose a dead bird got into my tunnel?" Mr. Mole continued as they walked into a room full of nailed up bugs, which had Thumbelina staring amazed and disgusted. "Oh, well, I'm certainly glad I'm not a bird...bothering the world with endless twittering, twittering, twittering."

"My, yes." Ms. Fieldmouse agreed before setting sights on the bird. "Oh! There it is."

Thumbelina turned at this and gasped at seeing that the bird they spoke about was none other than Jacquimo. Her legs threatened to buckle again.

Ms. Fieldmouse held her cheeks. "Whatever do you suppose happened to him?"

Mr. Mole squinted at the figure, trying to magnify it with his glasses. "Well, there's one less bird to twitter, twitter, twitter up there."

"Oh, Jacquimo." Thumbelina breathed. "Jacquimo, my dear, dear friend." For the second time that day, Thumbelina broke down into sobs over her friends' body.

And there they will find her every time Ms. Fieldmouse and her would visit Mr. Mole for the next seven days. Every time, Thumbelina would be forced into telling a story through song and so the mole fell in love with her because of her beautiful voice.(2) But neither of them could stop her from visiting her dead friend in the tunnel.

One such time, Mr. Mole and Ms. Fieldmouse stood behind the girl and gazed as she rubbed at her friend's chest. "Tender little thing." Ms. Fieldmouse sighed.

"Yes. Quite lovely," the mole agreed and cleared his throat. "Ms. Fieldmouse, could I have a word with you?" Mr. Mole looked down to where he thought the field mouse still stood.

"I wish you would." Ms. Fieldmouse said happily, thinking that she knew exactly what the mole was going to ask.

"Ms. Fieldmouse...you know I have been meaning to take a wife for some time now."

"What a lovely idea." she responded, slyly.

"I find myself sometimes...um, you know...lonely for companionship."

"What could be more natural?"

"And I wonder if..."

"Yes?"

"If I could ask you to help me persuade Miss Thumbelina to-to-to be-be my wife."

She acted surprised at the revelation. "Thumbelina?"

Mr. Mole smiled gaily. "She could keep me company and tell me stories, don't you think?"

"Yes."

"And for your service in helping to arrange this match, I will reward you handsomely." Mr. Mole held up one of his gold coins.

Quickly grabbing hold of the precious coin, Ms. Fieldmouse assured enthusiastically, "Oh, I will. I will." much like a girl would when being asked for her hand in marriage.

"Dear Ms. Fieldmouse." Mr. Mole said appreciatively.

"Leave the arrangements to me." She wiped at the coin until she saw her reflection. "Thumbelina..." she called.

But the girl was too busy with her new discovery as she pressed her ear close to Jacquimo's chest. "I-I hear your heart. You're not dead. No! Jacquimo..." Thumbelina sighed happily. "Jacquimo..." she rubbed at his face. "I'll come back tonight."

"Thumbelina?" called Ms. Fieldmouse again.

Thumbelina stood reluctantly.

~0~

"One ice-cold prince coming up." Mr. Beetle yelled proudly, riding on the ice as his cousins pushed it. "Where do you want him?"

Grundel grinned. "There." His grin turned into a frown as he looked closely at the prince. "He looks dead."

"Dead? Dead, schmed! What difference does it make?" Beetle cried falling over onto his butt.

"You killed him." Grundel accused.

"O.K., O.K. Have it your way. I killed him. There. You satisfied? Huh?" Mr. Beetle said, fed up with the toad's ever-changing attitudes. "Forget the prince. All right? Now, uh, what if I were to tell you I know where Thumbelina is right now, huh? What if I were to tell you that?" he revealed slyly. "Would you give me my wings?" He wiggled his fingers hopefully.

Grinning at the thought of finding his future wife, Grundel cheered, "I'm glad you kill prince. It's a deal." He shook the beetle's hand.

"Good. My sources tell me she's buried alive with the mole."

"Mole?" Grundel asked angrily. "What mole?"

"If I were you, I'd get my tail over there and save her. Go, get hopping." He pushed at the toad. "Oh, and my wings, please. Would you please? My wings."

"Quiet! Where does mole live? I go kick down his door." He picked up the beetle roughly.

"Ow. Oh, ooh. Stop, stop, stop. Let go of my arm. What's going on? Where are we going?"

"We go rescue Thumbelina from the mole."

Being let down onto his feet, Beetle tried to pull his arm out of Grundel's. "Mole? Are you out of your mind? I'm not going down there. You know what that guy does to beetles? You have any idea what he does? He stuffs them. He stuff them and pins them on his walls." He gestured dramatically, accidently slapping the toad's nose.

Grundel pushed him down. "Quiet!"

"Look, why don't you just go home and marry a toad? You ever think about that? You find yourself a pretty toad with warts and you marry her." Beetle pointed out as he was dragged across the snow.

"Quiet!"

"Toads, toads." Beetle moaned woefully. "I'm going to be stuffed..."

Thankfully, neither males noticed the three Jitterbug children eavesdropping on them. "They've got the fairy prince. We've got to help him." said the littlest one.

Agreeing, the elder one declared, "Come on, guys. Let's build a fire." Which was all well and good except that with snow littering the ground without barriers all the wood around was wet, meaning that fire was not so easy to build. They unanimously decided to fly back to where all the other Jitterbugs slept for the winter to collect from the stack they had already built up. But upon arriving home and explaining to the adults what they needed the wood for, they were told to guide them to where the fairy prince was. Of course, all of them still remembered the girl they saved from drowning and the boy that showed up days later desperately searching for said girl. So they were only too glad to help move the prince to a safer location. They even helped stack him on top of ice posts. This maneuver, though, took them days to accomplish with how heavy the ice was and how small they were.

They left with a warning to the children to stay out of trouble.

~0~

Things were not going so well over at Ms. Fieldmouse's home. Especially not for Thumbelina. You see, even with the knowledge that Jacquimo was still in fact very much alive, the thought that both Cornelius and her friend would not have been out in the snow storm if not for her had her noticeably less hyper and outgoing than she normally would be. Every night, she found herself to be shedding tears next to Jacquimo even as she nursed him the best she could, bringing him warm blankets and filling his throat with water. She also laid the tender stamina of flowers, which were soft as cotton, and which she had found in the field-mouse's room, around the bird, so that he might lie warm.(3) She normally had to sneak her way to the tunnel as both the mole and her host were not fond of the swallow at all.

The news that Ms. Fieldmouse had arranged for her marriage to the mole also hit her like a rocket.

"Now you are a bride, Thumbelina," said the field-mouse. "Our neighbor has asked for your hand. What a great piece of luck for a poor child! Now you must will have to make your outfit, both woolen and linen clothes; for you must lack nothing when you are the mole's wife."(4)

"What?" Thumbelina cried incredulous. "But I don't want to marry Mr. Mole."

"But of course, you do! It's not like you have any other prospects around."

"Cornelius was the one I wanted." Thumbelina told her depressed.

"All the same, we'll make it a thrilling wedding." Ms. Fieldmouse said ignoring her, turning the key to lock her door. "Why, it's a wonderful match. Mr. Mole is the richest rodent for miles around. Educated, well-dressed, highly thought of. Never mind that he can't see." She pinched at Thumbelina's cheeks, making the girl squirm. "Ha ha. That's all the better."

"How could I possibly marry Mr. Mole? I don't love him."

"Love?" Ms. Fieldmouse rolled her eyes at the word. "Love is what we read about in books, my dear." She took off her robe to jump into a pin cushion.

"'Here Comes the Bride'
Is a lovely little ditty
But marrying for love
Is a foolish thing to do
Cause love won't pay the mortgage
Or put porridge in your bowl...

"Dearie..." she sang, bopping Thumbelina's chin with a pin. "Marry the mole."

Thumbelina rubbed at her chin.

Pushing her head through a white fabric she used as sheets, Ms. Fieldmouse let it fall around her in an imitation of a white wedding dress. She grabbed a nearby string to tie around her waist.

"True, it's a fact
That he's not exactly witty
He's blinder than a bat
But at least his eyes are blue...

She batted her eyes in emphasis.

"His breath may be alarming
But he's charming for a troll
Dearie...

She handed over the pin to Thumbelina, who used it to rest her head. Then she pushed some powder into Thumbelina's face making her sneeze as it got into her nose. "Marry the mole."

"Romeo and Juliet
Were very much in love when they were wed
They honored every vow
So where are they now?
They're dead, dead...

She kicked at a key next to her and Thumbelina looked on shocked at what the field-mouse just said, even though she had no idea who Romeo and Juliet were.

"Very, very dead."

Ms. Fieldmouse danced down her front steps during her pause. She leaned to grab a flower she set up for decoration next to them.

"Poor Thumbelina
Your brain's so itty-bitty
I hate to seem a pest
But I know what's best for you...

Thumbelina furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance at what her host said but kept quiet. When Ms. Fieldmouse wiggled the flower she held in her face, she gritted her teeth and pull at the flower as she handed over the pin, upset.

"Just think of all the ways that you
Can decorate a hole
Just take my advice
I'll bring the rice
Dearie...
Marry the mole...

Seeing her host thrust the pin at the sack she knew held rice above her head, Thumbelina hurried to stand on the chair she sat on, lest she be buried with grain. She looked on only a little surprised as her eccentric host danced about the rice on her cushion as she waved about the white cloth she was once dressed in.

"Marry the mole."

Thumbelina almost lost her balance when said cloth was thrust over her head without notice and was wrapped around her body.

"Marry that mole..." sang the field-mouse as she pushed the cushion onto Thumbelina's head. she gathered some rice to throw up like confetti.

"'M' is for money" she continued kicking up some more rice.

"Oh..." Thumbelina moaned as a grain hit her eye.

"L-E" finished Ms. Fieldmouse.

Later that night, Thumbelina snuck back out with only a small blanket and a candle this time with her. Walking slowly so as not to accidently wake up the mole, who's hearing seemed to increase with the loss of his sight, Thumbelina gazed sadly at her friend. She crouched and draped the small blanket over the swallow as much as she could. "Please be warm, dear friend. Please live." Thumbelina sighed. She frowned at Jacquimo's pained filled face, even in sleep. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. I know now... there's no place in this big world for little people. We-We cannot do impossible things. Perhaps I should marry the mole. He could take care of me. He could." She hummed thoughtfully and a moment later said with resolve, "I will. I will marry the mole."

It seemed as if her negative thoughts roused Jacquimo's conscious for at that very moment he moaned and groaned, signaling his awakening. Thumbelina was quick to raise up to her knees to stare into his face.

"Uh, you are joking." Jacquimo groaned.

Seeing his eyes open, Thumbelina beamed. "Jacquimo?"

"Marry the prince." Jacquimo demanded lifting his head to look at her.

Thumbelina paid his statement no mind as she threw herself into him. "Jacquimo! You're awake." She didn't notice his grimace as she giggled in happiness. "Oh, oh, Jacquimo."

He sputtered in pain.

"Oh-Oh, I'm sorry." Thumbelina sighed finally noticing.

"I have a thorn in my wing." Jacquimo told her by way of explanation.

"A thorn? Well, let me see." Thumbelina moved to the wing he indicated and looking at it now she wondered how she could have ever missed such a thing. Too wrapped up with his death-like sleep she supposed. "Well... hold still," she said as he moved around already anticipating pain. When she got a firm hold of the thorn she was quick to pull it out. "There."

"Ah!" Jacquimo smiled as Thumbelina kissed at the wound. "Oh, now it will get better." He moved to stand.

Thumbelina waved her hands at this. "Don't get up."

"I'll go to find the Vale of the Fairies and the prince." Jacquimo declared, swaying around dangerously.

"You silly bird." Thumbelina scoffed. "Don't you understand?" She did not want to go through this again.

He wiggled his finger at her. "Get on my back. Get on my back. I will take you to the Green Forest."

"Be realistic. Cornelius is gone." Thumbelina reminded him, forgetting that with him having been unconscious for the start of winter there was no way for him to have heard the news of the fairy prince's death.

Paying no attention to the girl, since surely she was spouting off more negative nonsense, Jacquimo assured her, "I will find him."

"Jacquimo, don't. ("Remember-") Jacquimo. ("You're sure to do impossible things") Stop! Stop it, Jacquimo!" Thumbelina yelled out angrily.

"Your heart..." he sang, clutching at his wounded arm. "Bon voyage, mon amie. Bon voyage!" He yelled back flying into the winter sky.

"No... Jacquimo..." Thumbelina sighed, falling to her news. "Oh, Jacquimo, stop torturing me. Cornelius is dead."

~0~

Jacquimo was not the only person still positive about reuniting the prince with his princess. Three Jitterbug children, in fact, were highly anticipating the moment the prince would wake up from his icy sleep. They only hoped the fire would be quick in melting the ice away.

Adding more wood to the fire, Li'l Bee turned as Baby Bug asked, "Does he know Mr. Mole's going to marry Thumbelina?"

"We'll find out when the ice melts, then we'll tell him."

They all flew up to the top of the cube, where they promptly almost slipped right back off.

"Whoa!"

"Unh."

They reached for the finger sticking out of ice to hold on to. He wiggled from their weight which Li'l Bee misinterpreted. "Look, he's waking up."

They would soon find out he wasn't as hours later they had to kick his body away before it plummeted into the fire directly below. "Oh no..." Gnatty mumbled, looking at the unconscious prince. "What do we do now?"

Looking at the prince with a finger to his lip, Li'l Bee replied bravely, "We make him better again, of course! He's the only one that can save Thumbelina from Mr. Mole!"

It would be days before Cornelius showed signs of awakening, and even more before he would open his eyes and be able to stand.

~0~

It was during his recovery time that Ms. Fieldmouse would hire four spiders to weave for her day and night, whilst Thumbelina was forced to turn the spindle. Every evening they would visit with the mole, or he them, and Thumbelina was sick at hearing him talk so badly about all the things she found beautiful. Repeatedly she would be forced to listen as he ranted about how awful the sun was, that it burned the earth as hard as stone, and how he was glad to be celebrating his marriage with Thumbelina on Spring's eve.(5)

Thumbelina lamented not having anywhere to escape to.

When winter was due to end in one week, her outfit was ready.

When Ms. Fieldmouse pointed this out to her, Thumbelina wept and said she would not have the mole.

"Fiddlesticks!" came the reply. "Don't be obstinate, you ungrateful girl. He is a fine man whom you are going to marry. He's almost as rich as the royals! He has a full kitchen and cellar. Be thankful for it!"(6)

The wedding came all too soon for Thumbelina, who stood downtrodden out of sight waiting for the organist to begin playing. She was wearing a gray and pink wedding dress with gold trimming, not at all to her liking but what was she to do when Mr. Mole made all the decisions about the outfit? He had even made the decision of what her hair was to look like and what jewelry she was to wear. Fortunately, she had been able to pass off Cornelius' ring as a family heirloom - since Mr. Mole had never bothered to find out enough about her background to know her mother was human - and as he was unable to see for himself that the ring was a royal ring he amended to her desire. One of the few he had allowed his precious "gem" to have. He wouldn't even be allowing her to see the sun once spring came!

Thumbelina had wept at that.

She gnawed her lips to keep from crying and moved forward at the sound of the organ playing the Wedding March.

As the guests stood in attention, Thumbelina gazed sadly down at her ring. In a much happier world, Cornelius and her would be the ones getting married that day, sharing a honeymoon on the first week of spring. But that was not to be. He was dead and Thumbelina had to move on with her life, even if it resulted in an unhappy one. Maybe she could learn to love the mole some day.

She covered the ring with her other hands.

But it seemed Cornelius' spirit was not going to leave her alone on her wedding day as only a few paces down the aisle, his voice and image on the window made her pause in her trek.

Let me be your wings
Let me be your only love
Let me take you far beyond the stars-

Thumbelina turned from where she had unconsciously faced the tinted glass at the sound of the priest's voice. "Uh, Mr. Mole, do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded, uh, eh, wife?"

She only made it about two-thirds of the way before his voice cut through her mind again, seemingly coming from his ring. It's bright green gem theoretically sucked her into a trance as it reminded her strongly of Cornelius' eyes.

Let me be your wings
Let me lift you high above
Everything we're dreaming of
Will soon be ours

She snapped out of it when the mole cleared his throat and answered, "I do".

Her hallucinations weren't through with her as Cornelius' image was projected into the wax of the candle at the end of the aisle.

Anything that you desire
Anything at all...

"And, uh-eh-uh, Thumbelina, do you take this, uh, mole to be your lawful wedded, uhh, husband?" The mole turned to look at her with a very disturbing look on his face.

Thumbelina, however, was too engaged with the memory of when Cornelius gave her the ring to notice.

"Do not forget me," she said, not forgetting how he was to leave her alone for the following week.

Cornelius lowered his head so Thumbelina could place the necklace around his neck. He also didn't miss the type of flower it was made of. "Forget-me-nots." he breathed.

Wanting to give her something in return, Cornelius removed the ring on his finger, which symbolized his royal status. Having noticed that Thumbelina neither knew nor recognized what the ring represented he hadn't bothered removing it. He was glad he hadn't.

"Oh, I'll never forget you. Never." he continued and cheekily slipped the ring onto Thumbelina's left ring finger, knowing what such an action meant to humans.

Also not failing to notice his actions, Thumbelina grew giddy inside. "Never. Never." she whispered, leaning in for a kiss.

"Speak up."

"Never." Thumbelina whispered coming out of her daydream. She knew now why Cornelius' image haunted her this day.

"What?" The priest asked surprised. He wondered if his hearing was playing tricks on him again.

"Never." Thumbelina reiterated louder.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I cannot marry Mr. Mole." At hearing a collective gasp from behind her, Thumbelina explained, "I don't love him."

Mr. Mole's eyes grew in surprise. "What?" He had been sure that she loved him. She had even agreed to the wedding!

"Thumbelina!" cried Ms. Fieldmouse in outrage.

It was at that very moment a certain toad crashed through the ceiling of the makeshift chapel. "Yaah!"

"You!" shouted Thumbelina. Why now?

Grundel gestured to himself, happily. "I marry her." He was sure she had refused the mole to be with. He opened his arms wide anticipating her running into his arms.

"No!" She cried instead. She threw her puny bouquet into the audience. "I no marry you. I go home."

Upset by her refusal after he wasted a whole season searching for her, Grundel pulled on her arm. "No!"

"Go away!" Thumbelina kicked at his leg with all her power. She ran when Grundel let go to hold his aching leg.

The audience gasped at the display of violence playing out in front of them. Mr. Mole scowled at the girl, upset at the turn of events. "After her!" he demanded.

The organist played a dramatic tune as the bride ran away. He was secretly happy at the events as he was bored with having to see the same event over and over again. They rarely ever changed a beat.

Thumbelina huffed as she ran down the corridor. She mentally shouted in despair at how heavy her dress was. She angrily pulled at the veil on her head as she felt it slip with each movement. She scowled as the beetle jumped in front of her.

"Ha ha! Hiya, toots!" He grinned evilly and pulled her back by her veil as she ran past.

"I'm not your toots." She didn't stop to watch him fall as she removed the veil.

"Hey, wait!" she heard from behind her. She ran faster when she heard the toad join in with a cry of her name.

"My wings! My wings!" Beetle cried, even as first the toad and then the hoard of wedding guests trampled him.

Fortunately, from a few feet up above away from her sight, her beloved prince came falling through a hole in the ceiling placed to let in some light for the guests.

It was very fortunate, indeed, that Cornelius had recovered with enough time to find the mole's underground burrow. And likewise was it fortunate that the fairy prince was aware of where this 'Mr. Mole' generally resided in the Vale or else Cornelius might have found himself sobbing in despair as Thumbelina was whisked away to her honeymoon by another man. As it was, with the time ticking ever closer to the end of winter and not having any idea of exactly when the wedding was to take place, Cornelius used a great amount of his dust to create a spell - a spell which would remind Thumbelina of the last memory they shared together. Cornelius hoped this might delay the wedding until he was able to get there.

It would work much better than he thought as he would come to find out later.

But for now, as he tumbled into the rocky tunnel of the 'chapel' Cornelius was more focused on saving Thumbelina from marrying anyone but him. He lamented not ever telling her that he wasn't so easy to kill as a fairy.

He breathed deeply as the wind was knocked out of him but gasped as he saw his beloved girl being chased by a hoard of creatures. "Thumbelina..." He scowled at hearing a toad shout, "She marry me!"

"That's the toad we've been telling you about!"

Is that so?, Cornelius thought as he jumped down to block its path. He took pleasure in the toad's shocked face as he pulled out his sword. "We meet at last, Mr. Toad."

"Fairy prince? No!" The toad shouted. He pulled a beetle next to him by his throat. "You killed him." He punched at the beetle's head and growled. he grabbed the mole's torch as a weapon.

Thumbelina was too focused on running to notice she wasn't being chased or that the voice of her 'late' almost-fiancé was coming from the same direction. So focused was she that she ran into some hanging cobweb and frustrated she pulled at the cobweb to create a path. Light up ahead caught her attention and she smiled when she realized it was natural. "Oh..." she moaned. "The sun. The sun is shining again."

Next door a battle waged on between her fairy prince and the toad as they each parried and launched with their respective weapon at each other. "Ha!" went Cornelius as he poked the toad's butt.

"Aah!"

"Ha ha. Come on. Show me what you got." Cornelius mocked, but as it was only a few days ago that he recovered from his 'death' he was a little slow to react to the torch coming toward his head. He fell as the room rotated and the toad multiplied into three.

The toad laughed as he threw away the prince's sword and batted away the Jitterbugs.

Not giving up, the prince grabbed at the toad's ankle, unbalancing the amphibian. Cornelius had a hard time trying to stop the toad from hanging onto him. The rest of the wedding party hurried past at the first opportunity. "Let me go!"

A scream came from the next room.

"Thumbelina!"

The distraction gave the toad the opportunity to grab the prince's head. They both fell down over the ledge. "Aah!"

Thumbelina ran at the sight of the horde catching up to her. She scurried to run up the hill of jewels and gold and toward the light, not wanting and not able to find an actual door out of the place. She panted from the exercise of running, climbing, and lifting the dreadful dress up.

"Thumbelina, come back!" Mr. Mole begged.

Thumbelina grimaced and shivered at hearing that. Using a nearby key she moved it to cause an avalanche of jewels and gold, which thankfully cleared the path for her. She bit her lip when her mouth pulled involuntarily into a smile and looked back to see the result. She let her smile show when the wedding party ran in the opposite direction they were headed in. Among them, unnoticed was two of the Jitterbugs who flew back quickly to Prince Cornelius to update him on the situation.

Settling next to Gnatty who they left behind to watch, they listened as he caught them up to the action. Apparently, the fall from the ledge proved to be an advantage for the fairy, the only one of the two with the ability to fly. On the way down, Cornelius had managed to kick the toad away from his person, which resulted in the toad getting a mighty fracture in his leg when he tried to stop his fall. Toads weren't very good at catching themselves it seemed. With the new impairment the toad wasn't so quick to leap back into the battle with as much vigor as he would've, and now without his torch, he was unable to block himself successfully from the sword Cornelius recovered. He got a nice long slash when he blocked it.

Lunging at the prince resulted in a black eye to complete the look.

"Prince Cornelius! Thumbelina is leaving the tunnel!" Li'l Bee told him, feeling that the fight was essentially over.

"What? She's leaving?" Cornelius responded. He quickly hit the blunt end of his sword on the growling toad's head, effectively knocking him out. "Show me where she went."

"O.K. Follow me!" Li'l Bee gestured with his arm in the general direction.

Grundel was unable to follow with his broke leg.

~0~

Thumbelina did not stay too long in the tunnel. She was quick to rip off the collar of the dress to scurry up the little hole above her. She didn't even care when the rock walls ripped her dress apart. She just focused on reaching the outside air to feel the warm rays of the sun heat up her skin, to feel the wind comb through her hair, to smell the natural scent that all forests emitted. She was desperate to see light cascade upon her unforgiving. "Oh. The sun!" She basked at her acquired freedom.

Noise and a shadow coming from behind her had her turning. "Follow your heart..." finished the new comer.

"Jacquimo, it's you!" Thumbelina gasped.

Jacquimo laughed. "Of course! C'est moi. Oh, Thumbelina. I found it. I have found it. I find the Vale of the Fairies!" Jacquimo informed her, ecstatic.

"Oh, Jacquimo..." Thumbelina shook her head at the news. It was too late now.

"No, no, listen. It is true." Jacquimo explained, misinterpreting her reluctance to mean that she didn't believe him. "I talked to the rabbit, who talked to the fox, who talked to the deer, who know for sure. You see-uh, no, I show you. Jump on."

"No, no, Jacquimo!" Thumbelina cried in surprise as Jacquimo picked her up and deposited her on his back. They flew off as Jacquimo began to hum.

~0~

Cornelius and the three Jitterbugs made it out of the same hole Thumbelina went through seconds after Jacquimo took off. As it was, all they saw from their location was a small dot in the distance with a stream of orange hair flying behind it.

"It's Jacquimo!" Gnatty pointed out happily, somehow able to tell who it was.

"Jacquimo? Who is that?" Cornelius asked, wondering how many people actually met Thumbelina during her little adventure.

"oh, don't you worry fairy prince! Jacquimo is Thumbelina's friend." Baby Bug replied as they took off in their direction. "They're probably heading to the Vale of the Fairies right now! He's the one that helped Thumbelina escape from the toads."

Cornelius relaxed a little at that. At least it wasn't another potential kidnapper. His poor Thumbelina already had had one too many as it was. But at the thought of how close he was to Thumbelina he grinned in anticipation. He would finally be reunited with his love.

He only wished that Buzzby was around to fly him there. Animals were known to go faster when it came to long distance.

~0~

"La la-la-la-la la la-la... We go find us a fairy prince." Jacquimo claimed.

"Oh, that's impossible." Thumbelina sighed, not caring that her hair was unraveling with the breeze. She didn't like it anyway.

"Ho ho. You are wrong." He informed her happily.

Riding along for a few more minutes, Thumbelina giggled at what she escaped from. "Jacquimo, I nearly made the biggest mistake of my life. ("La la-la-la-la la la-la") I nearly said yes to the mole." She told him as she stopped his hat from flying away.

"There's the mountain that looks like a turtle." he said out loud.

"But, well, I don't love the mole." She giggled with relief at being able to say it out loud without any pesky field-mouse around to put ideas of love being fake into her head.

Jacquimo paid her no mind as he dove to a nearby valley and landed on an outstretched limb. Thumbelina bounced on his back. "Ah. We are here. We are here." He put a hand to his mouth, barely noticing as Thumbelina slid from his back. "Hello, hello, hello! Fairies!" His voice echoed off the mountain walls. He looked upside down at Thumbelina. "This is it."

"This?" Thumbelina asked doubtfully from under the hat. "It just looks like a patch of ordinary weeds."

Jacquimo let her doubt bounce right off him. And knowing about how skittish the fairies can be when a stranger is close to their home, Jacquimo came up with the perfect plan to lure them out. "Sing, Thumbelina, sing!" Perhaps the fairies, who were known for their curiosity would come out from their hiding place.

Thumbelina was not so positive. "Oh, Jacquimo, please, can you take me home?"

Growing slightly annoyed with her, he demanded again, "Oh, sing!"

Thumbelina sighed giving in.

"You will be my wings
You will be my only love
You will take me far beyond the stars...

Jacquimo grinned as an icicle shattered next to him.

"Jacquimo, this is silly. This is a weed patch."

Truly annoyed now, Jacquimo insisted, "This is the Vale of the Fairies." He angrily stomped his foot and put on his hat.

"Take me home. Please." Thumbelina begged.

Unwilling to comply, Jacquimo sang, "Let me be your wings. Like that. Sing-like that."

"You will lift me high above...

"Oh, ho! Magnifique." Jacquimo laughed as ice shattered to reveal the beginning of buds protruding from plants.

"Everything we're dreaming of will soon be ours..."

"Ho, ho! Incroyable." Jacquimo waved his hat in triumph.

"Everything that we desire
Anything at all
Everyday you'll take me higher...

Thumbelina sighed at the impossibility of this statement. "Let's be practical. This isn't the Vale of the Fairies, and Cornelius is never coming back."

"...And I'll never let you fall." finished a familiar male voice behind her.

Thumbelina turned shocked to see a picture of beauty. Strong, healthy, and very much alive her dear prince stood surrounded by falling ice and the Jitterbugs with the suns' rays illuminating his person. She felt her eyes fill with tears. "You. It's you. Cornelius, you're alive!" Thumbelina barely held in the urge to laugh loudly in relief and happiness.

Cornelius didn't hold back his urge to run for her.

He barely stopped himself from slamming into her. They didn't hold back as they embraced each other passionately almost as if they feared that letting each other go now meant that the other would be lost forever. Their lips met in a passionate kiss.

Jacquimo flew to block the kids view, to which they protested vehemently.

"Oh, Cornelius..." Thumbelina sighed into the kiss. Cornelius turned his head and bit at her lip. "Cornelius, I thought I would never see you again." She clutched tighter at his shoulders.

"Thumbelina..." Cornelius mumbled, giving her a big smooch. "I never want to leave you again." He pulled back from their kiss to lift her into the air. "Thumbelina, will you marry me?" He smiled at her.

She smiled softly. "I will," she whispered as he brought her down to his lips. She giggled around his lips and he smiled.

They pulled apart when they heard cheers coming from their audience. They grinned as the Jitterbugs plowed into them.

"Gnatty! Li'l Bee! Baby Bug! It's so great to see you again!"

"Are you going to invite us to your wedding, Thumbelina?" Gnatty asked.

"Of course I am! You are my friends!" Thumbelina informed them, grabbing them into a big bear hug. Cornelius looked on happily, briefly imagining the day they would have a little one of their own.

Jacquimo flew over, and unable to hold his excitement, shook the fairy prince's hand enthusiastically. "Congratulations, mon amie! You have found each other! Oh, I just love weddings. " Cornelius had a hard time keeping his footing but when Jacquimo let him go abruptly, he laughed in merriment.

"Thank you, uh, sir...?" Prince Cornelius left open, having forgotten what the Jitterbugs had called the swallow in his hurry to get to Thumbelina before something else happened to her.

Overhearing his question, Thumbelina hurried over. "Oh, Cornelius, this is Jacquimo he's the one who helped me escape from the toads. Jacquimo, this is Prince Cornelius." She gestured to each as she spoke.

Taking off his hat and pressing it to his chest, Jacquimo bowed. "Yes, c'est moi! Oh, the fairy prince! We have looked for you everywhere!" He smiled widely.

Cornelius bowed back in turn. "Oh yeah? Well, you've found me now and I am not letting her go for anything." Cornelius said cheekily, wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her close. Thumbelina giggled. "Thank you, Jacquimo, for saving her. I don't know what would have happened if you were not there."

Jacquimo flapped his wings and placed his hat back. "Oh, ho! Think nothing of it, fairy prince! I would never ignore a cry for help."

Any further conversation was interrupted as the children could no longer hold in their excitement. "Thumbelina! Thumbelina! Did you see? Did you see?" Gnatty cried.

Baby bug vigorously nodded his head. "Yeah, the toad is never gonna bother you again!"

"Nope! The prince sure got him good!" Li'l Bee praised.

"Oh..." Thumbelina giggled and looked at her love amused. She put a had to her lips

Cornelius blushed slightly and gestured for them to settle down. "Oh, no. Please, call me Cornelius."

Ignoring his efforts to shush them, the children began the tale of how after the beetle took her they returned to their home only for the prince ("Cornelius") to show up asking for her and how he bravely went into the storm to look for her and how they went looking for her after only to see the beetle and the toad talking over Cornelius's body - It was trapped in ice, Thumbelina! - ("I'll explain that later."). Then how they had to start a fire but all the wood was wet so they went back home and how their parents helped move the prince ("Cornelius!") to a safe place so they could wake him up. But then he didn't wake up 'cause he was sick and he had a fever! ("Oh, Cornelius, are you okay?" "Yes") And when you were running away from the toad today he went down there and fought him ("You were there? Oh, no, I didn't see you!"). The toad didn't know what was coming for him. He's probably still down there now!

Thumbelina pressed her hands to her cheeks. "Oh, my. Well, you were all very brave. Thank you for helping us along the way."

"You're welcome, Thumbelina." They cried simultaneously. Cornelius chuckled.

"Well, little ones. Why don't we leave the tourtereaux to themselves for now?" The Jitterbugs let out sounds of disappointment at that. "No, no. None of that, now." Jacquimo wiggled his fingers at them. "Come with me. I will show you a mountain that looks like a turtle." He gestured to his back to which the children climbed on reluctantly. "Your parents are probably worried about you."

"Goodbye, Thumbelina!"

"Goodbye!"

"See you later, Thumbelina!"

"Goodbye, my friends!" Thumbelina shouted happily as she waved at the retreating swallow and his entourage. She bounced on the balls of her feet and squealed when she was roughly turned and pulled into a masculine chest. "Why don't we get out here? Huh?" whispered his voice into her ear before he dropped a kiss to her shoulder. Thumbelina laughed breathily. "Ok..."

Pulling back, Cornelius grinned and took to the air with his beloved finally back in his arms.

Clutching at his shoulders, Thumbelina looked around at the passing scenery, amazed at the melting snow and the green that peaked through the white landscape. Only now that she was back with her prince did she truly enjoy the view presented to her. Sure she had felt safe with Jacquimo early but she was still wrapped up with finding her way home to truly take a look around and just bask in all that nature had to offer. She breathed deeply, her smile never leaving her face, as they flew into a small cavern in the side of the mountain.

Reluctant to let her go once they touched ground, Cornelius kept his arms around Thumbelina and pulled her into another kiss as they sank to the ground. They kissed passionately for the next few minutes as they expressed their relief at finding the other and their happiness for their new found engagement. They pulled apart only when the need for oxygen demanded they do so.

"The next time I have to leave, I want you to come with me." Cornelius informed her as they puffed for breathe.

Thumbelina tilted her head at him, relaxing her arms around his neck."Oh? And what would your mother say about that?" She smirked lightly.

Cornelius scoffed. "Mother? Probably lecture me about getting distracted from my duties." He leaned his forehead on hers. "I don't care about that. I'm not leaving you alone anymore." He rubbed his hand down her arms. "I didn't know what to think when I found your room ransacked and you nowhere around."

Thumbelina held back some tears. "Oh, Cornelius, I was so scared. I woke up to some toads wanting me in their show and Mrs. Toad telling me I had to marry her son! And I don't know how to swim so I couldn't escape! But Jacquimo was there to save me. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't." Thumbelina took a shuddering breath. "And eventually finally myself in the hands on Ms. Fieldmouse who told me you were dead-" She hugged him tightly. "Oh, Cornelius, I'm so glad you're alive!"

He dropped a kiss on her lips. "I'm sorry, Thumbelina. I never did tell you much about fairies." He proceeded to inform her of just how he was able to survive being frozen, as their bodies worked differently from humans, and Thumbelina listened closely in amazement. "This was my fault. If I had told you sooner maybe you wouldn't have almost married the mole." He frowned as he rubbed her cheek.

Thumbelina shook her head. "I couldn't marry the mole. I didn't love him." She held the hand on her cheek.

Cornelius smiled and gave her a butterfly kiss as he said huskily, "I love you."

She blushed. "I love you too, Cornelius." They kissed some more.

Sometime later, they found themselves contently gazing at the slowly departing sun as they leaned against each other and played with the other's hand. Cornelius sighed happily as he laid his head on top of Thumbelina's. She hummed in response. And suddenly remembering something he learned from his travel to the south, Cornelius tilted her head to look into her eyes. "Hey, do you-do you still wish to have your own wings?"

Thumbelina frowned puzzled. "What-Why, yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

"If I were to tell you that you could, would you accept?"

Thumbelina's face showed surprise. "But-But that's impossible."

Cornelius smirked. "Not so impossible. See, I didn't know how to do it but when I went to the south I took lessons in how to turn others into fairies." Cornelius' smirk turned into a wide smile at her shocked face. "I can give you wings, Thumbelina."

"Wings..." she breathed out. "Really?" she whispered hopeful.

He hummed in response. "Is that a yes?" He tightened his hold on her.

She threw her arms around his neck in excitement. "Yes! Yes, Cornelius. Of course." She kissed his face all over earning a chuckle from him. She pulled away abruptly. "What do you have to do?"

He leaned into her face, "I'll show you," and promptly placed an open mouthed kiss on her lips. Thumbelina's eyes widened when she felt his tongue enter her mouth but shut her eyes seconds later, kissing him back. Her eyes opened again when she felt warmth shoot through her body unexpectedly. She tried to pull back instinctively but Cornelius tightened his hold and rubbed his hands up and down her body soothingly, though his motions had another purpose which was for him to feel if stubs sprang up on her back. When they did, Thumbelina moaned in pain. She scrunched her eyes tightly and leaned heavily upon her fiancé, who pulled back now that he did all he had to do. Apparently the process dictated that the one performing the spell have a pure desire for the non-fairy to become one, and for the non-fairy to want to be one in turn. Once the desire was innate, for the spell to take place the non-fairy had to ingest some fairy dust into their body. Of course, this could have been done by simply mixing fairy dust with a drink but Cornelius just had to put his own twist to the spell.

Looking on as Thumbelina sprung two beautiful fairy wings of her own on her back, Cornelius mentally praised himself on a job well done. But he shifted his attention to his girl as she breathed deeply through the diminishing pain. "Are you okay, Thumbelina?"

Thumbelina hummed. "Yes." she responded once the pain went away completely. When she felt Cornelius rubbing at the base of said wings, she pulled away and looked back. "Wings." she gasped. "I have wings. My very own wings!" She exclaimed happily. She jumped slightly as they flapped.

Cornelius chuckled at that. "I'll teach you how to control that later." He turned her face back to his by her chin. "Are you happy?"

"Oh, Cornelius, you have no idea. Thank you!" She hugged him fiercely.

~0~

There was much rejoicing in the Vale of the Fairies, for not only the return of their prince, but for the news of their future princess having been found. With spring roaring upon the land, out of every flower came a lady and a gentleman and each one wanted to personally meet the dame who so captivated the heart of the wayward prince. (7) Even the King and Queen managed to get their heart stolen by the sweet and beautiful girl presented to them.

As was a certain human when she was presented with both her lost daughter and her newfound beau. Thumbelina's mother had never shed as much happy tears as she did the day her daughter flew - flew! - right into her kitchen crying for her. She was so happy at seeing her daughter alive and well in front of her that she barely noticed the wings she sported or the male that followed her until Hero came running in, barking happily at the couple. Having not been aware of her daughter's late night meetings with the fairy prince, the old woman was pleasantly surprised at both the existence of fairies and the announcement of their impending marriage. She had to sit down in a nearby chair as they recounted the story of how that had come to pass. After she had thoroughly scolded Thumbelina for her secret trysts, to which Cornelius and her apologized profusely for their silence, she had given them her blessing.

She was an active participant in their wedding when it came to pass in her garden at the end of spring. She happily tore up some of her blossoms to throw petals onto the runway as her daughter and her new husband walked back down the aisle.

"Hello, mother!"

She waved at her daughter happily. My, did her daughter look beautiful.

Anything that you desire
Anything at all

Thumbelina giggled as she waved back. Cornelius bowed at his new mother-in-law before holding out his hand to Thumbelina. Bowing his head to a few guests nearby, he began to glide with his wife down to where a carriage awaited them.

Every day I'll take you higher
And I'll never let you fall...

Not that Cornelius planned on using the royal carriage. He whistled to call for his most trusted steed. He could almost feel his parents' cringe as Buzzby picked them up right before they reach the carriage. He waved back at them happily.

His parents let it go just the once.

The Jitterbugs gave each other a high five at that. They were the ones tasked with making sure Buzzby was nearby.

Thumbelina turned back before they got too far away and tossed her bouquet to no one in particular. It was just pure coincidence that Jacquimo flew right in its direction to wave goodbye at them with his hat. "Au revoir!" The bouquet fell right onto his head and into his hat. "Oh! Ha ha..." He picked it up with amused triumph.

The couple smiled widely at that. He deserved to get a happy ending. Waving goodbye at him, Thumbelina turned when she felt Cornelius' arms around her waist. They gave each other their second kiss of the night.

And always follow your heart...

~0~

"And, of course... they lived happily ever after."

The End

~0~

A/N: Some passages were inspired by or are direct copies of the actual text written by Hans Christian Andersen's "Thumbelina." (I do not claim ownership of these.) They are as follows:

(1) "Now, being pleased with Thumbelina, she said: "If you like, you can stay with me the whole winter, but you must keep my room clean and neat, and tell me tales, for I am very fond of them." And Thumbelina did what the good old field-mouse wished, and in return was treated uncommonly well."

(2) "Thumbelina had to sing, and she sang: "Cockchafer, cockchafer, fly away," and "When the parson goes afield." So the mole fell in love with her because of her beautiful voice: but he said nothing, for he was a prudent man."

(3) "But at night Thumbelina could get no sleep; so she got up from her bed and wove a fine large carpet of hay, which she carried along, and spread out over the dead bird. She also laid the tender stamina of flowers, which were soft as cotton, and which she had found in the field-mouse's room, around the bird, so that he might lie warm."

(4) [Exact excerpt from the text]

(5) "Thumbelina had to turn the spindle, and the field-mouse hired four spiders to weave for her day and night. Every evening the mole used to visit them, and was always saying that at the end of the summer the sun would not shine so warm by a long way, that it was burning the earth as hard as stone. Yes, when the summer was over he would celebrate his marriage with Thumbelina. But the latter was not at all pleased, for she could not bear the tiresome mole."

(6) "'Fiddlesticks! said the field-mouse; "Don't be obstinate, or I will bite you with my white teeth. He is a fine man whom you are going to marry. The Queen herself has not such black velvety fur. He has a full kitchen and cellar. Be thankful for it!'"

(7) "And out of every flower came a lady and a gentleman, so dainty that they were a pleasure to behold...There was much rejoicing, and the little swallow sat up in his nest, and was to sing the bridal song; this he did as well as he could, although in his heart he was sad, for he was so fond of Thumbelina, and would have liked never to separate himself from her."