Spinner is a storytelling fairy who likes to tell tall tales. He once told the story of Thumbelina. Was it fact or fiction? You never can tell with Spinner. But I like to think it is fact. Anyways, here is the story of Thumbelina!
In Pixie Hollow, a large dandelion fluff that was giggling floated in. A few fast-flying fairies spotted it and brought it to the Pixie Dust Tree.
"Queen Clarion, a new fairy!" one of the fast-flying fairies said.
Queen Clarion flew out of her chambers. "Wonderful, we haven't had a new arrival in a while," she said.
The queen called all the fairies to the tree. Most came. Then, a dust-keeper fairy poured pixie dust on the fluff. A fairy's head rose up. "Hello?" she said.
"Hello," the other fairies all said.
"Born of laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here," Queen Clarion said, the customary greeting to new arrivals. "Now, let's see about those wings." Queen Clarion walked over to the back of the new fairy. She gasped. "It appears that you don't have wings," she said after a moment's hesitation.
"Am I still a fairy?" asked the new arrival.
"We will decide that when you find a talent," Queen Clarion said simply.
Mushrooms popped up, and a fairy from each talent put their symbol on it.
"What are those?" the new fairy asked.
"They will help you find your talent," the queen replied.
The new fairy tried to get to them, but she didn't know how to stand. Queen Clarion, realizing the situation, stretched her hand down to the fairy's level. The fairy took the queen's hand. She stood up.
The fairy went to a hammer first. She touched it, but it went dim and fell to the mushroom. The fairy looked up in alarm. First no wings, and now this.
But Queen Clarion motioned to the other mushrooms. Gaining confidence, the new fairy walked over to a snowflake. The fairy touched it, but it crumbled.
The fairy touched a few other symbols that crumbled before she touched an egg. It didn't fall, but instead glowed dimly.
The fairies whispered amongst themselves. "The egg barely glowed," an animal fairy whispered.
"Maybe it is because she has no wings," another whispered back.
"Is she incomplete?" whispered a scribe fairy.
Queen Clarion, unfazed by the whispering, had heard Never Land speak to her. It always spoke to her after a new fairy had found his or her talent. It told her the fairy's name.
"You are an animal fairy, Maya," said the queen.
The fairy smiled. "I am Maya?"
The queen nodded.
"Go with your talent," Queen Clarion said.
Maya walked to the other animal fairies. They were kind to her.
"If you don't have wings, it is alright," one animal fairy said. "You don't really have to have wings to be an animal fairy."
"Thank you," said Maya.
"If animals don't take to you as quickly, don't feel bad," another animal fairy said. "The egg glowed dimly for you, so you aren't as talented."
"Thank you," Maya said again.
The fairies were kind to Maya. They helped her very much. Maya was always afraid of the big animals like chipmunks, mice, and birds, but she got along with the bugs very well. The fairies said it was because Maya walked on the ground with the bugs.
Maya always was barefoot. She loved the dirt under her toes and walking under flowers.
Maya's dream was to go to the mainland. The fairies said it was too dangerous for a wingless fairy. But one season, one of Maya's bug friends offered to take her. It was a big beetle.
"Maya, I know you want to go to the mainland," the beetle said. Maya couldn't understand the beetle perfectly, because she was less talented, but she got it pretty well. "I could take you on my back," the beetle continued.
"Yes, yes!" Maya said.
Maya went to Queen Clarion. "Could I go to the mainland on a beetle's back?" asked the wingless fairy. "I won't be any trouble."
"You have worked long and hard to make up for your absence of wings and your dim talent," Queen Clarion replied. "This one time, you can come."
"Thank you so much," Maya said. She jumped up and down. Fairies normally show excitement by flying cartwheels, but since Maya had no wings, she jumped instead.
The beetle and the fairy practiced flying together. For the first time, Maya felt the feeling of flight. Each time they got better and better. Soon it was time to go.
The fairies flew to the mainland. Maya had never been so high. She knew if she fell into the ocean she would drown, so she held on to the beetle for dear life.
Soon, they arrived. They made camp and had a good rest.
One day, Maya was exploring. She wandered too far from home. She was tired and fell asleep in a little flower.
A person came along, a grown-up woman. She picked the flower and brought it home. When she discovered the fairy inside, she decided to keep her. The flower was hers, the woman reasoned, so the fairy was hers too.
The woman thought she was being kind to Maya. She sewed her a dress made of silk scraps and glass beads for buttons. She gave Maya a new name, Thumbelina. She made a bed out of a walnut shell for her. Inside the shell, a piece of wool served as a pillow.
But Maya was unhappy. She longed to be free again and go home. She missed the other fairies. She wished she could go home.
One day, she met a toad. Maya was normally afraid of toads, but she said to the toad, "Can you help me get home?"
"What is this?" the toad asked. "A tiny little person who can talk!"
"I'm not a person," Maya said. "I'm a fairy."
"You have no wings," said the toad.
"I know," Maya said. "But I am lost and far from home. Will you help me?"
"I will help you," the toad said.
They made plans to escape from the woman. When the woman went to bed that night, the toad let the fairy hop on. They got out of the house and ran through the dark garden. The toad's back was slippery and Maya's heart pounded in her chest. She was afraid the woman would wake up and find her gone.
When they reached a stream, the toad set Maya on a lilypad. Three golden fish nudged her into the current. As the sun rose, Maya watched butterflies fly overhead.
When the lilypad got stuck on a rock, Maya begged a flying beetle for help. He carried her to shore.
A storm hit, and Maya took shelter in a mouse's hole. Later, she befriended a sparrow. With each new animal that helped her, she gained confidence in her talent. She knew she was not very talented, but she was not afraid to talk to larger animals anymore.
One day, Maya soared on her sparrow friend's back. She looked down and saw a patch of flowers. Fairies darted in and out of them. Maya grinned. She was home!
The sparrow set her down by the other fairies. An animal fairy recognized her. "Maya?" she asked. "When you didn't come back from your adventure, we thought you had perished. But now here you are!"
"I had help from friends," Maya said. And she told the whole story.
Later, she was asked to tell it again to some storytelling fairies. They heard it, and Maya's tale was told and retold to all the new fairies that were born. Maya became a legend, the fairy with no wings. The less talented fairies who heard it were inspired, and Maya's story made them believe that they could be good at their talent, too.
And what became of Maya? Well, she stayed in Pixie Hollow for a while. But her daring escape had made her long for more adventures, more animals to meet. So one fine day, she put her silk scrap dress on and flew to the mainland on her sparrow friend's back. After that, no one knew what became of Maya. Some say she was taken by another human. Some say she perished. But some say she still lives, traveling the world with the help of her animal friends. So if you ever glimpse a tiny girl riding on a mouse, or see a wingless fairy on a bird, you may just have seen Maya.