Boys, Fairies, and Inconvenient Attractions
One autumn reading night the miniature girl was sitting on the bridge of Mother's spectacles and looking raptly at the pictures as Jim finished putting away the supper dishes, only half listening to the story. He was busy thinking about Lina—how happy he always was to see her whenever he returned from a trip he couldn't take her on, the way she twirled across the tabletop, the joyful songs that frequently burst from her lips. How eagerly she would hug his thumb—the only gesture of affection their size difference allowed for—and how he wished he could hug her back.
Jim's thoughts were dispersed by Lina's sudden question "…stories about little people?" The brown-haired boy stopped cleaning up to turn and listen to Mother's reply, curious in spite of himself. "As a matter of fact there are Thumbelina," Mother replied, turning to a different section of the book as she set Thumbelina down onto the page. The girl was beside herself upon seeing the illustration. "They are little! Just like me!" She was practically hopping up and down with excitement, making Jim smile. "But what, what are those?" "Those are wings Thumbelina," Mother said in her soft voice, "these are fairies. They have wings so they can fly." "Mother, have you ever seen a fairy?" "Well, I thought I did, once." "Really?" Thumbelina exclaimed. Jim watched as Mother chuckled and set her spectacles down on the page. "Look, the fairy prince and princess are having a wedding." Lina was intrigued by this idea, and her thoughts immediately went to Jim. Of course she appreciated that he kept her safe, but he was also her dearest friend, and they would spend hours talking with one another. Jim never made her feel unwanted or different; she loved his excitement when he built something, the laughter that accompanied him, the expression on his face when she sang. Unlike other people, Jim never once asked her to sing, just quietly enjoyed her moments of spontaneity. While she often wished she wasn't small—life would be so much easier—it was Jim that really made her want to be big. Was that love?
Trying to hide her sadness—he couldn't possibly feel the same—Lina turned back to the picture of the newlywed fairies, crawling under the spectacles to get a better look. "I suppose," Thumbelina glanced up at her mother, "it works best if two people are, about the same size." Standing a ways away from the table Jim's heart fell, even as he told himself that Lina's words were perfectly reasonable. How could a girl love a boy so much bigger than her? Wait a minute… The old woman replied gently, biting her lip, "Oh, well yes, of course." Thumbelina echoed her, too softly for Jim to hear the grief in her voice that matched his thoughts.
Lina stood in front of the book, using the moonlight to look at the pictures of fairies. As they were all going to sleep, Lina had asked Mother to prop the book up near her walnut shell bed so she could study the beautiful drawings some more. She danced slowly, pretending the fairy prince was twirling with her; but when she leaned in to give him a kiss visions of Jim filled her mind. Frustrated and confused, she tried to push all thoughts of him away.
Thumbelina had been around enough of his friends to recognize that most girls would find Jim very handsome, that he had plenty of opportunities with the local girls. And even if he did care for her, it would never work. She was just too small. He deserved someone he could be with normally. Thumbelina turned back to the picture of the fairy prince, wondering if he was real and trying to convince herself that thoughts of Jim were foolish. So Thumbelina sang as she gazed out at the stars, twirling her blue skirts and dreaming of princes that came in her size.
Suddenly, her attention was caught by a bright light coming from outside the window, which was cracked open slightly. Is it a firefly? Before she could investigate however, the light went out and something came creeping around the window and into the room. "Oh!" Thumbelina gasped as she saw it was a tiny man. "Please, don't be frightened," he said worriedly, "I heard you singing, and I, well…" Still wary, Thumbelina glanced between the book and the little man, eyes widening when she saw the gossamer appendages emerging from his back. "Are, are you a…fairy?" He chuckled slightly, "Well of course I am! But what about you?" He flew towards Thumbelina, making her back away even as her jaw dropped in wonder. "Where are your wings?" "I don't have any." Frowning, the fairy started to speak when Thumbelina exclaimed happily, "I thought I was the only one my size in the whole world!" Belatedly remembering her manners, she walked over and held out her hand. "My name is Thumbelina, how do you do?" She marveled at the fairy man's hands, which were as tiny as her own, as he introduced himself. "And I am Pr-Cornelius, Cornelius, yes."
Overjoyed to meet someone like her, Thumbelina plied Cornelius with questions about his life, the fairy court, and what his world was like. His good looks did not escape her attention, nor the way he stood close to her and brushed her hand, hanging on to her every word. Is this what love is? A loud buzzing sound startled her; Cornelius hurrying to explain that it was his bumblebee, after which he brought her out onto the windowsill to meet it. He proposed going for a spin, and as they soared into the night sky Thumbelina forgot all her thoughts about Jim, completely enraptured by Cornelius and the beautiful world he was showing her. They flew among the flowers, towards the stars, and skimmed the ponds; she sang with joy as they rested on a lily pad, unaware of the toads that watched spellbound and then followed them as the fairy man brought Thumbelina back home; promising to return soon.
Kidnapped!
Meanwhile, Jim had been tossing and turning in his room, unaware of Lina's adventures as he struggled with his feelings. It wasn't until the tiny girl's conversation with Mother earlier that evening that Jim had really realized just how much he cared about her; how—if these fairies actually existed—afraid he was of losing her to one of them. She was so beautiful, surely if a fairy found out about her they would be smitten. After all, he was. Jim let out an aggravated sigh, running a hand through his hair. Why did he have to see her this way? And why couldn't they be the same size? He wouldn't even mind being tiny if it meant—
A sudden crash and the sound of breaking pottery sent Jim leaping out of bed and running towards the kitchen. "Lina! Are you alright?" But there was no reply; and when Jim reached the windowsill where they kept Lina's bed, she was gone. Completely panicked, Jim saw that her bed was missing, the book—Mother must have propped it up for her—had been knocked over, and Thumbelina's flowerpot lay smashed on the floor. He heard Mother coming just as he noticed that the window was open. "Jim! What's going on? Is Thumbelina—" As she surveyed the wreckage, the old woman clapped her hands over her mouth and began to shake; Jim turning to her with a tearstained face. "I have to find her!" and he ran outside without bothering to grab a coat, shouting the tiny girl's name over and over into the night.
When Lina woke to the morning sun she lay in her walnut shell bed as always, so it took her a few seconds to understand that something was wrong. Very wrong. She couldn't see Mother in the kitchen, and there wasn't a kitchen for Mother to be in! She wasn't even inside, she realized as she squinted up at the blue sky. What was going on? Where was she? Okay, last night Mother had left the book with her, she'd met a fairy and gone flying with him, then he'd brought her home and she had (eventually) gone to sleep. That was all she could remember, so how—
Thumbelina screamed as a green and brown face suddenly peered over the edge of her bed and gave a raucous chuckle. "Mama, she's awake!" Toads, Thumbelina realized as she climbed out of her bed and looked around, three—no, four of them.She was on a boat near the edge of a pond covered in lily pads and hemmed by tall rushes; she didn't have a clue how far from home it was. Putting on a brave face, the tiny girl spoke. "Please, I don't know how I got here, I'm lost and I need to get home." The smallest toad, a female, came over and proceeded to explain that she and her sons were singers, and that Thumbelina was going to be a famous singer with them. The girl tried to politely decline, saying how worried her mother would be, but was cornered by the toads as she tried to step off the boat. The female toad insisted this was a golden opportunity for them all, and that Thumbelina was going to marry her oldest son.
Now Thumbelina knew she really needed to get home. She tried to explain that she couldn't marry the toad because of her relationship with Cornelius—but then she thought of Jim and felt utterly confused. It didn't matter though, because the toads weren't listening. "Yes, yes! You will marry my son right now, and then we will all become rich and famous together! You stay here," they set Thumbelina on a solitary lily pad in the middle of the pond, "while we get the priest. We'll be right back to have the wedding." As they sailed away Thumbelina called out, "Wait, wait, I want to go home! And I can't swim!" Tears sliding down her cheeks, she shivered in a sudden gust of wind. Autumn was nearly over, she had to get home soon or she'd freeze. But how? She had no idea where she was. If only Cornelius was here, he could fly her back.
A gurgling sound made Thumbelina lift her head and wipe her eyes. A huge tortoise was swimming nearby and looking at her curiously. Sitting up straighter, Thumbelina asked "Please, can you carry me to shore? I really need to go home." Hardly a minute later, feet on solid ground again, she thanked the tortoise and began walking through the reeds and grasses in search of a clearing or a landmark that she knew.