Chapter 15: Happy Ending
Poppy and Thumbelina broke out of their hug to see a shadow of a familiar swallow and hear the sound of his singing voice.
And always follow your heart.
"Jacquimo, it's you," said Thumbelina, relieved to see him again.
"Of course, c'est moi. Thumbelina, Poppy, I have found it. I have found the Vale of the Fairies!"
"Oh, Jacquimo."
"Here we go again," Poppy grumbled as if the swallow was speaking nonsense.
"Oh, no worries. It is true," Jacquimo insisted, "I talked to the rabbit, who talked to the fox, who talked to the deer, who know for sure, you see. I show you." He scooped them up and placed them on his back.
"No, no, Jacquimo!" Poppy and Thumbelina protested.
"Jump on! Hang on!" With that, he took off flying with the girls on his back, singing a jovial tune as he flew through the clouds, mountains, valleys and hills.
In the process, the ribbons from Thumbelina's and Poppy's hair were blown away from the crazy bird flying.
"We go find the fairy prince," Jacquimo announced.
"That's impossible," Thumbelina replied dismissively.
"We made it clear," Poppy agreed.
The bird chuckled. "You are wrong."
"Jacquimo, I nearly made the biggest mistake of my life," said Thumbelina as his hat blew into her face, which she caught, "I nearly said yes to the mole."
"That mountain looks like a turtle," Jacquimo said, not quite paying attention to a word she was saying.
"But I don't love the mole."
"Not to mention, my mother sold her to him and controlled me most of my life, not letting me go outside, not even when I get my chores done," complained Poppy, "She even forced suitors on me, which I rejected since they only liked me for my looks. So, today, I finally stood up to her and helped Thumbelina deny every man who saw her as a trophy."
Jacquimo flew past the trees as the girls explained their misfortunes. Upon hearing about Poppy's controlling mother, he gasped in shock.
"Ah, we are here." When they reached their destination, the bird perched on a tree branch filled with icicles, where the Vale of the Fairies was below them.
"Hello, hello, hello!" he called, unaware that the girls slid off his back. "Fairies!" The word "fairies" echoed through the Glenn. He looked below the branch he was standing on to see the girls safe on the jiggling branch. "This is it."
"This?" Thumbelina scoffed with disgust. "It just looks like a patch of ordinary weeds."
"Yeah, I think they're snug in their homes, unable to take this kind of weather," Poppy told Jacquimo.
"Sing, Thumbelina, sing," Jacquimo urged as he pulled the girls to the branch he landed on earlier.
Thumbelina scoffed again as she offered him his hat. "Jacquimo, please, can you take me home? And I want to bring Poppy with me, so she doesn't have to live with her terrible mother again."
"I'm sorry, Jacquimo, but I'm with Thumbelina on this," Poppy told the bird, "We've been through enough as it is."
Jacquimo groaned, fed up with their stubbornness and to Thumbelina, he said, exasperated, "Sing!"
Thumbelina let out an aggravated sigh as she crossed her arms and started to begrudgingly sing for the swallow that was nagging her to do so.
You will be my wings.
You will be my only love.
You will take me far beyond the stars.
And thanks to her voice, an icicle broke from one of the branches, much to the bird's pleasure.
"Jacquimo, this is silly," Thumbelina complained, "This is a weed patch."
"This is the Vale of the Fairies!" Jacquimo retorted with a pout.
"Take us home, please."
"Just listen to us, Jacquimo," Poppy demanded. "We're leaving!"
The girls were about to walk away, but Jacquimo sang, not paying them any mind:
Let me be your wings!
"Like that," he said, "Sing, like that."
Thumbelina did as he was told.
You will lift me high above.
Jacquimo smiled with a dreamy look on his face and chuckled. Even Poppy shed tears of joy at the sound of her best friend's beautiful voice.
Thumbelina sang with more passion.
Everything we're dreaming of
Will soon be ours!
As she passionately sang, the flowers below them began to bloom.
Jacquimo laughed joyously. "Incroyable!"
Anything that we desire,
Anything at all.
Everyday you'll take me higher…
Thumbelina stopped singing, fed up with Jacquimo's "nonsense" because not listening to her or Poppy was the last straw for her. "Let's be practical. This isn't the Vale of the Fairies and Cornelius is NEVER coming back!" she snapped.
"What we've been trying to tell you this whole time!" Poppy raged, just as annoyed as Thumbelina.
And I'll never let you fall!
A familiar voice emerged, snapping them out of it. However, they hoped it wasn't another one of the hallucinations they experienced at the "wedding" earlier.
Hearing the singing voice, they looked to see that Cornelius was with the bug children and behind him, the icicles broke from his singing.
"You. It's you. Cornelius, you're alive!" Thumbelina beamed.
"Cornelius in person!" Poppy squealed with delight.
Cornelius put away his sword and slid down the tree branch and swept Thumbelina off her feet. "Thumbelina, will you marry me?"
"I will," Thumbelina replied as the two kissed passionately. Soon after the kiss, Thumbelina grew a pair of wings and her torn "wedding dress" was changed to a cream top with a gold skirt, making her gasp in delight. "Wings. I have wings. My very own wings!"
"Oh, my gosh, you have wings!" Poppy shouted with pride as her cheeks turned red.
Seeing Cornelius and Thumbelina being happily reunited, fairies down below clapped, more flowers bloomed, some fairies woke up from what seemed like a long winter's nap, and two fairies yanked on flowers, as if ringing wedding bells for the couple.
With her magic, Thumbelina changed Poppy's dress to a light blue short-sleeved dress.
Poppy curtsied to her as a thank you.
Seeing that the fairy prince and the tiny human girl-now fairy princess are back together, Poppy said to Thumbelina as she took off flying with her fiancé, "Good luck, Thumbelina."
Jacquimo, seeing Poppy lower her head since her friend left, wrapped her around with his wing. "Poppy, would you like to come live with me?" he asked.
Poppy, not having anywhere else to go, but refusing to go back to her abusive mother, nodded. She'd had enough of being underground and longed to find a home, where she could see a patch of sun and be outside. "Yes," she answered, smiling at him.
…
At the farm, Poppy stared in awe as Thumbelina and Cornelius emerged under the rainbow with various fairies above and below. A few fairies trumpeted, congratulating the couple on their wedding day. What awaited them was a coachman fairy in purple and a purple butterfly as a "horse".
Thumbelina wore a white wedding gown with long sleeves, a huge crown with a gold band, and a white vail to go with her crown. She carried a blue bouquet of flowers with the jitterbug children holding her vail.
Cornelius wore a gold crown, white tuxedo with a red cape and a black belt with a golden buckle, blue pants, and yellow green shoes.
The fairy king and queen watched in praise to see their son marry the tiny human girl, who now became a fairy.
Anything that you desire…
"Hello, Mother!" Thumbelina called as she waved to her mother.
Thumbelina's mother was a giant lady, who was throwing blue flower petals, celebrating her tiny daughter's wedding and waved back. The woman wore a pink sun hat with golden flowers and a baby blue bonnet, which was tied around her neck, cream puffy sleeves, blue long-sleeves, pink bodice, and a yellow skirt. She chuckled. Beside her was, Hero, the dog, with a golden flower necklace.
Anything at all.
Every day, I'll take you higher
And I'll never let you fall.
Thumbelina giggled back. She then placed her palm on top of Cornelius' hand and he held her hand as the two glided through the rainbow aisle. After a bit of walking, Cornelius whistled and a huge bumblebee emerged from a flower patch and flew over to the married fairies and took off with them, leaving Cornelius' parents shocked. That was until Cornelius waved at them, with them happily waving back.
"The baby bee is back!" Poppy beamed. "He's just so cute!"
Gnatty gave Lil' Bee a high-five with Baby Bug watching the couple with a love-struck face.
Thumbelina tossed a bouquet.
"A'vore!" Jacquimo called, unaware that the bouquet hit him on the head, but caught it in his hat, laughing. Poppy giggled and waved at Thumbelina and Cornelius as they rode on Buzzbee in the night sky and the couple kissed.
And always follow your heart!
"And of course," Jacquimo said with a chuckle as he concluded the story, "They lived happily ever after. Ah!" With that, he closed the book.
"Oh, Jacquimo, thank you so much for taking me in," Poppy said.
"It was my pleasure, Mademoiselle," replied the swallow and the two hugged.
The End
AN: After a year of working on this fic, this story has now come to a close and this year is the 30th anniversary of Thumbelina. I hope you enjoyed reading it.