Once upon a time, there lived a pretty little girl who was smaller than any girl you have ever seen. Her mother said, “Look, she is no bigger than my thumb! I shall call her Thumbelina!”
One day, an ugly frog saw her and thought, “What a cute little girl! I shall make her my wife!” And as Thumbelina slept, he carried her away to the pond and placed her on a lotus lead.
When she woke up, Thumbelina saw she was alone in the middle of the pond. She began to cry. A little fish took pity on her and decided to save her from the frog. She carefully pulled the leaf to the bank and left Thumbelina there.
Then, a beautiful, big butterfly saw her and said, “Ride on my back. I will take you to a beautiful valley full of flowers.” Thumbelina agreed and was very happy to live there with the butterflies, insects and birds.
One day, Thumbelina found a blue bird who had hurt a wing and had fallen in the valley. The kind girl looked after the bird till he was strong enough to fly again. “Thank you Thumbelina, what a kind girl you are!” said the bird and flew away.
Soon, winter came. All the flowers dried up and the birds went away to warmer places. Poor Thumbelina was all alone. It was so cold that the little girl nearly froze to death and lay shivering on the ground.
Luckily, a kind field mouse saw her and took her to her home. She gave Thumbelina some hot soup and slowly, Thumbelina became strong again.
That whole winter, Thumbelina stayed with the field mouse. Then, one day, the field mouse said, “Thumbelina, you must marry our neighbor, Mr. Mole.”
But Thumbelina did not want to marry Mr. Mole at all! “He may be wise, but he lives in an underground house. If I marry him, I shall never see the sun, the flowers and the birds again!” she thought unhappily.
As Thumbelina sat worrying she suddenly saw her old friend, the blue bird. “Why are you looking so sad?” he asked her, and she told him her problem. “Come with me, I’ll take you far away from here!” he replied.
The blue bird took Thumbelina to a beautiful little kingdom full of little people who were no bigger than a thumb. The warmly welcomed her to their land and she lived there for many years. How happy she was to finally find a home with friendly people who were just like her!