Once upon a time, a simple and kind hearted woman lived carrying one desire in her mind. She had only one simple dream. Her dream was to have a baby girl. Days and months pass by, but her dream did not come true. Her desire to have a little girl grows stronger and stronger. 

One day to make her dream come true, she visited a witch. She expressed her desire to have a baby girl. The witch offered a magic barley grain and asked her to plant it. 

The Birth of Thumbelina 

Although the woman wasn’t happy, she had a hope and planted the magic grain in a flower pot. To her surprise, the very next day, the magic barley grew into a beautiful big flower bud, which appeared like a Tulip! 

Mesmerized by the beauty of the flower, she softly and gently kissed the bud. Since it was a magic flower, it blossomed instantly with her kiss on the bud. The woman was greatly surprised as inside the flower sat a tiny and cute little girl, who looked as small as a thumb. The woman named her Thumbelina!

Thumbelina’s life 

She became the part of the woman’s life. The woman provided Thumbelina everything she needed. She used walnut shell as her bed, petals of violet flower as her mattress and petals of beautiful roses as her blanket. 

Thumbelina played in the petal boat of the tulip and floated on a plate of water.  She used two horse hairs as oars to sail around the lake. She had a beautiful voice. She played, floated, rowed the boat and sailed around by singing and singing and singing beautifully! 

Thumbelina snatched by a cunning frog

After playing for long time, Thumbelina fell asleep in her walnut shell. As she was sleeping, a huge frog looked at sleeping Thumbelina in the shell through the window.  The frog simply gazed at her stunned at her beauty. She thought that Thumbelina would be the right girl for her son and picked her, ran away with her. 

Unfortunately, no one noticed Thumbelina snatched by a frog.  The large frog carried her to the pond where her family lives. She introduced the beautiful Thumbelina to her ugly and fatty son, who was a momma’s boy. Even the ugly son pleased when he saw her. However, both the mom and son frogs were frightened that the beautiful prisoner may escape from them. Rather than let her ran away from their custody, she put Thumbelina in a water lily and put the lily into the middle of the pond. 

Mom and son were happy that Thumbelina won’t be able to escape from there. In the meanwhile they both started preparing for the marriage. 

How Thumbelina escaped from the trap?

The bitter talks of two frogs were heard by two minnows that were playing in the pond. They decided to help Thumbelina escape from the trap. The minnows, with the help of a butterfly pushed the lily. The leaf with lily floated far away from the pond and Thumbelina escaped. 

Thumbelina encountered many problems 

Although Thumbelina escaped from the frogs, she was soon captured by a beetle. However, very soon the beetle freed Thumbelina as she appeared very different. 

The summer approached and Thumbelina wandered in grass lands and across the flowers. She hardly found good food to eat. She ate pollen as her meals and dew as her drink. Soon, the rainy season appeared. It made the places nasty. The little girl struggled too hard to find good shelter. Even though she recovered from the heavy water drops of rainy season, the winter made her struggle even more. The winter was terrible and she could not find food. 

While she was roaming on the meadows, a big spider offered her help to provide food and shelter. The spider took her to a hollow tree and fed her with chestnuts. When the spider called his family to meet his new friend, the beautiful Thumbelina, others discriminated her as she looked different. She cried loudly and left spider’s home. 

Again, she wandered on the cold meadows. She saw a little cottage made of wood and leaves. Thumbelina decided to request help and knocked the door of the little cottage. It was a house of a mouse. The mouse was amazed at the beauty of Thumbelina. She requested him to help her and offer her shelter. The field mouse asked her to stay with him as long as she wishes. 

One day, the field mouse brought a friend, a rich mole. Field mouse asked Thumbelina to sing a song and she sang so beautifully and the mouse and the mole were well impressed by her singing. The field mouse ordered Thumbelina to marry the mole as he was very rich. The mouse was so cruel to her and she decided to run away from him. The mole planned for their marriage in the summer. 

After a few days, she nursed a swallow bird and gave her food every day. They became closer and the swallow bird shared her story. During the onset of spring, the swallow was completely cured and decided to fly away. 

She offered Thumbelina to join her. She made every possible attempt to escape from the mole marrying her. She was thinking and horrified how she going live in a tunnel with mole for the whole life! 

Just before a day of her wedding, the swallow asked her to join and spend a day in the sky! Without a second thought, Thumbelina grabbed the finger of the bird. The bird carried Thumbelina over the hills, meadows, plains, and until they reach the flower country.

The country was full of colorful flowers. The swallow gently placed her on a beautiful flower, where she met the king of flower fairies. The king was impressed by her beauty, asked her to marry him and she instantly said YES! She became the queen of flowers. 

They lived happily ever after!