Biography and plot. Thumbelina - a character of the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen The main characters of the fairy tale Thumbelina Andersen

Like the fairy Thumb Boy, Thumbelina finds her adventures in life among our ordinary world - real people. The tale (like most of Andersen's tales) was invented personally by the author, and not borrowed "from the people." Together with ugly duckling and some other Andersen characters, Thumbelina is an "outsider" character looking for her place in society. Such characters make the author sympathetic.

The fairy tale "Thumbelina" is considered one of Andersen's most popular works and is almost always included in the illustrated collections of his fairy tales. In addition, the tale had its own interpretations in in large numbers movies, cartoons, children's plays, puppet shows, etc.

History of Thumbelina

One day, a woman grew a beautiful flower in her garden. Once, a woman kissed a bud, after which it burst and a tiny beautiful girl appeared in the flower. The woman named her Thumbelina, because the girl was no larger than a human finger and began to patronize her.

The girl was very pretty. This fact was once noticed by a frog. This frog imagined that Thumbelina could get married and be an excellent match for her son. To this end, the frog waits until midnight and steals the girl to take her to his son. The frog's son was fascinated by the girl's beauty. He placed Thumbelina on a water lily leaf so that she could not escape. However, the girl finds help from the fish, who gnaw through the trunk of the lily, and the moth, who liked Thumbelina, harnessed herself to her belt and flew, pulling the leaf along the water. While the moth was pulling the leaf with Thumbelina, the girl was intercepted by the cockchafer and carried her to him. The moth remained tied to the leaf. Thumbelina was very sorry for him - after all, he could not free himself and he was threatened with certain death.

Beetle brought Thumbelina to show his acquaintances and friends. But they did not like the girl, because the beetles had their own ideas about beauty. The beetle left the girl, because he immediately stopped liking her. Poor Thumbelina remained to live in the forest. So she lived all summer. And as autumn came, the girl began to freeze. Fortunately, the frozen Thumbelina was found by a field mouse, who sheltered her in her mink. Then, the mouse decided to marry the girl to her rich neighbor Mole. The mole was very wealthy and, accordingly, stingy. But Thumbelina liked him, and he agreed to think about marriage. The mole showed Thumbelina his underground "palaces" and riches. In one of the galleries, the girl found a dead swallow. However, later it turned out that the swallow was simply very weak. Thumbelina, secretly from the mouse and the mole, began to take care of her. Spring has come. The swallow completely recovered and, thanking Thumbelina, flew out of the galleries of the mole.

At that time, the mole finally decided on the desire to marry. The mouse ordered the girl to sew a dowry for herself. Thumbelina was very sad and hurt, because she really did not want to marry the mole. The wedding day has come. Thumbelina decided to go out into the world for the last time and say goodbye to the sun. At that moment, the same swallow flew over the fields. The swallow takes Thumbelina with her to warm lands, saving her from a stingy and prudent mole.

Thumbelina (frame from Enoki Films cartoon)

And now, Thumbelina is in warm climes. She lives in a flower. She meets the flower elf king, who was as small as Thumbelina. Elf and Thumbelina immediately fell in love with each other and became husband and wife. The king named her Maya, because he thought that the name "Thumbelina" was not beautiful enough for such a pretty girl like her. So Thumbelina Maya became the queen of the elves.

Thumbelina (frame from the cartoon of the same name by Don Bluth)

Screen adaptations and productions

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Thumbelina: Thumbelina is a character from the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen Thumbelina is a 1964 film produced in the USSR? Thumbelina cartoon 1964 produced by the USSR Thumbelina cartoon 1993 produced by the USA Thumbelina film ... ... Wikipedia

Cm … Synonym dictionary

I am rediscovering familiar stories.

Here, for example, is the fairy tale "Thumbelina": how much symbolism, hidden meanings, recognizable characters and situations are in it.

The very birth main character fairy tales are shrouded in mystery, the most understandable of which is a magic seed that a lonely woman brought to her house.
This tiny girl, emerging from a flower bud, was destined for the role of "family idol", as often happens with long-awaited children. And yet Thumbelina had something special: a bed, and a lake with a boat - still, she herself is special and her main feature is that she is so small and fragile, like a flower.

Already the grooms are walking in circles, and she is still the same small and defenseless: a girl-child. Men are drawn to her, because in her society one can feel strong, courageous, and by her appearance alone, such a girl causes a desire to take care, patronize, protect. But to wish is one thing, but to embody is quite another ...

And Thumbelina now and then becomes a victim of other people's intrigues and circumstances, falling either into the clutches of an imperious mother-toad and his weak-willed son, or into the paws of a conformist beetle, for whom the opinion of his “society of insects” is more important than his own opinions and views. And Thumbelina, despite the fact that she is so pretty and pretty, is bitter, annoying and insulting that EVEN the bugs did not accept her.
From the time when Thumbelina got to the mouse, the most intense internal struggle has unfolded between the desire to devote oneself to others, to be obedient, to please, (the image of a hole, as a symbol of a ban on one's own life, self-restraint) and the desire for freedom, change, even if it is not known why leading (the image of a bird as a symbol of dreams and hope).

The swallow almost died and Thumbelina had almost buried her dream, but when she realized that she was still alive, she began to nurse her and revived her.

But at first Thumbelina was even afraid to approach this big bird (to approach her dream), but she overcame her fear, and, at the decisive moment, made her choice.

The fact that in the finale, the heroine received wings and a new name, in addition to heavenly life and the beautiful prince of the elves, can be understood in such a way that, having overcome all the difficulties and obstacles, she became different, therefore her life changed the way she even dreamed of. I could not.

Dear readers, if there are “Thumbelinas” among your acquaintances, or maybe someone recognizes themselves in this character, then do you think that “Thumbelina women” are able to achieve such a fabulous result, or is this possible only in a fairy tale? What does life show?

Year of writing: 1835 Genre: fairy tale

Main characters: Thumbelina - tiny girl, toad, mole, swallow

Plot: Tale of the fate of a little girl. About the trials that fell to her lot. The baby was kidnapped by a green toad. She had to spend the night under the open sky in winter. She also nearly married a mole. Thumbelina was saved by a swallow, and carried away to a distant happy country.

The main idea of the tale is that after many difficulties, happiness still comes.

Read the summary of the fairy tale Thumbelina Andersen

The fairy tale "Thumbelina" was written by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells about how one woman really wanted to have a child. Desperate, she went to some sorceress, who took pity on the poor woman, and gave her a magic seed. He had to be planted in the ground. The woman did just that: she put a seed in a flower pot, watered it, and soon a delicate flower appeared, which had the shape of a tulip. On its petal sat a tiny girl with long eyelashes. For her small stature, the girl was named Thumbelina.

It was beautiful sunny warm weather. Thumbelina slept in a nutshell right on the windowsill, and the gentle wind gently tugged at her curls. The girl was happy.

One night, through the open window, when Thumbelina was sleeping sweetly, a large green toad jumped up. She grabbed the nutshell in which the girl was and galloped into the swamp. Her loud croaking woke Thumbelina and she opened her eyes. Imagine her surprise when she realized that she was far from home, right on a leaf of a water lily. With wide eyes in horror, the girl looked at the toad, which croaked something to her.

Thumbelina realized that she wanted to marry her to her son, and this made her even more upset. She sat and cried, and tears dripped into the river. A fish swimming past volunteered to help the girl. She called the hermit crab for help, who cut off the stem with claws and Thumbelina swam. She threw her belt over the butterfly, and the water lily leaf swam even faster. The toad ran after him. She almost grabbed the girl, who was picked up at the last minute by a beautiful beetle with a big mustache. He took Thumbelina up a tree and began to admire her beauty. But this did not last long, as the other beetles did not like the girl. Everyone laughed at her, and the good beetle, who had just showered her with compliments, immediately changed his mind. He apologized to Thumbelina and lowered her to the ground.

All summer the girl lived in nature. She wove herself a small bed of leaves and blades of grass. In the rain, she covered herself with a burdock leaf, and in clear weather she basked in the sun.

Summer is over, and it was replaced by a cold autumn with frequent showers and cold winds. And then winter came. The girl literally died from the cold and without food. One day she came across a big mouse hole and knocked on the door. The mouse turned out to be compassionate, and immediately let Thumbelina into the house. The girl ate half of the grain and immediately felt better. The field mouse liked that the girl did not eat much, and she left her with her. A blind mole lived next door. He was a recluse and did not like sunlight. His whole occupation boiled down to the fact that he constantly counted his wealth. One day, a brilliant idea came to the mouse's head: she decided to marry Thumbelina to a mole. The girl resisted with all her might. One day, while walking through the underground possessions of a mole, she saw a large dead bird. She lay on the cold ground and did not move. It was a swallow. The girl affectionately stroked the belly of a large bird, and suddenly heard that her heart was beating.

Thumbelina formed and immediately slipped a few last year's leaves under it, and also covered it from above. All winter the kind girl took care of the sick bird, and when spring came, the swallow got stronger and flew away. At parting, she thanked Thumbelina from the bottom of her heart.

Meanwhile, the persistent mouse was preparing for the wedding. When Thumbelina was left with nothing more than to agree, she asked to let her go to enjoy the sun. The mole and the mouse were surprised at the girl's strange request, but nevertheless agreed.

Thumbelina said goodbye to sunlight when she suddenly heard someone calling her. It was a swallow again. She flew to warm lands, and Thumbelina decided to fly with her. She sat on the back of a cute swallow, and they flew away.

The field mouse ran out to see where Thumbelina was, and was extremely surprised to see that the girl had flown away. They flew over forests and seas, and eventually flew into some magical land. A beautiful elf flew out of the flower to meet her, and immediately captivated the heart of the charming Thumbelina.

Picture or drawing Thumbelina

Main characters

Thumbelina is the main character of the tale. She is very small, only 2.5 centimeters. But it is very beautiful. The girl was born from a flower bought from a witch and raised by a childless woman.
Thumbelina's mother (childless woman).
Toad - stole Thumbelina from her bed and wanted to marry her son. Described as horrible and vile in appearance.
Son of a toad.
May Beetle - took Thumbelina off the water lily as she swam past him. He liked the sweet girl, but he listened to his relatives and left Thumbelina in the forest.
Field Mouse - sheltered the girl when she came to her frozen and hungry, left her to live and offered to marry a mole.
The Mole is the rich neighbor of the Mouse. He has a large fortune, a good fur coat and poor eyesight.
Swallow - was saved by Thumbelina from death under the cold snow. She thanked the girl by persuading her to fly to a hot country.
Prince of elves - fell in love with Thumbelina at first sight and immediately offered to marry him.

A tiny girl, one inch in size, gets into various adventures: she meets a swamp frog, a beetle, a mole ... Kind Thumbelina saves a swallow from death, for which a grateful bird takes the girl to warm lands where elves live.

Thumbelina read

Once upon a time there was a woman; she really wanted to have a child, but where to get him? So she went to an old witch and said to her:

I so want to have a baby; can you tell me where i can get it?

From what! - said the witch. - Here's a barley grain for you; this is not a simple grain, not one of those that peasants sow in the field or throw to chickens; put him in a flower pot - you'll see what happens!

Thank you! - said the woman and gave the witch twelve skillings; then she went home, planted a grain of barley in a flower pot, and suddenly a large wonderful flower like a tulip grew out of it, but its petals were still tightly compressed, like those of an unopened bud.

What a glorious flower! - said the woman and kissed the beautiful colorful petals.

Something clicked and the flower blossomed. It was exactly the same as a tulip, but in the cup itself a tiny girl was sitting on a green chair. She was so delicate, small, only an inch tall, and they called her Thumbelina.

A gleaming lacquered walnut shell was her cradle, blue violets her mattress, and a rose petal her blanket; in this cradle she was laid at night, and during the day she played on the table. The woman placed a plate of water on the table, and placed a wreath of flowers on the edge of the plate; long stalks of flowers bathed in the water, and at the very edge floated a large tulip petal. On it, Thumbelina could cross from one side of the plate to the other; instead of oars she had two white horsehairs. It was all lovely, how lovely! Thumbelina could also sing, and no one had ever heard such a gentle, beautiful voice!

One night, when she was lying in her cradle, a huge toad crawled through the broken window pane, wet, ugly! She jumped straight onto the table, where she was sleeping under Thumbelina's rose petal.

Here is my son's wife! - said the toad, took the nutshell with the girl and jumped out through the window into the garden.

A large, wide river flowed there; near the shore it was boggy and viscous; here, in the mud, the toad lived with his son. Wu! What he was, too, nasty, nasty! Exactly mommy.

Coax, coax, brekke-ke-keks! - all he could say when he saw a lovely crumb in a nutshell.

Hush you! She will wake up, perhaps, and run away from us, - said the old woman toad. - It's lighter than swan down! Let's drop her in the middle of the river on a wide leaf of a water lily - after all, this is a whole island for such a crumb, she will not escape from there, but for now we will clean up our nest down there. After all, you live in it and live.

Many water lilies grew in the river; their broad green leaves floated on the surface of the water. The largest leaf was the farthest from the shore; a toad swam up to this leaf and put a nutshell with a girl there.

The poor baby woke up early in the morning, saw where she was, and wept bitterly: there was water on all sides, and there was no way she could get over to land!

And the old toad sat below, in the mud, and cleaned her dwelling with reeds and yellow water lilies - it was necessary to embellish everything for the young daughter-in-law! Then she swam with her ugly son to the leaf where Thumbelina was sitting, in order to take, first of all, her pretty bed and put it in the bride's bedroom. The old toad crouched very low in the water in front of the girl and said:

Here is my son, your future husband! You will live nicely with him in our mud.

Coax, coax, brekke-ke-keks! - only the son could say.

They took a pretty bed and sailed away with it, and the girl was left alone on a green leaf and wept bitterly, bitterly - she did not at all want to live with an ugly toad and marry his nasty son. The little fish that swam under the water must have seen the toad with her son and heard what she was saying, because everyone stuck their heads out of the water to look at the little bride. And when they saw her, they felt terribly sorry that such a pretty girl had to go live with an old toad in the mire. Do not happen to this! The fish crowded below, at the stalk on which the leaf was held, and quickly gnawed it with their teeth; the leaf with the girl swam downstream, further, further ... Now the toad would never catch up with the baby!

Thumbelina swam past various charming places, and the little birds that were sitting in the bushes, seeing her, sang:

What a pretty girl!

And the leaf floated and floated, and now Thumbelina got abroad.

A beautiful white moth fluttered around her all the time and finally settled on a leaf - he really liked Thumbelina! And she was terribly happy: the ugly toad could not catch up with her now, and everything around was so beautiful! The sun burned like gold on the water! Thumbelina took off her belt, tied a moth around one end, and tied the other to her leaf, and the leaf floated even faster.

A cockchafer flew past, saw a girl, grabbed her by the thin waist with a paw and carried her to a tree, and a green leaf swam further, and with it a moth - after all, it was tied and could not free itself.

Oh, how frightened the poor thing was when the beetle grabbed her and flew with her into the tree! She was especially sorry for the pretty butterfly, which she tied to a leaf: he would now have to starve to death if he could not free himself. But grief was not enough for the Maybug.

He sat down with the baby on the largest green leaf, fed her sweet flower juice and said that she was so pretty, though not at all like the cockchafer.

Then they were visited by other May beetles that lived on the same tree. They looked at the girl from head to toe, and the young bugs wiggled their antennae and said:

She only has two legs! It's a pity to watch!

What a small waist she has! Fi! She's just like a person! How ugly! - said in one voice all the female beetles.

Thumbelina was cute! The Maybug, who brought her, also liked her very much at first, and then suddenly he found that she was ugly, and did not want to keep her anymore - let her go where she wants. He flew down with her from the tree and planted her on a chamomile. Then the girl began to cry that she was so ugly: even the May bugs did not want to keep her! But in fact, she was the most charming creature: tender, clear, like a rose petal.

The whole summer Thumbelina lived alone in the forest. She wove a cradle for herself and hung it under a large burdock leaf - where the rain could not reach her. The baby ate sweet flower pollen, and drank the dew that she found on the leaves every morning. Thus passed summer and autumn; but now it was winter, long and cold. All the songbirds scattered, the bushes and flowers withered, the large burdock leaf under which Thumbelina lived turned yellow, dried up and curled up into a tube. The baby herself was freezing from the cold: her dress was all torn, and she was so small, tender - freeze, and that's it! It began to snow, and each snowflake was for her the same as a whole shovel of snow for us; we are big, and she was only an inch! She wrapped herself in a dry leaf, but it did not warm at all, and the poor thing herself was trembling like a leaf.

Near the forest, where she fell, lay a large field; the bread had long been harvested, only bare, dry stalks sticking out of the frozen ground; for Thumbelina it was a whole forest. Wow! How she shivered from the cold! And then the poor thing came to the door of the field mouse; the door was a small hole, covered with dry stalks and blades of grass. The field mouse lived in warmth and contentment: all the barns were chock-full of grains of bread; the kitchen and pantry were bursting with supplies! Thumbelina stood at the door like a beggar and asked for a piece of barley grain - she hadn't eaten anything for two days!

Oh you poor thing! - said the field mouse: she was, in essence, a kind old woman. - Come here, get warm and eat with me!

The girl liked the mouse, and the mouse said:

You can live with me all winter, just clean my rooms well and tell me stories - I'm a great hunter of them.

And Thumbelina began to do everything that the mouse ordered her to, and healed perfectly.

Soon, perhaps, we will have guests, - the field mouse once said. My neighbor usually visits me once a week. He lives even much better than me: he has huge halls, and he walks in a wonderful velvet coat. If only you could marry him! You would have lived on glory! The only trouble is that he is blind and cannot see you; but you tell him the most best fairy tales, which only you know.

But the girl did not care enough about all this: she did not at all want to marry a neighbor - after all, it was a mole. He really soon came to visit the field mouse. True, he wore a black velvet coat, was very rich and learned; according to the field mouse, his room was twenty times more spacious than hers, but he did not like either the sun or beautiful flowers at all and spoke very badly of them - he had never seen them. The girl had to sing, and she sang two songs: "Maybeetle, fly, fly" and "A monk wanders through the meadows", so sweet that the mole fell in love with her. But he did not say a word - he was such a sedate and respectable gentleman.

The mole recently dug a long gallery under the ground from his dwelling to the door of the field mouse, and allowed the mouse and the girl to walk around this gallery as much as they liked. The mole asked only not to be afraid of the dead bird that lay there. It was a real bird, with feathers, with a beak; she must have died recently, at the beginning of winter, and was buried in the ground just where the mole had dug its gallery.

The mole took a rotten thing in his mouth - after all, in the dark it's like a candle - and went forward, illuminating the long dark gallery. When they reached the place where the dead bird lay, the mole poked a hole in the earthen ceiling with its broad nose, and daylight filtered through the gallery. In the very middle of the gallery lay a dead swallow; pretty wings were firmly pressed to the body, legs and head were hidden in feathers; the poor bird must have died of the cold. The girl felt terribly sorry for her, she was very fond of these cute birds, who sang songs to her so wonderfully all summer, but the mole pushed the bird with his short paw and said:

Don't whistle no more! What a bitter fate to be born a bird! Thank God that my children have nothing to fear from this! Such a bird only knows how to chirp - you will inevitably freeze in winter!

Yes, yes, your true Clever words good to hear, said the field mouse. - What is the use of this tweet? What does it bring to the bird? Cold and hunger in winter? A lot, nothing to say!

Thumbelina did not say anything, but when the mole and mouse turned their backs on the bird, she bent down to her, parted her feathers and kissed her right on her closed eyes. “Perhaps this is the one who sang so wonderfully in the summer! - thought the girl. “How much joy you brought me, dear, good bird!”

The mole plugged the hole in the ceiling again and escorted the ladies back. But the girl could not sleep at night. She got up from her bed, wove a large, glorious carpet out of dry blades of grass, carried it into the gallery, and wrapped the dead bird in it; then she found fluff from a field mouse and covered the whole swallow with it, so that it would be warmer to lie on the cold ground.

Farewell, dear little bird, said Thumbelina. - Goodbye! Thank you for singing so wonderfully to me in the summer, when all the trees were so green, and the sun warmed so nicely!

And she bowed her head on the bird's chest, but suddenly she was frightened - something pounded inside. It was the bird's heart beating: it did not die, but only stiffened from the cold, but now it warmed up and came to life.

In autumn, swallows fly away to warmer climes, and if one of them is late, it will freeze from the cold, fall dead to the ground, and it will be covered with cold snow.

The girl trembled all over with fright - the bird was just a giant compared to the baby - but nevertheless she gathered her courage, wrapped the swallow even more, then ran away and brought a mint leaf, with which she covered herself instead of a blanket, and covered the bird's head with it.

The next night Thumbelina again slowly made her way to the swallow. The bird had already completely come to life, only it was still very weak and barely opened its eyes to look at the girl who stood in front of her with a piece of rot in her hands - she had no other lantern.

Thank you, sweet little one! said the sick swallow. - I warmed up so nicely. Soon I will recover completely and will be cured in the sun again.

Ah, - said the girl, - now it's so cold, it's snowing! Stay in your warm bed, I'll take care of you.

And Thumbelina brought water to the bird in a flower petal. The swallow drank and told the girl how she hurt her wing on a thorn bush and therefore could not fly away with other swallows to warm lands. How she fell to the ground and ... yes, she didn’t remember anything else, and she didn’t know how she got here.

A swallow lived here all winter, and Thumbelina looked after her. Neither the mole nor the field mouse knew anything about this - they did not like birds at all.

When spring came and the sun warmed, the swallow said goodbye to the girl, and Thumbelina pushed back the hole that the mole had made.

The sun was warming so nicely, and the swallow asked if the girl would like to go with her - let him sit on her back, and they will fly into the green forest! But Thumbelina did not want to leave the field mouse - she knew that the old woman would be very upset.

No you can not! - said the girl to the swallow.

Farewell, farewell, dear kind baby! - said the swallow and flew out into the sun.

Thumbelina looked after her, and even tears welled up in her eyes - she really fell in love with the poor bird.

Qui-vit, qui-vit! - the bird chirped and disappeared into the green forest.

The girl was very sad. She was not allowed to go out into the sun at all, and the grain field was so overgrown with tall thick ears that it became a dense forest for the poor baby.

In the summer you will have to prepare your dowry! said the field mouse to her. It turned out that a boring neighbor in a velvet coat wooed a girl.

It is necessary that you have plenty of everything, and then you will marry a mole and you will certainly not need anything!

And the girl had to spin for whole days, and the old mouse hired four spiders for weaving, and they worked day and night.

Every evening, the mole came to visit the field mouse and all he did was chatter about how soon the summer would end, the sun would stop scorching the earth like that - otherwise it had become completely like a stone - and then they would play a wedding. But the girl was not at all happy: she did not like the boring mole. Every morning at sunrise, and every evening at sunset, Thumbelina went to the threshold of the mouse-hole; sometimes the wind parted the tops of the ears, and she managed to see a piece blue sky. “How light, how good it is there, in the wild!” - the girl thought and remembered the swallow; she would very much like to see the bird, but the swallow was nowhere to be seen: she must have been flying there, far, far away, in the green forest!

By autumn, Thumbelina had prepared all her dowry.

Your wedding is in a month! said the field mouse to the girl.

But the baby cried and said that she did not want to marry a boring mole.

Trivia! said the old mouse. - Just don't be capricious, otherwise I'll bite you - see what a white tooth I have? You will have a wonderful husband. The queen herself does not have such a velvet coat as his! Yes, and in the kitchen and in the cellar he is not empty! Thank God for such a husband!

The wedding day has come. The mole came for the girl. Now she had to follow him into his hole, live there, deep, deep underground, and never go out into the sun - the mole could not stand him! And it was so hard for the poor baby to say goodbye to the red sun forever! With a field mouse, she could still admire him at least occasionally.

And Thumbelina went out to look at the sun for the last time. The bread had already been taken from the field, and again only bare, withered stalks were sticking out of the ground. The girl moved away from the door and held out her hands to the sun:

Farewell, bright sun, farewell!

Then she embraced with her arms a small red flower that grew here, and said to him:

Bow from me to the cute swallow if you see her!

Qui-vit, qui-vit! - suddenly sounded over her head.

Thumbelina looked up and saw a swallow flying past. The swallow also saw the girl and was very happy, and the girl cried and told the swallow how she did not want to marry a nasty mole and live with him deep underground, where the sun would never look.

The cold winter will come soon, - said the swallow, - and I will fly far, far away, to warm lands. Do you want to fly with me? You can sit on my back - just tie yourself tightly with a belt - and we will fly away with you far from the ugly mole, far beyond the blue seas, to warm lands where the sun shines brighter, where it is always summer and wonderful flowers bloom! Fly with me, sweet baby! You saved my life when I was freezing in a dark, cold hole.

Yes, yes, I will fly with you! - said Thumbelina, sat on the bird's back, rested her legs against its outstretched wings and tied herself tightly with a belt to the largest feather.

The swallow shot up like an arrow and flew over the dark forests, over blue seas and high mountains covered with snow. There was passion, how cold; Thumbelina buried herself completely in the warm feathers of the swallow and only stuck her head out to admire all the charms that she met on the way.

But here are the warm edges! Here the sun shone much brighter, and green and black grapes grew near the ditches and hedges. Lemons and oranges ripened in the forests, there was a smell of myrtle and fragrant mint, and lovely children ran along the paths and caught large colorful butterflies. But the swallow flew farther and farther, and the farther, the better it got. On the shore of a beautiful blue lake, among green curly trees, stood an ancient white marble palace. Grape vines twined around its high columns, and upstairs, under the roof, nests of swallows were molded. In one of them lived a swallow that brought Thumbelina.

Here is my home! - said the swallow. - And you choose some beautiful flower for yourself below, I will plant you in it, and you will heal wonderfully!

That would be good! - said the baby and clapped her hands.

Below were large pieces of marble - it was the top of one column that fell off and broke into three pieces, large white flowers grew between them. The swallow descended and sat the girl on one of the wide petals. But what a wonder! In the very cup of the flower sat a little man, white and transparent, as if made of crystal. He wore a lovely golden crown on his head, shining wings fluttered behind his shoulders, and he himself was no bigger than Thumbelina.

It was an elf. In each flower lives an elf, a boy or a girl, and the one who sat next to Thumbelina was the king of the elves himself.

Oh, how good he is! whispered Thumbelina to the swallow.

The little king was quite frightened at the sight of the swallow. He was so tiny, gentle, and she seemed to him just a monster. But he was very happy to see our baby - he had never seen such a pretty girl! And he took off his golden crown, put it on Thumbelina's head and asked her name and if she wanted to be his wife, queen of elves and queen of flowers? This is so husband! Not like the son of a toad or a mole in a velvet coat! And the girl agreed. Then elves flew out of each flower - boys and girls - so pretty that it's just lovely! They all brought Thumbelina gifts. The best was a pair of transparent dragonfly wings. They were attached to the back of the girl, and she, too, could now fly from flower to flower! That was some joy! And the swallow sat upstairs in her nest, and sang to them as best she could. But she herself was very sad: she fell deeply in love with the girl and would like to never part with her.

You will no longer be called Thumbelina! - said the elf. - It's an ugly name. And you are so pretty! We will call you Maya!

Bye Bye! - the swallow chirped and again flew away from the warm lands far, far - to Denmark. She had a little nest there, just above the window of a man, a great storyteller. It was to him that she sang her “qui-vit”, and then we learned this story.