Thumbelina Essay

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THUMBELINA - :) The story of Thumbelina written by Hans Christian Andersen starts when a woman who longs for a child goes to see a fairy. She then buys a barleycorn from her which grows up to be a tulip. When she kissed the beautiful flower, it opens and within it emerges a graceful little maiden. The girl is named Thumbelina, due to her small size being as long as a thumb. One night, when Thumbelina is sleeping soundly in her walnut-shell bed, an ugly old toad comes and snatches her away. The toad wanted Thumbelina to be the bride for her son. So, Thumbelina is held captive on a lily pad until some fish and a butterfly helps to float her away. However, just as soon as Thumbelina gets to run away from the ugly toad and her even uglier son, there comes a cockchafer that sees her as a potential wife as well. The cockchafer, which is smitten by Thumbelina’s beauty, flew with her to a tree but later discards her on a daisy when other cockchafers convince him how ugly Thumbelina is. Thumbelina is left alone till winter came and she is nearly frozen to death. Later, she finds the home of a field-mouse that lets her stay in the house with the condition of telling her stories and keeping the rooms clean. Unfortunately, the field-mouse thinks highly of her blind old neighbour which is a mole, and thinks that Thumbelina is the perfect match for him. So, Thumbelina finds herself facing another unwanted marriage. However, Thumbelina escapes the situation by fleeing to a far land country with a swallow that she nursed back to health during the winter. When she arrives at the swallow’s house, she goes to a field of flowers where she meets a flower-fairy prince just her size and to her liking, and so they get married. She receives a pair of wings to travels from flower to flower and gets a new name, Maia. The heartbroken swallow that has to
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