Thumbelina
Long ago, a farmer found a big pea pod in his garden.
He picked it and took it home to his wife.
The next morning, the pod popped open.
There inside, was a tiny girl!
The girl was only as big as the farmer’s thumb.
So they called her Thumbelina.
Every day, Thumbelina played happily on the kitchen table.
At night, she slept in a small bed made from a walnut shell.
One day, a big toad from the nearby river came to the garden
He saw Thumbelina playing on the table.
He wanted to marry her.
That night, the toad hopped quietly into the house.
He carried Thumbelina to the river.
Then he swam out to a water lily.
He left Thumbelina on a large leaf floating on the water.
Thumbelina did not like the toad at all.
She did not want to live with him.
She began to cry.
Two little fish were swimming nearby.
They popped their heads out of the water.
“Why are you crying?”
They asked.
“Because I want to go home,” cried Thumbelina.
“Please help me, little fish.”
The fish bit hard on the leaf’s stalk with their sharp teeth.
The stalk broke, and Thumbelina sailed away on the leaf.
Thumbelina’s leaf came to a rock by the river.
There she saw a little blue bird.
“Please help me, little bird,’ she said.
“I want to go home.”
“Climb on my back,” said the bird,
“And I will take you home.”
Thumbelina held on fast as the bird took to he sky.
The bird flew over the river and the fields.
At last, it came to the farmer’s house.
Thumbelina was very happy to be home again.
