Thumbelina or Little Tiny is a Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1835 as part of the second volume of Eventyr, fortalte for Børn (Fairy-tales, Told for Children). It was originally known as Tommelise or Tommeliden (Tomme means inch in Danish).
Plot synopsis
Once, a woman grew a barleycorn in her garden, so beautiful that when she kissed the petals of the bloom, it burst into a flower and a tiny but beautiful girl emerged. The woman named her Thumbelina, as she was no bigger than the woman's thumb. (How the woman comes by the tiny girl is different in each adaption.) The girl's beauty soon attracted the attention of a frog. She believed Thumbelina would make a good bride for her son, so she kidnapped the girl in the middle of the night, and delivered her to her son. The son was immediately enchanted by Thumbelina's beauty, and left her on a lily pad. However, Thumbelina managed to find help. Fish gnawed away the root of the lily pad, and a butterfly offered to pull her to safety with one of Thumbelina's ribbons as a harness. Before she could be freed however, a beetle grabbed Thumbelina off the lily and took her away, leaving the butterfly to die as he was too fragile to break free of the ribbon. The beetle, who was also enchanted by Thumbelina, brought her back to his family, but the female beetle declared she was ugly, and so they abandoned her as a result. Starving in the cold of winter, the little girl was then found by a field mouse, who took care of her. Because the mouse believed that she was indebted to him, the girl soon found herself engaged to a mole. The wedding would take place in spring, once the last snow thawed. Unhappy that she must marry the mole, Thumbelina went to the see the flowers one last time, knowing the mole disliked the beauty of the upper world and would confine her to the ground below. A bird flew by and saw Thumbelina's distress, so he offered to take her away to a better world. She agreed and the bird took her far away to a field of flowers, where he told her to choose a flower to claim as her own. Thumbelina found a flower, but discovered another person present, the prince of fairies. Enchanted by her beauty, he asked to marry her, and the little girl agreed. She was renamed Maia by the prince (as the name Thumbelina is not beautiful enough for a girl like her) and given a pair of wings so she may fly with her new husband.
Adaptations
- Andrew Lang retold it as "The Strange Adventures of Little Maia" in his eleventh collection of fairy tales, The Olive Fairy Book, published in 1907.
- The first film version of Thumbelina was a black and white 1924 production directed by Herbert M. Dawley.
- Danny Kaye sang a song "Thumbelina," written by Frank Loesser, during his portrayal of Hans Christian Andersen in the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen.
- Lotte Reiniger directed a 10-minute short film adaptation, released in 1954.
- Toei Animation released a feature-length anime version in 1978, titled Sekai Meisaku Dowa: Oyayubi Hime (World's Famous Children's Stories: The Thumb Princess), with character designs by Osamu Tezuka. Harmony Gold released it in the U.S. with English dubs.
- The family television series Faerie Tale Theatre featured a live-action version of Thumbelina in 1984, starring Carrie Fisher and William Katt.
- A reading of the story was illustrated with watercolors for Rabbit Ears Productions, which released it in 1989 on VHS tape, compact disc, audiocassette, and as a book, (available with or without audio tape). Kelly McGillis narrated.
- Japan's Enoki Films adapted the story into a 26-episode TV series in 1992 titled Oyayubi Hime Monogatari (The Story of the Thumb Princess)(on the Japanese Wikipedia).
- Golden Films produced the second most popular film adaptation in 1993, though it's still quite obscure. Thumbelina (1993) is much brighter, happier, and optimistic than Don Bluth's rather dark version.
- The animated Thumbelina, directed by Don Bluth and released in 1994. The movie is alternatively titled Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina although the story deviates from the source story in a number of ways. It is the only animated film to win, (or even be nominated for), a Razzie.
- The 2002 direct-to-DVD animated movie, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina brought together the two most famous 'tiny people' of literature. Thumbelina was voiced by Jennifer Love Hewitt.
- Thumbelina appeared in Shrek 2 as a guest in Princess Fiona and Prince Charming's wedding.
External links
- SurLaLune's Annotated Thumbelina
- The original text of the fairy tale translated by HP Paull
- Thumbelina: Aimed at young children
