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Tale Summary

There was once a good-wife who longed for a child, and so went to visit an old Witch, who gave her a barleycorn to plant in a flower-pot, promising that something would come of it. As soon as the woman placed it in the soil, a tulip popped up. She kissed its petals and it opened to reveal a tiny young maiden, no bigger than a thumb, whom she named Thumbkinetta. One night, when the little girl was asleep in a walnut-shell, a toad thought she would make a lovely bride for her son, and stole her away. The toad placed her on a lily pad in a stream so that she could not run away as she and her son made wedding preparations. When she awoke, the two toads swam to retrieve her walnut-shell bed to place in the bridal suite. Thumbkinetta wept when they went away again, as she did not want to marry an ugly toad. A group of fish learned what was to happen to her and felt very sorry, so together they chewed the lily-pad stem so that she floated downriver away from the toads. She was very pleased, as she saw many pretty sights on her journey, and befriended a butterfly which she tied to the leaf in order to move along faster. A cockchafer saw her gliding along and snatched her up to be his bride, but when all the other beetles saw her they thought she was very ugly and convinced him to let her go. Thumbkinetta spent the summer and autumn quite alright living alone in the forest, but was cold and hungry when winter came. She traveled through the forest and into a nearby cornfield, where she begged at a field-mouse's door. The Field-mouse was kind and offered Thumbkinetta a place to stay, and so she did and kept the house in order. Neighboring her was Mr. Mole, who was very well-off and fell in love with the girl when he visited. He dug a tunnel between the two residences and took Thumbkinetta and the Field-mouse along the passage, where they found a bird which had died of the cold. The girl was sad at this, and even sadder to hear the other two making fun of how it had frozen. That night, she wove a blanket for the bird and snuck out of bed and into the tunnel to place it on its feathers. She laid her head against the bird’s breast, and it awoke because she had warmed it. The rest of the winter, Thumbkinetta nursed the bird back to health, and it flew away when spring came after offering her a ride. The girl did not want to upset the Field-mouse and so stayed in the cornfield, and spent until autumn preparing her wedding outfit, as she was to be married to Mr. Mole. This was terrible for her, as she would have to live deep underground with her soon-to-be husband, never to see the world again. On the day of the wedding, the bird returned and again offered Thumbkinetta a ride, as he was flying off to warmer lands. They reached the bird’s homeland, which was splendid and fantastical with all sorts of natural beauties, and made their way to his nest, which was situated on a shining white marble palace. He told her to pick any flower she liked and he would place her there, and so she found a patch of white flowers to live in. When the bird placed her in the petals, she was surprised to meet a handsome man her own size. He was a spirit of the flower, and king of all the nearby flower spirits. He asked her to marry him, and she said yes, and so he placed his golden crown on her head. Out of all the flowers came lords and ladies, each bringing her a gift, the best of all being a pair of wings for her to use. They gave her a more beautiful name, too, and called her Maia.

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