Thumbelina

“Thumbelina” is a beautiful fairy tale written by world’s most famous writer of children’s fairy tales Hans Christian Andersen. This story is a bit scary in some of its parts, but like any fairy tale brings us a happy ending and a good lesson. It talks about a little thumb-sized girl – Thumbelina. At the beginning of the life she is afflicted with a series of accidents, which she overcomes with her goodness and honesty, and eventually, is rewarded with true love and a happy life.

Thumbelina on its journey meets with a terrible frog that wanted her to marry her son, and then the good-intentioned mouse, which wanted to marry her for a dull, old mole. However, Thumbelina is saved from both marriages and eventually met the Little Prince, who was its size and in which she immediately fell in love. They married and lived happily in flowers, fun, and love.

The moral of this story is clear that we will encounter many problems and obstacles in our life. Many of doing something that we don’t want, but as long as we are true to ourselves, honest and kind, just like Thumbelina, we will overcome these obstacles and in the end get what is best for us. Thumbelina didn’t want to hurt anyone or anybody, not for a moment. She was fair and helped the needy.

In the end, she got her prize and a happy ending. In its most challenging times, Thumbelina didn’t surrender, her kindness, honesty, and optimism prevailed. We should look at Thumbelina and overcome all the problems, to be happy in our life.

Genre: fairytale

Time: one upon a time

Place: on the creek, in a garden filled with flowers, in the mouse’s house

Book Summary

Once upon a time a woman couldn’t stay pregnant, and she was very sad about that. Everything changed on the day she welcomed an old lady into her home. When she was going away, she gave the woman a unique and rare gift. It was a seed that hid a special secret. After a while, the seed became a flower and then a girl small as a thumb. The woman named her Thumbelina.

Even though she was small Thumbelina was very curious, and one day she started investigating the magical world around her. Soon she met an evil frog she wanted to marry her for her son. Thumbelina did not want to spend her life next to that frog, so she ran away into the woods. She was kind, and it did not take long before the forest animals started to love her.

While she was on the run from the frog, a mouse welcomed her into her home. She stayed there until Mister Mole did not want to marry her. It was reason enough for her to run away again and so she spend some time in the forest.

It wasn’t easy t o run away, but she was kind-hearted and helped everyone, so everyone helped her. She helped a swallow to heal her wing, so they became inseparable. While they were traveling together, Thumbelina met a nice and kind boy and fell in love with him.

She couldn’t believe that a boy her height existed and that she wasn’t the only one. She met him while he was sitting on a flower in a garden which he ruled. He was a king there, and he fell in love with Thumbelina and changed her name into Maya.

Characters: Thumbelina, butterfly, mouse, mole, swallow, the king of the flowers, frog and her son

Characters Analysis

Thumbelina – a little girl who came to his mother as a gift, as her mother could not have children. Soon, hardships in her life started happening. With everything she had to endure, Thumbelina has remained good and fair. Thumbelina always thinks first of someone else’s happiness, and then on her own. All she wanted to do is to be fair and free everybody from suffering. Her goodness is rewarded in the end when she met the Little Prince, also the size of a thumb. Thumbelina is an example that after every rain comes the sun, especially if we were good and deserved that sun.

Hans Christian Andersen Biography

Hans Christian Andersen was born April 2nd, 1805 in Odense. He was born into a poor family. His father was a shoemaker, and his mother did not have a job. Even though they did not have much Hans was happy for growing up next to a father who recognized his love for adventures and stories. Since he was a boy, his father told him many stories and helped him build a puppet theater.

His life got hard when his father died. His mother had to clean other people’s laundry to provide food, shelter, and clothes for herself and her son. Even though she wanted to send him to a school to study something he wanted to go into a big city and make something out of himself.

He had only 14 years when he came to Copenhagen. He lived in an attic and worked a lot to make it. He even danced for a short time. When he was 17, he decided to go to school, so he sat in school with 12-years old. He even went to a university.

He wrote and studied at the same time. He wrote many fairy tales and “The Ugly Duckling” was considered to contain elements of his life. Some of his other famous fairy tales are: “The little Mermaid”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “The Snow Queen”…

He died in Copenhagen August 4th, 1875.