Thumbelina
Once upon a time in a lovely garden in the suburbs of Pittsburg there lived a race of very small people. These tiny folks loved to tend the garden and watch the big people lumber by. In the very heart of the garden lived Thumbelina. Thumbelina was an intelligent, simple girl with short dark hair and friendly eyes. She had grown up with a loving mother and father and after she finished grammar school with the rest of the children she attended the little people college. She now enjoyed an independent, successful life in a charming flat under a blue rhododendron bush. She managed a prosperous business making comfy walnut shell beds for the locals. But Thumbelina was facing a problem; it was tradition for her people to marry the toads from the pond across the street, to promote stronger community ties, and Thumbelina had no desire to marry a toad or anyone at all for that matter.
One day a beautiful mature toad came to Thumbelina’s door. The toad’s son had noticed Thumbelina at the bed store and wanted to marry her right away. Mother toad had come to make the wedding plans. Bright Thumbelina just could not understand why no one could see her ways were best and told mother toad that she did not wish to marry her son or anyone else for that matter, but mother toad would hear none of this. The wedding date was set for the next week. Thumbelina wished everyone could be as educated as her, she felt sorry for the unreasonable people of the garden and pond. The traditions they clung to were just silly. Seeing the fruitlessness of trying to reason with mother toad, or anyone in her own family, resourceful Thumbelina decided it was time for her to break away from the silly old traditions of her people. She packed up some clothes, seeds of her favorite flowers and herbs, and a few special treasures including a lovely ring that was a gift from her father and walked right down the sidewalk and out of sight.
Thumbelina traveled the block all summer. She saw the towering homes and businesses and even learned the ways of the big people. Thumbelina missed the garden but she was excited by the new experiences traveling provided her. When winter came she found a flower box attached to a cheery brownstone and settled down in the remnants of flowers and moss that had grown there. She had no problem caring for herself as she had a wonderful talent for growing and gathering her own food and, although she could not carry a tune, the birds loved her kindness and whit and taught her how to weave a warm nest to keep her safe in the worst weather. Thumbelina was sitting on her mossy porch one chilly November morning when she saw a very small, shivering mouse stagger by. The mouse looked cold and hungry so kind Thumbelina invited her inside. The mouse stayed with Thumbelina in her warm flower box all winter long.
Thumbelina enjoyed the mouse’s company, but when spring came the mouse began to hassle Thumbelina about getting married. You see in the mouse community it was tradition for the young women to marry the moles from the park, to ensure plentiful property for the rodent population. Well Thumbelina had no desire to marry a mole, or anyone else for that matter, but the mouse was very persistent. The mouse found a nice eligible bachelor mole and brought him over for dinner. Thumbelina laughed at her friend and the guest she had brought and again wished everyone could be as smart as she was. She just could not understand all these silly old traditions and the people that still followed them. Thumbelina decided it was time for her to continue her journey. She packed a bag with some clothes, a few seeds of new flowers and herbs she had discovered, and a few special treasures including the lovely ring her father had given her and the notes she had taken on the ways of the big people, and marched down to the local bird-port (where you could catch a pigeon to almost anywhere). When the attendant asked for a desired destination, Thumbelina said, “anywhere warm and without silly old traditions.” She was given a ticket and hopped on the 6:30 flight.
Thumbelina was sad and thoughtful as the pigeon took her further from her home. She missed her family and friends and wished very much that everyone could just be like her and forget their old and unreasonable ways. The pigeon assigned to fly Thumbelina to her new home saw her tears and asked if there was anything he could do to help. “No,” said Thumbelina, “I just want to go somewhere beautiful where everyone thinks like me and there are no silly old traditions.”
“I see,” said the wise old pigeon. And wise he was for he had been flying people to and from the bird-port for many, many years and always took the time to learn a little about each of them. “Why,” he asked Thumbelina, “is it that you wish everyone to think like you?”
Thumbelina said right away, “because my way is the best and smartest way of course.”
The pigeon thought about this for a moment and then asked her, “and do the people who hold onto these silly old traditions think their way is the best and smartest?”
“Well, I don’t know” answered Thumbelina, “I suppose they do, yes.”
“Tell me,” said the pigeon, “do these people want you to give up your ways and act the way they see is best?”
“Yes!” replied Thumbelina, “and that is why they are so unreasonable and I want to find a new home.”
The pigeon was quiet for some time and finally he addressed Thumbelina again, “Do you think my dear Thumbelina that all these people with silly old traditions think your new ideas are just as silly?” Before Thumbelina could answer the pigeon went on, “I imagine they do, and do you think Thumbelina that anyone is going to change your mind about your new ideas by telling you that they are silly or laughing at them or telling you they are unreasonable?” Thumbelina did not know what to think, she knew the answer to the wise old pigeon’s question but she was ashamed of how she had treated her friends and family. The pigeon knew this and gently ask one more question of Thumbelina, “What could your friends and family do to help you be happy?”
Thumbelina watched the buildings and fields fly by as she thought about his question and finally she said, “They could try and understand.” The pigeon smiled.
The wise old pigeon dropped Thumbelina in a flowing field of yellow and blue wildflowers. Everywhere she looked there were small fairy people fluttering from flower to flower like bright jewels in the sun. Thumbelina asked a lot of questions about the people’s beliefs and ideas and learned they had no tradition about marring what so ever. This delighted Thumbelina as she had no desire to marry a fairy person, or anyone else for that matter. But what the pigeon had said to Thumbelina continued to weigh on her mind. She loved the field and the fairy people but she felt she still had things to do. So Thumbelina packed a bag with some clothes, some wild flower seeds, and a few special treasures including the lovely ring her father had given her, her notes on the ways of the big people and a wonderful book her friend the pigeon had given her about the different ways and traditions of all the people the wise pigeon had met.
The first thing Thumbelina did when she got back to the garden was visit mother toad. She explained to her that she did not wish to marry her son because she had her own, new ideas and she was very sorry for not trying to understand mother toads ways. Mother toad explained to Thumbelina that she had had no choice in the man she married and because that had been fine with her she thought it must be fine with Thumbelina too. Thumbelina gave mother toad her book about a different ways of all the people the pigeon had met to help her understand on why being free and having her own ideas was so important to her. When Thumbelina departed again both her and mother toad were able to understand, if not agree with, each others ideas.
Next Thumbelina visited her old flowerbox outside the cheery brownstone. There she found her friend the mouse and the handsome mole sitting down to dinner. Thumbelina apologized for laughing at their ways and not trying to understand their traditions. She explained that she did not want to follow the traditions of the garden or the park because it was important to her to be free. She told them her ideas on marring for love and not just to make their community happy. The mole was very pleased with what he had been told; as it turns out he was very in love with his neighbor moles daughter. Thumbelina was so happy for the mole that she gave him the lovely ring that her father had given her. He ran from the flowerbox with his new found knowledge and a beautiful engagement ring determined to ask his neighbor to marry.
Thumbelina then returned to the field of wildflower and her home with the fairy people. To her surprise she quickly discovered that the fairy people were not real fairies at all; they had been capturing the local butterflies and stealing their wings. Thumbelina wanted to do something about this horrible practice but knew from all that she had learned that she must try to understand the fairies and the butterflies before she could hope to help them. So she worked hard to learn the ways of the inhabitants of the field and she studied her notes on the ways and laws of the big people and ran for a political office. After she was appointed head of the fairy relations office Thumbelina wrote and bill for fair treatment of butterflies and set up funding to discover a way the little people of the field could manufacture their own wings. The butterflies were released and, thanks to Thumbelina, all the inhabitants of the field rejoiced in their new found peace. Thumbelina moved up the political latter quickly and in no time she was the president of the United Fairies of the Field. Everyone in the field now works merrily together.
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