Hanstian Andersen
There was once a woman who wanted very much to have a wee little child，but had no idea whatsoever where she should find one．So she wentto an old witch and said to her：“I do SO long to have a little child；willyou tell me where I can get one？”
“We’11 soon get over that difficulty！”said the witch．“Here is abarley—com；it is not at all the sort which grows in the farmer’S fields，or that fowls are given to eat．Put it in a flowerpot and you’11 see some—thing，I promise you．’’
“Thank you，”said the woman，and she gave the witch twelve silverpennies，went home，and planted the barley—com．Immediately a beauti—ful flower grew up which looked just like a tulip，but the leaves were allfolded tightly together as if it were still budding．
“That’S a pretty flower！”said the woman；and she kissed the lovelvred and yellow petals．At that very moment the flower gave a loud crackand opened．It was a real tulip，anyone could see that，but right in themiddle of the flower sat a wee little girl，SO nice and fine．She was only athumb long，SO they called her Thumbelina．She was given a splendidly polished walnut—shell for her cradle。she lay upon blue violet—leaves，and had a rose—leaf for her cOunter— pane．There she slept at night，but in the day—time she played ble，where the woman put a plate surrounded with a wreath of flowers with their stalks in the water；here a large tulip leaf floated，and on this leaf Thumbelina used to sail from one end of the plate to the other；she had two white horse—hairs to row with．It was such a pretty sight！She could sing too，nicely and softly；never had the like been heard before．
One night，as she lay in her pretty cradle，and ugly old toad came hopping through a broken pane in the window．The toad was big and wet，and it hopped fight on to the table where Thumbelina lay sleeping beneath the red rose—lear．
“She would make a very nice wife for my son，”said the toad；and with that she took uD the walnut—shell in which Thumbelina lay and hopped away through the broken pane out into the garden．A large broad fiver ran there，but close by the bank it was all swampy and muddy，and there the toad and her son lived together．Ugh！He，too，was nasty and ugly，like his mother．
“Koax—koax—brekke—ke—kex！”that was all he could say when he saw the pretty little girl in the walnut——shell．
“Don’t chatter SO loudly or you’11 wake her！”said the old toad．“she could sneak away even now．for she is as light as swan’S down．We’11 put her out in the fiver，on one of the broad wateflily leaves；she is SO light and little that it will be quite an island to her．She can’t escape from there while we are getting the stateroom under the mud ready，where you are to live and keep house．’’
Out in the fiver grew many clumps of waterlilies with broad，green leaves，that looked as if they were floating on the surface of the water；theleaf which was farthest out was also the largest；the old toad swam to it。and placed Thumbelina，nutshell and all，on top of it．
The poor little creature awoke quite early in the morning，and when she saw where she was，she began to cry bitterly，for there was water on every side of the big green leaf，and she could not get ashore in any way．The old toad was busy down in the mud，decking her room with rushes and yellow sedges，for she was determined that her new daughter—in—law should find it nice and tidy．After that she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf where Thumbelina sat；they wanted to fetch away her pret—ty bed，as it was to be put into the bridal—chamber before the bride her—self arrived．
The old toad bowed low in the water and said，“Let me introduce my son；he is to be your husband，and you will live together pleasantly down in the mud．’’
“Koax—koax—brekke—ke—kex！”was all the son could say for himself．
So they took the pretty little cradle and swam away with it；butThumbelina sat alone on the green leaf and cried，for she did not want tolive in the nasty toad’S house，nor to have her ugly son for a husband．Now，the little fishes who were swimming in the water had seen the toadand heard what she said，and they stuck their heads up to see the littlegirl·And directly they caught sight of her，they thought her SO pretty thatthey were quite angry at the idea of her going to live with the ugly toad．No，that should never be．So they swan]around the green stem of the lily——leaf below the water and gnawed it quite through．So the leaf floated a—way down the fiver with Thumbelina一缸，far away．where the toadcould not come．
Thumbelina sailed past a lot of places and the little birds in the bu—shes looked at her and sang．“What a sweet little girl！”On floated theleaf，farther and farther away；and thus little Thumbelina went abroad onher travels．
A pretty little white butterfly hovered over her，and at last it settledon the leaf．for it had taken quite a fancy tO Thumbelina．She was happy，for nOW the toad could not get at her，and as she sailed along the sun shone on the water like glistening gold and everything was very pretty．She took off her girdle and tied one end of it round the butterfly，and theother end she fastened to the leaf；SO now it glided along more quicklythan ever．
Presently a big cockchafer came flying along，he caught sight of herand instantly put his claw round her dainty waist and flew up into a treewith her．But the green leaf went sailing down the river and the butterflywith it，for he was fastened to the leaf and could not get away．
Gracious！How frightened to be sure，was poor little Thumbelinawhen the cockchafer flew up into the tree with her．But she was anxiousmost of all about the poor white buRerfly which she had tied fast tO theleaf；if he could not get loose，he must surely starve tO death！But thecockchafer did not trouble himself about that at a11．He sat down with heron the largest green leaf in the tree，gave her some honey from the flow‘ers tO eat，and told her that she was very pretty，although she did not re—semble a cockchafer in the least．
After that the other cockchafers who lived in the tree came and paidthem a visit；they looked at Thumbelina，and shrugged their feelers andsaid，“Why，she has only two legs；what a fright she looks！…‘She has no feelers at all，”they went on，“just lool~how slender her waist is！Fie！She looks just like a human being！How ugly she is！”