The Story

"Thumbelina," based on Hans Christian Andersen's timeless fairy tale is the sweet story of a little girl, no bigger than a thumb, on a quest to find the Meadow of the Tulips.

(The following text is a complete re-telling of the film, please, don't read if you are planning on watching the film.)

The story begins when Father wisely predicts the dangers that the coming of Spring will bring, for the snow in the mountains will melt, causing the water in the pond to rise destroying the dam, without a barrier to keep the waters in, the pond will overflow and the waters will cover the meadows, drowning all of the little people.

"What are we going to do now? We have to warn everyone."

There's no time to waste, Father realizes that he is old, too old to travel to the Meadow of the Tulips, where he hopes someone will inform the prince about the upcoming dangers and he will send his men to save the dam and so, save the lives of the Little People. Father sends his daughter in this dangerous journey explaining to her what she must do when she reaches the meadow.

The young girl's journey is filled with ups and downs, he meets good and kind creatures and some wicked ones. Her first encounter happens while she is asleep. Inside of her tulip, the young girl doesn't realize that she is being taken away by a gypsy. The gypsy sells both the girl and the tulip to a lonely childless woman who is very happy with her new daughter, seeing the size of the girl, she decides to name her, Thumbelina. Although the girl tries to explain to her new mother that she must be on her way, she won't listen, so Thumbelina's only way out is by scaping, of course, once again someone does the job for her.

While asleep in her new bed, an old frog pays a visit to the woman's house, she takes the girl and her bed away in hope that she will agree to marry her ugly toad son. Once again, the little Thumbelina explains the situation, but the old frog refuses to listen and places the girl on a lily pad to prevent her from scaping. Here, the girl meets her first friends, a pair of fish cut the lily pad and the girl navegates down the river away from the mean frog.

"Strange, every time I fall asleep, I wake up in a different place!"

While sleeping, Thumbelina meets a sweet Swallow. The two quickly become friends and the girl asks the bird if he knows of the meadow, unfortunately, the swallow explains that she does not know of that place and that he must be on his way in order to find his flock. The two friends are soon parted and each on their way.

Thumbelina finds away to fly to the meadow of the tulips when she meets a kind and pretty butterfly who agrees to take her there, however, an old beetle takes Thumbelina away as a pet and she is once again lost in the middle of nowhere. Luckily for her, the beetle's second impression of Thumbelina makes her want to forget about her.

Through the fall, Thumbelina keeps warm by making her own little home out of leaves. She befriends the kind Big Bear but their friendship is put to the test when an angry pack of wolves arrive and start attacking the poor Big Bear, Thumbelina, wanting to thank the bear for his help in a previous incident, decides to help the bear in any way she can. Thumbelina picks up a little twig and quickly runs towards Big Bear and the wolves. Strangely enough, the wolves pick tails and run when they see her. Two friendly bears arrive and Thumbelina soon realizes that it was them who scared the wolves. Disappointed, Thumbelina is cheered up by Big Bear by telling her that if not strength, Thumbelina's gift of bravery is far more precious.

Thumbelina asks the trio of bears for help in order to find the Meadow of Tulips, unfortunately, Big Bear explains that winter is coming and that in winter, all bears must go to their caves and sleep until spring. Alone, Thumbelina wonders farms and fields through the winter, out of strength, Thumbelina meets an old fox looking for food, Thumbelina begs the fox not to eat her and he explains that such a small human wouldn't be much, so he lets her go and informs her that she is walking over a corn field.

"Eh, quickly, eh quickly, quickly! Finish setting the table, girl!"

Happily, Thumbelina digs the snow in order to find some corn, however, she soon realizes that there's none to be found. Lost in the snow storm, Thumbelina hears and decides to follow a singing voice, a voice who leads her to the home of an old mouse by the name of Mona. The old mouse helps Thumbelina recover her strengths, and when she recooperates, she tries to explain to Mona that she must reach the Meadow of the Tulips before spring comes, however, Mona isn't paying much attention, Thumbelina doesn't realize that Mona is planning something evil.

"Delightful, I've been looking forward to meeting Thumbelina. Bring her here!"

One winter morning, Mona listens to Thumbelina's story and she conforts her by saying that an old friend will soon be visiting, an old mole who is sure to be able to help Thumbelina on her quest. Mr. Morton Mole arrives at Mona's house and stays for dinner, he is happy to meet Thumbelina and soon falls in love with her. Mona informs Thumbelina that she must marry Mr. Mole even if she doesn't want to and explains to her that Mr. Mole will want to please her by taking her to the Meadow of the Tulips for their Honey Moon. Thumbelina agrees to marry the ugly Mr. Mole to show her gratefulness to Mona for saving her life.

Soon after, Mr. Mole makes an unexpected visit. He decides to dig a tunnel underground connecting his house with Mona's. Mr. Mole invites them both to make a visit to this new tunnel, where Thumbelina finds the dead body of the swallow who she met long ago. Both Mona and Mr. Mole laugh at Thumbelina's tears, feeling sad in the night, Thumbelina decides to take the swallow a blanket to keep him warm but happily for Thumbelina, she realizes that her good friend is alive. Thumbelina tells the swallow her story and he kindly tells her that he will be happy to fly her away. However, Thumbelina is still grateful to Mona, and tells the swallow that she cannot leave her.

"No one should be buried without something to keep them warm. Mona and Mr. Mole won't do it, so I will!"

In the valley, Father worries seeing the rising waters, he hopelessly feels that time has run out and all is lost. At Mona's house, Thumbelina is preparing for her wedding, one last time, she tells Mona about the dam, but once again she refuses to listen. Thumbelina, feeling sad and guilty, receives the visit of her friend the swallow, who has come with good news. The swallow informs Thumbelina that he has found the Meadow of the Tulips and when the girl runs to ask Mr. Mole to postpone the wedding, Thumbelina discovers that Mr. Mole will never take her to the meadow and that Mona has sold her in exchange for corn. Shocked, Thumbelina doesn't think twice about leaving Mona, who has been lying to her and takes off in the wings of her friend.

"And he'll never take me to the meadow. She sold me to him, Mona lied to me all along!"

Some time later, Thumbelina arrives at the dam with the prince and all his men, who come flying on the swallow's friends, the swallow has found his flock. The prince, grateful to Thumbelina and Father, asks the girl to marry her and she soon agrees. Thumbelina, the prince and Father, live happily ever after never having to worry about the waters, for the dam has been fixed.

THE END