Once upon a time there was a marred old woman who owned a beautiful garden. The woman loved her garden, and the forest and meadows that surrounded it. She was lonely, but she had a kind heart.
One day, when she was gathering firewood from the forest she came upon a strange injured creature with many antlers. The old woman helped the creature and nursed it back to health. In exchange for her help the creature asked her what she desired. The old woman said there was nothing she wished for more than a daughter. The creature told her her wish would be granted. The creature gave the old woman a seed and instructed her to plant it in her flower garden, from there would sprout her new daughter.
The old woman was unsure on how a plant could give her a daughter but she did as the creature instructed. The old woman planted the seed within her flower garden. By the next day a beautiful flower had grown. She watched as the petals opened to reveal a small child, no bigger than her thumb, with pretty glassy wings.
The old woman named the flower child Thumbelina and raised her as her own. Thumbelina was a good child. Though she was small, she did her best to help her mother in whatever way she could.
However, as she grew older, she began to wish she knew other people of her size. Thumbelina voiced her dismay to the butterflies as they drank from her mother's flowers. Upon hearing her the butterflies informed her that there were people with a stature similar to her own. They were the fairies and they lived deep within the forest. They could show her the way if she so desired.
Thumbelina was overjoyed at hearing there could be other people like herself. Right away she went to her mother and informed her of her discovery, and intention to seek out these small folk. Her mother was saddened at Thumbelina's intention to depart, but Thumbelina assured her that she would return.
Thumbelina followed the butterflies who led her deep into the woods. The tree cover was thick and little light fell through to the forest floor. The butterflies led her to a large tree with a dark hole nestled within its roots. There they told her she would find the fairies.
Thumbelina crawled into the dark hole, her heartbeat thumping loudly within her chest. Carefully she walked in total darkness until in the distance she saw bright sunlight. Thumbelina emerged into a forest much like the one she had come from, but slightly different. The trees had leaves of gold and beautiful iridescent flowers bloomed all about. Thumbelina's face was wide with awe at the beauty of the forest as she flew between the trees.
It was not long before Thumbelina caught glimpses of the fairies. They had glassy wings similar to hers and were dancing and laughing within a small clearing. Thumbelina was overjoyed and flew down and danced along with them. A few of the fairies stopped to greet their new arrival.
"A new fairy!" they all exclaimed happily.
"What's your name?" they asked.
"Thumbelina," she replied.
The fairies were very curious about Thumbelina. They poked, prodded, and examined her, tugging at her hair and her strange clothes that she had crafted with the help of her dear mother.
"These won't do," they laughed. "Let us help you," they said as they tore her dress to shreds.
Thumbelina was horrified. The fairies simply kept laughing. They fetched her a cloak made of moth wings. It was soft and beautiful, yet Thumbelina felt thoroughly uncomfortable.
"It's very nice," she said as she attempted a smile.
"You look beautiful," said a green fairy, "Much more like a fairy now."
Thumbelina was a bit saddened to have lost her dress, but she tried to put on a brave face. This was what she wanted. She had finally found people just like her.
"We must celebrate!" The fairies yelled joyously. The fairies brought and food and drink. They ate, drank and partied late into the night, and into the early morning.
Thumbelina was exhausted, but happy. She felt very special, the fairies having had such a large celebration in her honor.
Thumbelina soon discovered that her celebration was not actually so out of the ordinary for the fairies. Each night they ate, drank and danced.
The fairies never cooked. The forest had everything they needed. They drank nectar from the flowers and picked berries from the bushes. All their needs were taken care of. Even so, Thumbelina began to miss her mother's baking.
Sometimes the fairies stopped their merriment to craft cloaks and shawls from spider webs or dead insect wings. Other times they hollowed seeds or acorn shells to use as bowls or drinking vessels. But overall, the life of the fairies was a flurry of movement.
There was one fairy, a blue fairy who didn't seem to fit in with the other fairies. He liked making things more than playing music or dancing, but none of the things he made the other fairies liked, and he was always distracted by small things within the forest.
One night, Thumbelina saw the blue fairy sitting alone, his head held low. She came and sat beside him and asked him if something was wrong.
The blue fairy told her there was nothing wrong. Everything was wonderful. The other fairies were so kind, so generous, and always happy, singing, and laughing. The only thing that was wrong was himself.
"I'm a bad fairy," he laughed as a small tear fell down his cheek.
Thumbelina was confused. He had done nothing wrong. But then her breath caught as she came to the realization she had thought the same of herself. She had thought there was something wrong with her why she was not having as much fun as all the other fairies seemed to be having.
"You're not bad," Thumbelina said, "You're just different."
The blue fairy coked his head at her questioningly. "I don't understand," he said.
Thumbelina bit her lip as she thought for a moment. "The fairies here. They live the way they like to live, but maybe not all fairies need to live that way," she said, "You like to make things, but not like the things the other fairies like, you like to make other things. The fairies here think there is only one way to live, but you could live differently."
The blue fairy pursed his lips and thought. She could see hope and confusion flutter across his features. "I don't know how," he said.
"I know how," Thumbelina replied excitedly, "I've lived differently. Come home with me and I'll show you!"
As beautiful and wonderful as the fairies and their forest was, Thumbelina was terribly homesick.
The blue fairy at first seemed unsure, but then agreed to travel home with Thumbelina.
Thumbelina flew back with her blue friend to the large tree, the doorway between. They crawled blindly through the tunnel and emerged back in Thumbelina's world. She brought the blue fairy back to her mother's home where she was tending to the garden in the faint morning sun.
Thumbelina's mother was overjoyed to see her return, and pleasantly surprised to see her daughter's new companion. She welcomed the blue fairy into their home and showed him their garden and their home.
The blue fairy felt right at home. He helped Thumbelina's mother in the garden and in the home, taking quite a liking to weaving and cooking.
In time, the two began to miss the other fairies, but they were pleasantly surprised to find that though the other fairies found them to be silly and strange, they welcomed them back with open arms. The other fairies were also pleasantly surprised by the strange food that Thumbelina and the blue fairy brought back with them. They spent the evening eating, dancing, drinking and laughing, and in the morning they returned to their garden home.
In time, new fairies visited the garden and came to live with Thumbelina and her mother. And every full moon Thumbelina and her friends traveled to the land of fairies to dance and be merry, returning back to their garden home in the morning. The old woman and Thumbelina were never lonely again and lived happily ever after.
***
Made for the Fables Club December Challenge. I wasn't sure I would be able to get it finished. :disappointed_relieved:
I changed a lot from the original story, though that's somewhat because I wasn't that much of a fan of the original 🤔 And it's a bit rushed, so my apologies. :sweat_smile: Though I have a feeling many people were busy this time of year.
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