Thumbelina Again

Traveling by sparrow is the best way

Greetings, dear reader. This week, we'll be looking at the tale of Thumbelina. I did talk about this story before on my blog, but it's worth talking about again. Click the first link to read the story and then continue with me below.

Let's start with the toads. Firstly, when Momma Toad sees a beautiful, tiny human, apparently her first thought is to kidnap the girl and make her marry a toad. I don't know how Momma Toad was raised, but she isn't very nice. I am still confused about how Tiny/Thumbelina is supposed to live under a marsh. She can't hold her breath nearly as long as a toad can. So, it could be very problematic for her to get in and out of their house. Although, I suppose that wouldn't bother either of the toads since they don't seem to care about what she wants. It'd be easier to keep her captive if she couldn't leave the house.

We'll leave the other assorted animals for a bit. It's interesting how Thumbelina's beauty switches between being a good and a bad thing. It's a good thing in the beginning when her mom loves her right away and she's safe at home. However, Momma Toad kidnaps her because of her beauty. But the fish and butterfly save her because she's beautiful. Then the cockchafer kidnaps her because she's beautiful, but abandons her when he's convinced she isn't. After that, there's the field mouse and the mole. Well, the mole is blind, and there's nothing in the text that says the field mouse took Thumbelina in because she's pretty. The field mouse just asks that Thumbelina do some chores and tell some stories. This might be the most genuine friendship Thumbelina has. Except for the part where the field mouse tries to make Thumbelina marry for money when Thumbelina has no interest in that. Kind of a big deal.

Often, beautiful women in fairy tales get in trouble because of their beauty, so it's nice to see that it gets Thumbelina out of trouble, but also that she can take care of herself. Assuming she got away from the bug in the spring, she lives in the forest for months until the cold of winter nearly kills her. For someone who's possibly never left her house before, this is very impressive.

Let's jump ahead to the king of the fairies at the end. It's interesting that Thumbelina would only be happy marrying a king. Now, he has a lot more to recommend him than her previous suitors, one of the biggest things being that he didn't try to force her to marry him. He also didn't try to keep her away from anything like the sun. I suppose at this point, Thumbelina no longer cared about going home to her mother. Which makes me wonder if Thumbelina really cared for anyone before the swallow whose life she saved. She puts in the effort to save him and talks to him for months. Most importantly, neither of them tried to change the other. I think he was her first true friend.

So, I suppose the moral of this story is to try to save the life of a bird if you can. They may save you from a forced marriage. Alternatively, learn to lie about not being married if folks around you keep trying to marry you off.

Have a different moral? Want to talk about how the fairy king just renamed Thumbelina as soon as he met her? Have another story you want me to cover? Comment below!