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So they were to be married; the mole had come to fetch Thumbelisa; she was to live deep down
under the ground with him, and never to go out into the warm
sunshine, for he could not bear it. The
poor child was very sad at the thought of bidding good-bye to the beautiful sun; while she had been with the field-mouse she had at least been allowed to
look at it from the door.
"Good-bye, you bright sun," she said as she
stretched out her arms towards it and went a little way outside the field-mouse's house, for now the
harvest was over and only the stubble remained. "Good-bye, good-bye!" she said, and threw her tiny arms round a little red
flower growing there. "Give my love to the dear swallow if you happen to see him."
"Tweet, tweet," she heard at this moment above her head. She looked up; it was the swallow just passing. As soon as it saw Thumbelisa it was
delighted; she told it how unwilling she was to have the ugly mole for a husband, and that she was to live
deep down underground where the sun never shone. She could not help crying about it.
"The cold
winter is coming," said the swallow, "and I am going to fly away to warm countries. Will you go with me? You can sit upon my back! Tie yourself on with your
sash, then we shall fly away from the ugly mole and his dark
cavern, far away over the mountains to those warm countries where the sun shines with greater splendour than here, where it is always summer and there are heaps of flowers, Do fly with me, you sweet little Thumbelisa, who saved my life when I lay frozen in the dark earthy passage."
"Yes, I shall go with you," said Thumbelisa, seating herself on the bird's back with her feet on its
outspread wing. She tied her band tightly to one of the strongest feathers, and then the swallow flew away, high up in the air above
forests and
lakes, high up above the biggest
mountains where the snow never melts; and Thumbelisa shivered in the cold air, but then she crept under the bird's warm
feathers, and only stuck out her little head to look at the beautiful sights beneath her.
Then at last they reached they reached the
warm countries. The sun shone with a warmer glow than here; the sky was twice as high, and the most beautiful green and blue
grapes grew in clusters on the banks and
hedgerows.
Oranges and lemons hung in the woods which were fragrant with
myrtles and sweet
herbs, and the beautiful children ran about the roads playing with the large gorgeously-coloured butterflies. But the swallow flew on and on, and the country grew more and more beautiful. Under
magnificent green trees on the shore of the blue sea stood a
dazzling white marble palace of anicent date;
vines wreathed themselves round the stately pillars. At the head of these there were countless nests, and the swallow who carried Thumbelisa lived in one of them.
"Here is my house," said the swallow, "but if you will choose one of the gorgeous flowers growing down there, I shall place you in it, and you will live as happily as you can wish."
"That would be
delightful," she said, and
clapped her her little hands.
A great white marble
column had fallen to the ground and lay there broken in three pieces, but between these the most lovely white flowers grew. The swallow flew down with Thumbelisa and put her upon one of the broad leaves; what was her
astonishment to find a little man in the middle of the flower, as bright and
transparent as if he had been made of glass. He had a lovely golden
crown upon his head and the most beautiful bright wingsupon his shoulders; he was no bigger than Thumbelisa. He was the
angel of the flowers. There was a similiar little man of woman in every flower, but he was the
king of them all.
"
Heavens, how beautiful he is," whispered Thumbelisa to the swallow. The little
prince was quite frightened by the swallow, for it was
a perfect giant of a bird to him, he who was so small and delicate, but when he saw Thumbelisa he was delighted; she was the very prettiest girl he had ever seen. He therefore took the golden crown off his own head and placed it on hers, and asked her name, and if she would be his wife, and then she would be
queen of the flowers! Yes, he was certainly a very different kind of husband from the
toad's son, or the
mole with his black velvet coat. So she accepted the beautiful prince, and out of every flower stepped a little
lady or a
gentleman so lovely that it was a pleasure to look at them. Each one brought a gift to Thumbelisa, but the best of all was a pair of pretty
wings from a large white fly; they were fastened onto her back, and then she too could fly from flower to flower. All was then delight and happiness, but the swallow sat alone in his nest and sang to them as well as he could, for his heart was
heavy, he was so fond of Thumbelisa himself, and would have
wished never to part from her.
"You will not be called Thumbelisa," said the angel of the flowers to her; "that is such an
ugly name, and you are so pretty. We shall call you
May."
"Good-bye, good-bye," said the swallow, and flew away again from the warm countries, far away back to
Denmark; there he had a little
nest above the
window where the man lived who wrote this story, and he sang his "tweet, tweet" to the man, and so we have the whole story.
Source: Great Fairy Stories (Daily Sketch Publications).