Little Tiny or Thumbelina
Before I start my analysis about Little Tiny or Thumbelina, first of all, I’m going to give a brief explanation about the facts regarding this story. According to Wikipedia*, Thumbelina is a literary folktale written by Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published on December 18th 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Later on, it was spread all over the world and became one of the most famous folk tales in the world. However, the first English version of Thumbelina was translated by Mary Howitt. She changed some parts of the story where Thumbelina was first obtained from a barleycorn that was given by a fairy. She changed a fairy with a beggar. Well, in this project, I use the Hans Christian Andersen’s version of Thumbelina.
Basically, this story tells us about a tiny little girl with a very big dream. The story started when a childless woman who wished to have a child came to a fairy to fulfill her wish. The fairy then gave her a barleycorn and then she planted it. Magically, once planted, a girl in a size of a thumb came out from it. Thumbelina, that’s what her mother called her. One day, when Thumbelina was asleep, she was kidnapped by a toad who wanted to marry her. Luckily, with the help of the fish and the butterfly, she managed to escape from the toad. She always dreamed about a prince in a same size of her to marry her. During the winter, she was alone and no one helped her. She couldn’t stand the cold. Fortunately, a mouse helped her and invited her to his house. The next day, the mouse asked Thumbelina to marry his neighbor, the mole. Thumbelina refused it, and she flew away to a faraway land with the help of a bird which once she took care of during the winter. On that place, Thumbelina met her fate, a prince in the same size of her.
According to Folklorist Maria Tatar, “Thumbelina is a runaway bride story and notes that it has been viewed as an allegory about arranged marriages, and a fable about being true to one’s heart that upholds the traditional notion that the love of a prince is to be valued above all else (directly cited from Wikipedia)(1).”
After reading the story, I found that the story contains a lot of positive morals suitable for the children. The moral I found in this story is to never give up, no matter how hard it is. From the story, we can see how hard Thumbelina tries to avoid several marriages in which the others had forced her to agree. Starting from she was kidnapped by a toad until she was forced to marry with a mole. She never gave up until finally she found her true match.
--” There lay a great white marble column which had fallen to the ground and broken into three pieces, but between these grew the most beautiful white flowers. The swallow flew down with Thumbelina, and set her upon one of the broad leaves. But there, to her astonishment, she found a tiny little man sitting in the middle of the flower, as white and transparent as if he were made of glass; he had the prettiest golden crown on his head, and the most beautiful wings on his shoulders; he himself was no bigger than Thumbelina. He was the spirit of the flower. In each blossom there dwelt a tiny man or woman; but this one was the King over the others.”— (2)
From the above quotation, we can see that all the hardships Thumbelina have faced will be paid. As for children, it will give them more courage in doing their daily activities. It’s just like what Jack Zipes has stated that folk and fairy tales “were written with the purpose of socializing children to meet definite normative expectations at home and in the public sphere”. So, after reading this story, I believe it will give some positive impacts to the children. They will learn that if they don’t give up, they will get the best result. Just like how Thumbelina has taught them. In summary, the children will naturally implement this thing through their daily life.
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