Fummalina, fummalina,
fly me little flea!
Fummalina, dance,
fummalina, sing!
Fummalina, what's the difference
of being very small?
When your heart is full of good will,
I'll be gone!
No, you're no bigger than my thumb,
than my thumb, than my thumb,
than my thumb,
than my thumb, sweet
Thumbelina, don't be glum,
don't be glum,
na -na -na, ah -ah -ah,
thump -thump -thump.
Thumbelina, Thumbelina,
tiny little thing,
Thumbelina dance,
Thumbelina sing,
Thumbelina, what's the difference
if you're very small,
When your heart's full of love
and life in full?
Oh, you're no bigger than my toe,
than my toe, than my toe,
than my toe, than my toe,
Swing down, believe it, keep that glow
Keep that glow
And you'll grow, and you'll grow,
and you'll grow
Thumbelina, Thumbelina,
tiny little thing
Thumbelina, dance,
Thumbelina, sing
Thumbelina, what's the difference
if you're very small
When you are full of thunder an d lightning,
so
Once there was a woman
who wanted a child
more than anything else on earth.
One day she went to see an old
witch.
The witch gave her a magic seed
and said, Go home and plant this.
See what happens. The
seed grew right away,
up came the most beautiful tulip.
How lovely it is, said the woman,
and she kissed the flower.
The flower opened with a pop.
Standing inside was a tiny little girl.
She was only an inch high,
smaller than your thumb.
I'll call her Thumbelina,
thought the woman.
Thumbelina slept in a walnut shell,
with a rose petal for a
blanket.
She was very happy in her new
home.
In the daytime,
she played on a table
or in her lake,
which was a bowl full of water
with flowers in it. She had
a little leaf for a boat.
One night, a nasty old toad
sneaked into the house
and saw Thumbelina sleeping.
She'd make a good wife for my
son, she thought,
and she stole the tiny girl away.
The mother toad put her on a lily pad
in the middle of the stream,
and Thumbelina couldn't escape.
Of course,
Thumbelina didn't want to marry any toad
and live in the mud with
him.
But she was trapped until
a beautiful white butterfly
helped her get away.
After that,
Thumbelina had lots of adventures.
First, a big ugly bug
wanted to marry her.
Then he let her go,
and she wandered around the forest
for a long time.
Now this story is finally getting good.
Hush, Oscar, and let me finish the story.
Now, just as the freezing winter
was beginning,
a little field mouse took her into
her house under the ground.
It was a little strange to live with a mouse,
but Thumbelina was glad to be warm
and cozy.
Next door to the mouse
lived a fuzzy, boring, bad -tempered,
unpleasant old mole.
He didn't like the sun
because he lived under the ground.
He didn't like birds or flowers or
butterflies
and wasn't interested in seeing
them.
But he did like Thumbelina.
He liked her singing
and so she had to
sing him song after song.
Now one day the tiny girl found
a swallow lying on the ground.
The beautiful bird wasn't moving
and Thumbelina thought
he was dead.
Thumbelina was so sad she covered him up with
a little blanket
she wove out of grass and flowers.
But when she bent down to give him a farewell kiss,
she felt his heart beating.
He was just freezing cold,
and the blanket had brought
him back to life again.
Thumbelina nursed him back
to health.
When he was better,
he asked her to fly away with him,
but she refused. The mole and the
mouse
have been so kind to me.
I can't leave them, she said.
It would make them very sad.
And so the bird sadly flew away.
One day, the mouse announced to Thumbelina that
she was to be the mole's wife.
Aren't you lucky, said the mouse,
he has so many fine things,
and you'll be wealthy.
They were to be married in the fall.
You lucky girl, said the mole to her,
you'll live down here with me,
and you'll never need
that silly sunshine again.
Well, the wedding got nearer and nearer,
and Thumbelina got sadder
and sadder.
She didn't want to marry any of these toads
and bugs and moles,
but they all wanted to marry her.
What was to become of her?
She was just about to give up
and marry the mole
when her lovely swallow appeared again.
Why don't you come with me?"
he asked her once more.
This time she agreed.
The swallow carried her away
to a wonderful, warm country
full of sunlight and flowers.
And wait until you hear this part.
She found there a tiny little prince,
just the same size as she was.
Of course, they fell in love right away,
and of course, she married him.
Thumbelina became queen
of the flowers.
There, Oscar.
Wasn't that a nice story?
Of course not.
It was yucky,
except for the toads and
the bugs and the mole.
I especially liked that mole.
In fact, I think she should have married
him.
I don't think that would have been
such a good idea.
She didn't love him at all.
So what? That's not the way
it's supposed to be.
Especially not in a fairy tale.
Listen, this is the way it's
supposed to be.
