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Story 79: Thumbling (Maleversion of ThumbelinabyBrothers Grimm 1812)

In my Princess Cynthia Book Thumbelina has already married twice and after the kind fairy passed away she found Thumbling took him in and cared for him and in return he looked out for her daughter. And when she saw how caring he was she remarried to him.

Thumbling

There was once a poor peasant who sat by the stove one evening
Ind poked the fre while his wife was spinning. "Isn't it sad," he said, anar we have no children? Other people's houses are noisy and gay, and here i's so quiet." "Yes, indeed," said his wife with a sigh, "ever there were only one, and even if he were no bigger than my thumb, Id be satisfied. Oh, how dearly we would love him!" It so happened that the wife began to ail, and seven months later she gave birth to a child, who though perfectly shaped was no bigger than a thumb.
"It's just what we wished for," they said, "and he shall be our dear child."
Because of his size they called him Thumbling. Though they gave him all the food he could eat, he didn't grow and never got any bigger than he had been on the day he was born. But his eyes sparkled with intelligence, and he soon proved to be a clever, nimble little fellow, who succeeded in everything he undertook.
One day his father was getting ready to go out and cut wood, and he mumbled to himself; "If only there were someone who could drive the wagon out after me." "Oh, father," Thumbling cried, "I'll bring the wagon; you can count on me. It will be in the forest when you need it." The man laughed and said: "How can that be? You're much too small to hold the reins." "Never mind. If mother will just harness the horse, I'll sit in his ear and tell him which way to go."
"All right," said the father. "We'll give it a try." When the time came, the mother harnessed the horse and put Thumbling in his ear. The little fellow shouted, "Gee up!" and "Whoa!" and told the horse which way to go. All went well; it was if a coachman had been driving, and the horse took the right way to the forest. As the wagon was rounding a bend the little fellow cried out, "Gee up!" and it so happened that just then two strange men came along. "Bless my soul!" cried one of them. "What's this? Here comes a wagon, and a driver is telling the horse what to do, but there isn't any driver."
"There's something fishy about it," said the other. "Let's follow the wagon and see where it stops." The wagon went deep into the forest, righe to the place where the wood was being out. When Then, sing saw his father, he cried out; "You see, father. Here I am with he wagon. Just lift me down." His father held the horse with his left hand and with his right hand lifted his little son down from the horse's ear. Then Thumbling, as spry as you please, sat down on a blade of straw.

At the sight of him, the two strange men were speechless with amazement. They went off to one side, and one of them said: "Listen to me. That little fellow will make our fortune if we take him to a big city and charge admission for seeing him. Let's buy him." They went to the peasant and said: "Sell us the little man. Well treat him well." "No," said the father. "He's the apple of my eye, and I wouldn't sell him for all the money in the world." But when Thumbling heard the offer, he climbed up along the folds of his father's coat, stood on his shoulder and whispered in his ear: "Father, let them take me. Don't worry, I'll soon be back." So the father sold him to the men for a tidy sum of money. "Where do you want to sit?" they asked him. "Oh, just put me on the brim of your hat; then I can stroll around and look at the country. I won't fall." They let him have his way and when Thumbling had taken leave of his father, off they went with him. They walked until dusk, and then the little fellow said: "Put me down for a moment. I have to go." "Just stay where you are," said the man on whose hat he was riding, "I don't mind. It gets splattered by the birds now and then." "No," said Thumbling. "I know what's right and proper; just put me down for a moment." The man took off his hat and put the little fellow down in a field by the wayside. For a while he jumped from clod to clod and crawled abous, then he slipped inne A nane talede had spicd. crowled ye gentlemen," he cried out, And he taunted them. "ca
'C day home without me. They came ruining and poled stic run the house hole, but in vain, for Thumbling crawled in despe and deeper. Soon it was pitch dark and there was nothing they could do but go their way with bad tempers and empty purses.
*buts Thumbling saw they were gone, he crawled out of the un. derground passage. "Tis dangerous walking in the fields after dark,. hesaid. "A neck or a leg is easily broken." Luckily he came across an empty snail shell. "Thank goodness," he said. "Here's a safe place to spend the night." And he settled down in it. Just as he was falling aslcep, he heard two men passing, and one of them said to the other;
"How are we going to get hold of the rich priest's gold and silver?"
"I can tell you!" cried Thumbling. "What was that?" asked one of the thieves in a fright. "I heard someone speak." They stopped walking and listened, and Thumbling spoke again. "Take me with you and I'll help you."
"Who are you?"
"Just feel the ground," he replied, "and listen where the voice comes from." After a while the thieves found him and picked him up."
"You little rascal," they said. "How can you
help us?" "It's easy," he said. "TII crawl between the iron bars. Then, once I'm in the priest's room, you'll tell me what you want and I'll hand it out to you." "All right," they said. "We'll see what you can do." When they got to the presbytery, Thumbling crawled into the priest's room, but as soon as he was inside he began to shout:
"Do you want everything that's here?" The thieves were frightened and said:
"Speak softly, will you? You'll wake everybody up." But Thumbling pretended not to understand and shouted: "What do you want? Do you want everything that's here?" The cook, who was sleeping in the next room, heard him. She sat up in the bed and listened. The thieves, who had started to run away in their fright, took courage and thought: "The little fellow is teasing us." So they came back and whispered to him: "Now get to work and hand us something." And Thumbling shouted as loud as he could: "I'll give you anything you want. Just stick your hands in." The cook, who was listening, heard him clearly. She jumped out of bed and came stumbling in, while the thieves ran as if they had had the Wild Hunter at their heels. The cook, who couldn't see a thing, went and lit a candle.
When she came back with it, Thumbling slipped out unseen and made for the barn. She looked in every nook and cranny. When she found nothing she went back to bed and imagined she had dreamed the whole thing.
Thumbling scrambled about in the hay and found himself a nice place to sleep. He thought he would stay there until daybreak, and then go home to his parents. But something very different awaited him. Yes indeed, the world is full of misery and trouble. In the gray of dawn, the cook got up to feed the cows. Sihe went to the bar stay deked up an prof I humbling hich happened to be the exact and pintal where poor The ridhing lay sleeping. He was so sound asleep seidnit notice, and he didn't wale up until he was berween the law, of the cow, who had picked him up with the hay. "Good God he died. "How did I get into this fulling mill!" But he soon realized where he was. He was careful to keep away from the teeth that
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would have crushed him, but he couldn't help sliding down into the stomach with the hay. "There's not much sunshine in this place," he said to himself. "They forgot to put in windows, and I don't see any-
one bringing candles."
" In short, the place was not at all to his liking,
and the worst of it was that more and more hay was coming through the door, which left less and less room for him. That frightened him so that he finally shouted with all his might: "No more feed! No more feed!" At that moment the cook was milking the cow. When she heard someone speaking though there was no one in sight and it was the same voice she had heard during the night, she was so frightened she fell off her stool and spilled the milk. She ran to her master as fast as her legs would carry her and cried out: "Good gracious, father, the cow has been talking." "You're out of your mind," said the priest, but all the same he went to the barn to see for himself.
No sooner had he stepped in than Thumbling cried out: "No more feed! No more feed!" The priest was frightened too, for he thought an evil spirit had got into the cow, and he ordered the cow to be slaughtered. Slaughtered she was, and the stomach, where Thumbling was sitting, was thrown on the rubbish pile. Thumbling had a hard time working his way through. He finally reached the surface and was just going to stick his head out when another misfortune struck.
A hungry wolf came running and swallowed the whole stomach at one gulp. But Thumbling didn't lose heart. "Maybe this wolf can be reasoned with," he thought. So he shouted up to it from the depths of its belly. Dear waked the wolf. "In such and such a hourful feed.» is bels that- asked the wolf, "In such and such a house. Xou" Autor'aster in through the drain, and ye til find all the cake, here on diausages you an eat." And he gave him an exact descrip. tion of his father's house.
dion of dies appealed to the wolf. That night he squeezed into the tarter through the drain and gobbled to his heart's content. When he had eaten his fill so he wanted to leave, but he had grown so fat that he couldn't' get out the same way. Thumbling, who had counted on just that began to scream and yell in the wolf's belly, and to make as much noise as he could. "Be still" said the wolf, "You'll wake everybody up." "Nonsense," said Thumbling. "You've had a good feed, now I'm going to have some fun too," and he began to shout at the top of his lungs. Finally his father and mother woke up, ran to the larder, opened the door by a crack and looked in. At the sight of the wolf, they ran away, and when they came back, the man had an ax and his wife had the scythe. "Stand behind me," said the man. "If my first blow doesn't kill him, you swing your scythe and cut him in two." Thumbling heard his father's voice and cried out: "Father dear, I'm here. Im in the wolf's belly." The father was overjoyed.
"Thank the Lord!" he cried. "Our dear child is found again." Telling his wife to put down the scythe for fear of hurting Thumbling, he lifted his ax and struck the wolf such a blow on the head that he fell dead. Then they brought a knife and a pair of scissors, cut open the belly, and took the little fellow out. "Dear me," said the father, "how worried we've been on your account!" "Oh, father, what travels I've had! And how good it is to breathe fresh air again!" "But where have you been?" "Oh, father, I've been in a mouse hole, a cow's stomach, and a wolf's belly. But now I'm going to stay home with you." "And we won't sell you again for all the money in the world," said the parents, and hugged and kissed their dear Thumbling. They had new clothes made for him, because the old ones had been spoiled in the course of his adventures.

This begins a series of stories, Skylight he has more tales to tell.