Bedtime Disney Stories

Thumbelina

Once upon a time there was an old woman who lived in a cottage on a hill, all by herself.

She never had any children of her own.  No one ever came to visit and, thus, the woman took to caring for her garden of beautiful flowers.  Eventually not even the old woman’s garden could keep her from feeling lonesome.

One day, as the old woman was watering her bright red roses, a witch came walking up the hill to the woman’s house.  The old woman was skeptical of witches because she’d heard about all the apples and beans they tried to sell; however, this witch seemed nicer than what the old woman imagined.  They talked for a long time, and each grew fond of the other.  The woman finally told the witch that she had grown lonely in her old age.  The witch, feeling sorry for the old woman, gave her a special seed for free.  The witch told her to plant the seed in her best soil, to water her seed with her clearest water, and to give her seed some extra love.

The old woman did what the witch asked: she planted the seed in a small pot with the finest soil; she watered the seed with fresh rainwater; and one day, when the beautiful pink flower had sprouted up from the dirt, the old woman kissed its closed petals.

Suddenly, the flower petals opened up and inside sat a small girl with long golden hair.  She was no larger than the old woman’s thumb.  The old woman named her Thumbelina.

She took great care of Thumbelina as her own daughter.  She made her a bed out of a polished walnut shell and each night she gathered flower petals from her garden for Thumbelina to use for warmth.  Thumbelina would sing the old woman to sleep with a most beautiful singing voice.

After hearing Thumbelina’s lovely voice one warm summer night, a large toad hopped up to a window. Hop!  Hop!  Hop!

Once Thumbelina had fallen asleep, the toad crept in through the window.

“Oh my!  This one will make the perfect wife for my son!” she exclaimed.  The toad grabbed Thumbelina in the walnut shell and carried her off to the nearby river.  Once near the river the toad said to her son, “Gaze at the lovely bride I found for you!”

Croak!  Croak!  Crooooooak!  was all her son could reply.

Proudly, the mother toad took the still sleeping Thumbelina to a patch of lily pads and placed her on the smallest one.  Then she went back to where her son was now lying in a large puddle of mud and the two of them began to construct a house of mud and reeds fit for the new bride.

Thumbelina awoke at the sound of hops and croaks and immediately began to sob at the thought of her mother all alone without the company of being sung to sleep.

Two orange fish heard Thumbelina weeping and saw the lily pad she was sitting on.

“We should help her,” both said at the same time.  Immediately they swam over to Thumbelina’s lily pad and chewed at her lily stalk until she broke free.

“Oh!  Thank you!  Thank you so much,” Thumbelina exclaimed, waving goodbye to the fish as she began float away downstream.

As Thumbelina traveled down the river, her heart was filled with all the wonder of the world outside.  She saw the beautiful stars in the sky; she heard the sounds of crickets chirping; and she could smell the lovely aroma of the flowers surrounding the river’s edge.