Thumb Girl 拇指姑娘

(flower pot 花罐)

Once upon a time a woman planted a seed in a flower pot.

Soon, a red flower comes out.

The woman says: "How beautiful it is."

(pick 啃，啄)

So, she picks the flower.

(extend 伸展，綿延)

Suddenly, the flower extends and its blossom stretches out to reveal a girl sitting in it. She looks young and fair with big eyes.

(innocent 純潔)

She is so innocent! Because she is only as big as half a thumb. Everyone calls her "Thumb girl".

(walnut shell 胡桃殼)

The woman puts her into a walnut shell with a violet cushion and a quilt made of rose petals. Thumb girl lies there fragrantly and comfortably(拇指姑娘睡在里面又香又舒服。).

One night when Thumb girl is sleeping an ugly toad comes in through the window sees her and says:

"This girl is so pretty she is the one to be my wife."

then it snatches up the girl, jumps out of the window and goes home. The toad's son is as ugly as his father and upon seeing the girl, it cries out:

"Croak Croak Croak".

Thumb girl bursts into tears.

(lilypad 睡蓮)

The second day the toad's son and his father put thumb girl on a lilypad and then get the new house ready. The fish in the river feel unhappy when they feel a pretty will merry a toad. They bite through the stalk together so the leaf floats down the river like a ship without an anchor. Thumb girl also floats with it to a place where the toad can't find her.

(flying beetle 金龜子)

Then a flying beetle finds the girl so it flies down and takes her up onto a tree. In a while other beetles come to look at Thumb girl because they had heard of her beauty. The beetles talk about her: "Oh, she is so ugly with only two feet!" "She has no antenna!" "Look at her. Her waist is too thin like a string." The beetle who has taken her back hears that and then changes its mind. So it also is not willing to stay with thumb girl and flies away.

(huddle up 縮成一團)

The summer passes and winter comes. Thumb girl is so hungry and she feels so cold. She huddles up in a leaf. She has no warm house, no quilt, no a piece of cloth. Soon Thumb girl will freeze to

death. Thumb girl tries to find her a warm place.

(miserable 可憐的，不幸的)

One day she comes across the door of a field mouse's house, she begs it to give her some food

because she has been hungry for several days. The warm-hearted mouse sees poor sad Thumb girl and

lets her come into its warm house and gives her food and water. The field mouse says:

"You are so miserable. You may live here with me."

So Thumb girl settles in the house.

(loud and proud 驕傲又神氣)

After few days, the field mouse's neighbor, mole, comes to visit. He is loud and proud with a nice black velvet suit. The field mouse says to Thumb girl:

"the mole has many more houses than I. If you marry him you'll be happy."

But Thumb girl is not interested.

(weave 編制)

(consciousness 意識)

She doesn't like the mole and doesn't want to marry him. The mole likes her very much and invites her to comein his tunnel. In the tunnun she sees a frozen swallow, lying there still. She feels sad because she likes birds. At night Thumb girl misses the swallow and can't sleep so she gets up weaves a soft warm blanket. Then she goes and covers it with the blanket. She is surprised

to find that the bird's heart is still beating. It is not dead, it just lost consciousness as it was frozen. Now it feels warm and recovers.

Thumb Girl is very glad and hurries to fetch some water. After it has a drink, the swallow says:

"Thank you very much! You have saved me."

The swallow tells thumb girl that it was wounded by someone and couldn't fly properly so it fell onto the ground. It doesn't remember what happened after that.

(recover 恢復(fù)體力)

The swallow lives there for the winter. Thumb girl comes to see and take care of it each day. It recovers. The field mouse don't know about it. When the spring comes, the sun shines warmly. The swallow is going to leave.

It asks if Thumb girl wants to go with it. Thumb girl feels she can not. If she did she would miss the field mouse because he is kind. Then the swallow leaves Thumb girl and flies away.

(propose 求婚)

The mole proposes to Thumb girl and the field mouse also supports him. So he urges Thumb girl to

make some new clothes. Thumb Girl cries. She tells the mouse that she doesn't want to be the mole's wife. But the field mouse insistes that she marry the mole. Thumb girl feels that the field mouse hs changed a lot and is not as kind to her as he was before.

The wedding is arranged. Thumb girl walks out of the the field mouse's house. She wants to enjoy

the su shine again. Then she hears a sound. The swallow that Thumb girl saved flies down to her.

Thumb girl says:

"I don't want to be the mole's wife. Take me away from here!"

Then they fly away.

Thumb girl riding on the swallow's back, they fly on and on until they reach a warm country and the swallow sets Thumb girl down onto the most beautiful flower.

(crown 王冠)

(transparent 透明的)

"Oh, who are you?"

Thumb girl cries out. In fact a handsome man is sitting there. He is a little taller than Thumb girl. He is the flower prince with a golden crown on his head and a pair of transparent wings on his shoulders.

The flower prince is glad to see her. He takes off his crown and puts it on her head. H asks her to marry him. Thumb girl feels the flower prince i s her own true love so she says:

"I will."

From then on Thumb girl becomes the beautiful flower queen but her name is not thumb girl" anymore. She has a new name. All the flowers call her "the most beautiful Maria".