Thumbelina

A kind woman receives a magical barleycorn from a fairy, which grows into a flower housing a tiny girl named Tiny. Living safely in her walnut-shell cradle, she is suddenly abducted by an ugly toad who intends for her to marry its son. The little fishes save Tiny by gnawing the leaf she rests on, sending her drifting down the stream away from the marsh. A cockchafer then captures her and brings her to a tree, but he abandons her when his peers call her ugly. She survives the summer alone in the forest before finding warmth and food with a field-mouse during the harsh winter. The field-mouse forces Tiny to prepare for a wedding with a blind mole who lives underground. While waiting, Tiny discovers a frozen swallow in the mole’s tunnel and nurses him back to health through the cold months. When spring arrives, the grateful swallow offers to take her to warmer lands, but she refuses to leave her host. Later, when forced into marriage with the mole, she escapes by tying herself to the returning swallow. They fly far away over snowy mountains to a sun-drenched land filled with exotic flowers. There, Tiny meets a tiny flower prince who is as small and beautiful as she is. He places a crown on her head and asks her to be his queen among the blossoms. Tiny accepts his love and receives wings so she can flutter freely from flower to flower. The story ends with her living happily in this magical place, far from her troubles. Her old friend the swallow sings of her adventures before returning home.