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There was once a
king and queen, who had a dear little daughter no bigger than you
thumb. Her name was Thumbling. Her papa and mamma loved her very
dearly, and never let her get out of their sight. Thumbling had a
cradle made out of a nut-shell, and when her mamma sat down by the
window to look out at the bright sunshine, the trees, the flowers
and the birds, she used to put the little cradle close by her on the
window-sill. In front of the window was a beautiful garden, and
every day Thumbling used to run out in the garden to play and to
enjoy the breeze, and the birds, and the flowers.
One day while Thumbling was playing in the garden, a green
grassed-hopper came springing towards her and said: "Jump on my
back, Thumbling, and I will be our horse."
This pleased Thumbling greathly; she bounded on the grasshopper's
back, and away they went hop, hip, out of the garden and through the
green fields; at last, however, Thumbling got very tired, for the
grasshopper made very high leaps, and she called out to him to stop,
just as they reached the banks of a small stream. The stream was
very smooth, and seemed to flow very gently, and Thumbling thought
to herself, "How I wish I could go for a sail on the beautiful
smooth water."
Just then a fish came swimming along; he seized a leaf that was
floating on top of the water, and bending it into the shape of a
boat, called out: "Step into this pretty boat, little girl, I will
be your captain."
Thumbling got in the leaf, and the fish carried her for a long, long
sail. At last Thumbling was very tired, and asked the fish to pull
the boat to shore. He did so, and Thumbling stepped out of the boat
onto dry land. She looked around and saw that she was in a field,
covered with green, but she could not see her home, and she did not
know how she could ever find her way back to it. Then she began to
cry and to call for her papa and mamma, but they could not hear her,
because they were so far away.
A little field mouse, however, stepping out of her nest, saw
Thumbling, felt sorry for her, and took her home to her nest. Here
Thumbling lived for some time, but she grieved for her mamma and
home. One day when Thumbling and the field mouse were out walking,
they saw a little swallow sitting on a mound of earth, and crying
bitterly, because it had a thorn in its foot, and could not fly home
to its baby swallows. Little Thumbling kneeled down by the swallow,
pulled the thorn out of its foot, washed away the blood, and soon
the swallow felt quite well again.
She was about to fly away, when she turned to Thumbling and said:
"Thumbling, you have been very kind to me, and I would like to do
something for you; jump on my back, and I will carry you to your
mother. I live under the eaves of your house, and I have heard our
mamma crying for you."
Thumbling thanked the field mouse, stepped on the swallow's back,
and away they flew through the air; when they got home it was night,
and the swallow laid Thumbling in the nut-shell cradle, where her
mamma found her the next morning.
Thumbling
A Fictional Short Story by
Agnes Taylor Ketchum & Ida M. Jorgensen
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