"NARRATOR:" "ln a forest once grew a beautiful flower." "And from that flower was born a beautiful and tiny little girl, who was so small that she was called Thumbelina." "A large wet toad climbed out of the river and saw Thumbelina." "What a lovely wife for my son." "(CROAKS )" "Suddenly, the toad grabbed Thumbelina and carried her off to the river, where she imprisoned her on a water lily in the middle of the water." "I will fetch my son." "(CROAKlNG)" "Thumbelina was very frightened and cried." "The fishes heard her and had pity on her." "They decided to help her by gnawing away the stem of the water lily." "Thumbelina was free." "And soon she was floating down the river, far away, where the toad could not reach her." "She is gone." "(fish laughing)" "(CROAKlNG)" "A butterfly came by and offered to help her." "Thumbelina tied her sash to the butterfly and was pulled gaily down the stream." "At length, Thumbelina left the river and climbed out on the land and said goodbye to the butterfly." "All summer, Thumbelina played happily by the river." "The beetles helped her." "The birds and the bees sang to her." "And all the animals, the hedgehogs, the rabbits and the squirrels, played with her." "But summer was ending." "Poor little Thumbelina was cold and hungry and alone." "And the swallows flew south to the warm sun." "A field mouse asked her if she would help her in her house." "She was expecting a visitor and everything must be clean and tidy." "Soon, something could be heard scratching at the trap door in the corner." "It was the visitor, a rich mole who lived deep under the earth, and who had built a long tunnel from his house to the field mouse's." "The mole was delighted with Thumbelina and was anxious to marry her and take her with him to his house deep under the earth." "Poor little Thumbelina was afraid of the mole." "She didn't want to marry him and live deep in the ground, away from the sun and the sky and the air." "But the field mouse told her not to be silly." "She must take the mole's ring and promise to marry him." "He was rich, he had a large house." "He was a person of importance." "So poor Thumbelina agreed to marry the mole." "On the day of the wedding, Thumbelina was allowed to go out for the last time." "She looked around sadly and said goodbye to the sun and goodbye to the sky." "The poor swallow was too tired to fly any further." "He was all alone and had lost his friends." "Thumbelina spoke to the swallow and told him about her marriage and that she was to live under the ground forevermore." "SWALLOW:" "Oh, would you fly away with me to the south, where the sun is?" "On my back." "Ready?" "So, off they flew, high into the air." "And swooping over the astonished mole and field mouse, they headed for the warm sun." "High over the snowy Alps, flying southward." "At last they came to Greece, where the sun was warm and kindly." "And here the swallow had his nest, high up in the column of a ruined temple." "But it was too high for Thumbelina and the swallow carried her down to a bed of flowers." "From the flowers came the flower spirits to greet her." "And the loveliest of them all asked her to dance with him." "The other spirits brought Thumbelina a pair of wings and they asked her to join them and become one of them." "And instead of Thumbelina, they called her May."