Thumbelina
| "Thumbelina" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short storybyHans Christian Andersen | |||
 Illustration byVilhelm Pedersen, Andersen's first illustrator | |||
 Text availableatWikisource | |||
| Original title | Tommelise | ||
| Translator | Mary Howitt | ||
| Country | Denmark | ||
| Language | Danish | ||
| Genre(s) | Literaryfairy tale | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection.Second Booklet. 1835. (Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Andet Hefte. 1835.) | ||
| Publication type | Fairy tale collection | ||
| Publisher | C. A. Reitzel | ||
| Media type | |||
| Publication date | 16 December 1835 | ||
| Published in English | 1846 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
Thumbelina(/ˌθʌmbəˈliːnə/;Danish:Tommelise) is a literaryfairy talewritten by the famous Danish authorHans Christian Andersen.It was first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 inCopenhagen,Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in the second installment ofFairy Tales Told for Children.Thumbelina is about a tiny girl and her adventures with marriage-minded toads, moles, andcockchafers.She successfully avoids their intentions before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size.
Plot[edit]
A woman yearning for a child asks awitchfor advice, and is presented withbarleywhich she is told to go home and plant (in the first English translation of 1847 by Mary Howitt, the tale opens with a beggar woman giving a peasant's wife a barleycorn in exchange for food). After the barleycorn is planted and sprouts, a tiny girl named Thumbelina (Tommelise) emerges from its flower.
One night, Thumbelina, asleep in her walnut-shell cradle, is carried off by atoadwho wants her as a bride for her son. With the help of friendlyfishand abutterfly,Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, and drifts on a lily pad until captured by acockchaferwho later discards her when his friends reject her company.
Thumbelina tries to protect herself from the elements. When winter comes, she is in desperate straits. She is finally given shelter by an oldfield mouseand tends her dwelling in gratitude. Thumbelina sees aswallowwho is injured while visiting amole,a neighbor of the field mouse. She meets the swallow one night and finds out what happened to him. She keeps on visiting the swallow during midnight without telling the field mouse and tries to help him gain strength and she frequently spends time with him singing songs and telling him stories and listening to his stories in the winter until spring arrives. The swallow, after becoming healthy, promises that he would come to that spot again and flies away saying goodbye to Thumbelina.
At the end of winter, the mouse suggests Thumbelina marry the mole, but Thumbelina finds the prospect of being married to such a creature repulsive because he spends all his days underground and never sees the sun or sky, even though he is impressive with his knowledge of ancient history and lots of other topics. The field mouse keeps pushing Thumbelina into the marriage, insisting the mole is a good match for her. Eventually Thumbelina sees little choice but to agree, but cannot bear the thought of the mole keeping her underground and never seeing the sun.
At the last minute, Thumbelina escapes the situation by fleeing to a far land with the swallow. In a sunny field of flowers, Thumbelina meets a tiny flower-fairy prince just her size and to her liking; they eventually wed. She receives a pair of wings to accompany her husband on his travels from flower to flower, and a new name, Maia. In the end, the swallow is heartbroken once Thumbelina marries the flower-fairy prince, and flies off eventually arriving at a small house. There, he tells Thumbelina's story to a man who is implied to be Andersen himself, who chronicles the story in a book.[1]
Adaptations[edit]
Animation[edit]
The earliest animated version of the tale is a silent black-and-white release by director Herbert M. Dawley in 1924.[2]Lotte Reinigerreleased a 10-minute cinematic adaptation in 1954 featuring her "silhouette"puppets.[3]
In 1964SoyuzmultfilmreleasedDyuymovochka,a half-hour Russian adaptation of the fairy tale directed byLeonid Amalrik.[4]Although the screenplay byNikolai Erdmanstayed faithful to the story, it was noted for satirical characters and dialogues (many of them turned into catchphrases).[5]Toei Animationadapted the fairy tale three times: in 1975 as ananimated short,in 1978 in the feature lengthanimefilmThumbelina,and as an episode ofWorld Fairy Tale Series.[6][7][8]
In 1992,Golden FilmsreleasedThumbelina(1992), andTom Thumb Meets Thumbelinaafterwards.[9][10]A Japanese animated series adapted the plot and made it into a movie,Thumbelina: A Magical Story(1992), released in 1993.[11]
On March 30, 1994,Warner Bros.released the animated filmThumbelina(1994),[12]directed byDon BluthandGary Goldman,withJodi Bensonas the voice of Thumbelina.
The 2002 animated filmThe Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelinais loosely based on the fairy tale.[13]Mattel'sBarbie: Thumbelinafrom 2009 was also presented as a modern retelling of the story, while its plot has little-to-nothing to do with Andersen's tale.[14]
On 2021, at the New York International Children's Film Festival,premiered the short film Tulip,a contemporary version on the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale Thumbelina. Phoebe Wahl was the writer and lead character designer, as well as co-director and co-producer alongside animator and fiber-artist Andrea Love.[15]
Live action[edit]
An adaptation of the Thumbelina story directed byBarry Mahonwas included as anembedded narrativein the 1972 low-budget filmSanta and the Ice Cream Bunny.[16]
On June 11, 1985, a television dramatization ofthe tale was broadcastas the 12th episode of theanthology seriesFaerie Tale Theatre.The production starredCarrie Fisher.[17]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^Opie & Opie 1974,pp. 221–9
- ^Dawley, Herbert M. (1924-09-27),Thumbelina(Animation, Short), Herbert M. Dawley Production,retrieved2023-03-08
- ^"Däumlienchen".IMDb.
- ^"Российская анимация в буквах и фигурах | Фильмы | «ДЮЙМОВОЧКА»".www.animator.ru.Retrieved2023-03-08.
- ^Bagrov, Petr (2006)."Свинарка и пастух. От Ганса Христиана к Христиану Гансу"[Swine-herd and Stableman. From Hans Christian to Christian Hans].Seans(in Russian) (25/26).
- ^"WORLD FAMOUS FAIRY TALE SERIES PRINCESS THUMB｜Film List｜TOEI ANIMATION".2020-06-29. Archived from the original on 2020-06-29.Retrieved2023-03-08.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^Serikawa, Yūgo,Oyayubi-Hime(Animation, Fantasy), Toei Animation,retrieved2023-03-08
- ^"World Fairy Tale" Oyayubi hime (TV Episode 1995) - IMDb,retrieved2023-03-08
- ^Higuchi, Masakazu; Namba, Chinami (1992-06-08),Thumbelina(Animation, Adventure, Family), Golden Films, Warner Bros. Animation,retrieved2023-03-08
- ^Tom Thumb Meets Thumbelina (Video 1996) - IMDb,retrieved2023-03-08
- ^Clements, Jonathan;McCarthy, Helen(2001-09-01).The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917(1st ed.). Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press. p. 399.ISBN1-880656-64-7.OCLC47255331.
- ^"Thumbelina - Character Designs, Cornelius, Thumbelina, and Bumble Bee".SCAD Libraries.Retrieved8 December2021.
- ^Chaika, Glenn (2002-08-06),The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina(Animation, Family, Fantasy), Hyperion Pictures, Miramax, Philippine Animation Studio Inc.,retrieved2023-03-09
- ^Barbie Presents: Thumbelina (Video 2009) - IMDb,retrieved2023-03-09
- ^"Tulip".Phoebe Wahl.Retrieved2023-02-22.
- ^"'Santa and The Ice Cream Bunny': Strange holiday entertainment from the 1970s|Movies & TV|standard.net ".Archived fromthe originalon 2020-06-17.Retrieved2023-04-26.
- ^"DVD Verdict Review - Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre: The Complete Collection".dvdverdict.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-06-17.
References[edit]
- Andersen, Hans Christian(1983) [1974].The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories.Translated by Haugaard, Erik Christian. New York, NY: Anchor Books.ISBN0-385-18951-6.
- Andersen, Hans Christian (2000) [1871].The Fairy Tale of My Life.New York, NY: Cooper Square Press.ISBN0-8154-1105-7.
- Andersen, Hans Christian (2008).Tatar, Maria(ed.).The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen.New York: W.W. Norton.ISBN9780393060812.
- Classe, O., ed. (2000).Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English; v.2.Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.ISBN1-884964-36-2.
- Eastman, Mary Huse (ed.).Index to Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends.BiblioLife, LLC.
- Frank, Diane Crone; Frank, Jeffrey (2005).The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen.Durham, NC and London, UK: Duke University Press.ISBN0-8223-3693-6.
- Opie, Iona;Opie, Peter(1974).The Classic Fairy Tales.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-211559-6.
- Sale, Roger (1978).Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E.B. White.New Haven, CT: Harvard University Press.ISBN0-674-29157-3.
- Siegel, Elaine V., ed. (1992).Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Women.New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel, Inc.ISBN0-87630-655-5.
- Wullschlager, Jackie (2002).Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller.Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.ISBN0-226-91747-9.
External links[edit]
- ThumbelinaEnglish translation byJean Hersholt
- Thumbelina: The MusicalMusical ofThumbelinaby Chris Seed and Maxine Gallagher
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