One woman grew a flower; there was a tiny beautiful girl, no more than a human finger. The woman called her Thumbelina, the girl was very pretty. This was once noticed by the Frog. She decided that Thumbelina could be a great couple for her son. Waiting until midnight, the frog kidnapped the girl to take her to her son.

The son of the frog was fascinated by the beauty of the girl. To prevent her from escaping, he placed Thumbelina on a leaf of a water lily. However, the girl was helped by fish that gnawed the trunk of a lily, and the Butterfly, who liked Thumbelina, harnessed to her a belt and flew, pulling the lily leaf across the water.

While the Butterfly was pulling the leaf with Thumbelina, a scarab beetle called Khrush intercepted her and carried the lovely lassie to him. The butterfly remained attached to the leaf. Thumbelina felt very sorry for him – because he could not free himself, and he was threatened with some kind of death. The Khrush beetle brought Thumbelina to his acquaintances and friends thinking that all of them will estimate her elegance. But they did not like the girl, because the beetles had their own notions of beauty. Poor Thumbelina was left to live in the wild woods! How horrible!

So she lived all summer and autumn long in this fearful forest being totally lonely, and when the winter approached, the girl even began to freeze…

Fortunately, the frozen Thumbelina was discovered by a field mouse, which sheltered her in its balmy burrow.

Then the mouse decided to sell the girl to his rich neighbor – Mole. The mole was very wealthy and at the same time too stingy. He liked Thumbelina and even offered her his heart and hand. The mole showed Thumbelina his underground ‘palaces’ and riches. In one of the galleries, the girl found a dead swallow. However, it turned out that the swallow was just feeble. Thumbelina secretly from Mole started to take care of her.

The spring came. The swallow recovered completely and, thanking Thumbelina, flew out of the moles’ galleries. At that time, the mole finally decided to get married and ordered the girl to sew some dowry. Thumbelina was dismal and depressed, because she really did not want to marry this miserable mole. The girl began to think about how to flee from her hole, where she was doomed to live with a mingy mole.

One evening the girl took a flashlight and quietly left the cramped room when the mole was hunting. Thumbelina wandered through the labyrinths built by her (almost) future husband, not understanding how to find a way out. The frightened girl ran away when she suddenly heard footsteps following her behind.

Thumbelina turned and saw a shadow that was so frightening that the girl lost consciousness and fell. Thumbelina opened her eyes and saw the sun shining so brightly in her eyes. Flowers were blooming around her, and the swallow was circling and waiting for the girl to wake up…It was the same swallow that she had helped to recover and this brave bird was ready to free her from the trap of dark labyrinths! The moment of escape was one of the happiest moments in the whole life of Thumbelina! She thanked her rescuer and wept happily hugging heartily the bird. They talked for a long time, and Thumbelina told everything about all her adventures which had happened so far.

After this conversation, Thumbelina decided to change her life and fly to warm countries, where she can start her life anew, so the swallow agreed to help her and took the girl on her back. Three days later, Thumbelina met the sunrise by the splendid sea and met elves who looked so much like her. The girl was happy that she decided to take a bold step that helped her find her people in this beautiful place.

Three months later, Thumbelina met her first love, and then gave birth to a child from her Thumb-brave husband.