(Short Voice) #26 THUMBLINA NEEDS A BATH - Jasons Bed Time Story Time

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland and this is Jason's Bedtime Storytime. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes. Now today I'm going to read a story called Thumbelina, Smelly Thumbelina, and it's a famous story of a little smelly girl called Thumbelina and she was the size of a smelly thumb.

Okay here we go. So there was once a woman who wished very much to have a little child but she could not obtain her wish because her belly didn't work properly. At last she went to a witch as you do.

I guess they didn't have any kind of health service doctors and stuff at the time so you'd go to a witch you know if you had a toothache or maybe had constipation you'd go to a witch. So that's what she did. She went to a witch and said I would I should very much like to have a little child.

Can you tell me where I can find one? Oh that can be easily managed said the witch. There is a barley corn of a different kind to those which grow in the farmer's fields and which the chicken eat. The chickens eat it.

The chickens eat it I tell you. Put it into a flower pot and see what will happen. Oh thank you said the woman and she gave the twelve shillings which is about five thousand dollars which was the price of the barley corn.

Then she went home. She skipped and she danced all the way home occasionally doing a bit of break dancing underneath the banana tree and then she found somewhere nice and you know a nice like sheltered area but nice with sun as well a sheltered sunny place and she planted the thing that the witch gave her the barley corn and immediately there grew up a large handsome flower something like a tulip in appearance but very smelly but with its leaves tightly closed as if it were a still a bud.

It's a beautiful flower said the woman and she kissed the red and golden coloured leaves and while she did so the petals opened and she could see that it was it really was a real tulip.

Oh this is gripping stuff. Within the flower upon the green velvet stamens stamens stamens sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. She was scarcely half as long as a thumb and she stunk terrible pong pong pong.

Oh said the woman put a gas mask on because she couldn't stand to stink anymore and she gave she looked at the little girl and she thought I'm going to give you the name of Thumbelina. Well lady how about actually asking her what her name is? Huh? You can't go around just naming people. I know there's a famous person that did that but you know come on have a bit of courtesy.

I don't want someone coming up to me meet me for the first time and saying I'm going to call you Roy. That's not my name. My name's Stephen.

Nope Roy it is. No Stephen. Roy.

So Thumbelina or tiny apparently is a another word because she was so small. A walnut shell elegantly polished served for her cradle and her bed was formed of blue violet leaves with a rose leaf for a counterpane. If anyone knows what the counterpane is please let me know in the comments.

Writing here Thumbelina smelly Thumbelina she slept at night but during the day she amused herself on a table where the woman had placed a plate full of water. Around this plate were wreaths of flowers with their stems in the water because she was trying to take away the horrible whiff and the odour from Thumbelina. Hoping that maybe she could coax her into getting into the water and washing.

And upon it floated a large tulip leaf which served tiny Thumbelina for a boat. Here the little maiden sat and rode herself from side to side with two oars made of white horse hair. She's getting smaller and smaller.

It really was a very pretty sight. Thumbelina could also sing so softly and sweetly that nothing like her singing had ever been heard before. One night while she lay in her pretty bed a large ugly wet toad crept through a broken pate of glass in the window and leaped right upon the table where Thumbelina lay sleeping under her rose leaf quilt.

What a pretty little wife this would make for my son said the toad. And she took up the walnut shell in which Thumbelina lay asleep and jumped through the window with it into the garden. In the swampy margin of a broad stream in the garden lived the toad with her son.

He was uglier even than his mother and when he saw the pretty little maiden in her elegant bed he could only cry. Don't speak so loud or she will awaken said the toad and then she might run away for she is as light as a swan's down. I don't know what a swan's down is but apparently it's quite light.

We will place her on one of the water lily leaves out in the stream. It will be like an island to her. She's so light and small and then she cannot escape and while she's away we will make haste and prepare the stateroom under the marsh in which you are to live when you are married.

Far away in the stream grew a number of water lilies with broad green leaves which seemed to float on top of the water. The largest of these leaves appeared further off than the rest and the old toad swam out to it with the walnut shell in which little Thumbelina lay still asleep. The tiny little creature woke very early in the morning and began to cry bitterly when she found where she was.

For she could see nothing but water on every side of the large green leaf and no way of reaching the land unless you swim of course. Meanwhile the old toad was very busy under the marsh decking her room with rushes and wild yellow flowers to make it look pretty for her new daughter-in-law. Then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf on which she had placed poor little Thumbelina.

She wanted to fetch the pretty bed that she might put it in the bridal chamber to be ready for her. The old toad bowed low to her in the water and said, Who's my son? He'll be your husband and you will live happily in the marsh by the stream. Was all her son could say for himself.

So the toad took up the elegant little bed and swam away with it leaving tiny all alone on the green leaf and she sat and wept. She could not bear to think of living with the old toad and having her ugly son for a husband. The little fishes who swam about in the water beneath had seen the toad and heard what she said.

So they lifted their heads above the water to look at the little maiden. As soon as they saw caught sight of her they saw that she was very pretty yet didn't quite like the smell they they received and it made them feel very sorry to think that she must go and live with the ugly toads. No it must never be, they said.

So they assembled together in the water around the green stalk which held the leaf on which the little maiden stood and gnawed it away at the root with their teeth. Then the leaf floated down the stream carrying tiny Thumbelina far away out of reach of land. She sailed past many towns and the little birds in the bushes saw her and sang what a lovely little creature and it wasn't a very good song but you know it was still a kind of a song.

So the little swam the leaf swam away with her further and further till it brought her to other lands. A graceful little white butterfly constantly fluttered around her and at last alighted of the leaf. Thumbelina pleased him and she was glad of it for now the toad could not possibly reach her and the country through which she had sailed was beautiful and the sun shone upon the water till it glittered like liquid gold.

She took off her girdle didn't know she was wearing a girdle but hey she took off her girdle and tied one end of it one end of it around the butterfly and the other end of the ribbon she fastened to the leaf which now glided on much faster than ever before taking her with it as she stood on the leaf reenacting a scene out of titanic. Presently a large cochefer cockafur flew by I don't know what that is a cock chefer flew by the moment she caught sight of her he seized her around her delicate waist with his claws and flew with her into a tree.

Oh she's getting dark the green leaf floated away on the brook and the butterfly flew with it for he was fastened to it and could not get away that's not nice oh how frightened little Thumbelina felt when the cock chefer flew with her to the tree but especially was she sorry for the beautiful white butterfly which he had fastened to the leaf for if he could not free himself he would die of hunger but the cock chefer did not trouble himself at all about the matter he seated himself by her

side on a large green leaf gave her some honey from the flowers to eat and told her that she was very pretty though not in a least like a cock chefer after a time all the cock chaffers turned up to their feelers and she said she and oh and they said she has only two legs how ugly that looks she has no feelers said another her waist is quite slim she isn't like a human being and the lady cock chaffers started to go in oh she's so ugly she's so so

ugly ugly ugly and smelly well actually she's bounced by a knife which is ugly very ugly uh even though Thumbelina was very very pretty but they didn't think so unless this was jealousy then the cock chaffer who had run away with her believed all the others when they said she was ugly so he didn't have the ability to think for himself and would have nothing more to say to her and told her she might go where she liked be off with you he said then he flew down with her from

the tree and placed her on a daisy and she wept at the thought that she was so ugly that even the cock chaffers would have nothing to say to her and all the while she was really the loveliest creature that one could imagine and as tender and delicate as a beautiful rose leaf during the whole summer poor little Thumbelina lived quite alone in the wide forest she wove herself a bed with blades of grass and hung it up under a broad leaf to protect herself from the rain she sucked the

honey from the flowers of food for food and drank the dews drank the juice from their leaves every morning so passed away the summer and the autumn and then came the winter the long cold winter all the birds who had sung to her so sweetly were flown away and the trees and the flowers had withered the large clover leaf under the shelter of which she had lived was now rolling together and shriveled up nothing remained but a yellow stalk she felt dreadfully cold for her clothes were torn and she was

herself so frail and delicate that poor little Thumbelina was nearly frozen to death and on top of that it began to snow as well and the snowflakes as they fell upon her were like a whole shovel full falling upon her one of us because she was little and the snowflakes were big compared to us mind you sometimes they can be quite big or even on that i can't they i've had a snowflake that was nearly as big as my eye me being on my face um so what she did is

she wrapped herself in a dry leaf but it cracked in the middle and could only not only keep her warm but she shivered with cold near the wood in which she had been living lay a cornfield but the corn had been cut a long time no thing remained but the bare dry stumble standing stubble standing upon out of the frozen ground ground it was to her like struggling through a large wood oh how she shivered with a cold she came at last to the door of a field mouse who had

a little den under the corn stubble there dwelt the field mouse in warmth and comfort with a whole room full of corn and a kitchen and a beautiful dining room poor little fumbi stood before the door like a little beggar girl and begged for a small piece of barley corn for she had been without a morsel to eat for two whole days poor little creature oh said the field mouse who had bronchitis who was a really good old field mouse he was but he was old come into my warm room

and dine with me she was very pleased was she was very she said uh um so she said thank you they said you are quite welcome to stay with me all the winter if you like but you must keep my rooms clean and neat and tell me stories for i shall like to hear them very much and thumbling it did all the field mouse asked of her and found herself very comfortable we shall have a visitor soon said the field mouse one day my neighbor pays me a visit once a

week he's a better off than i am he has large rooms and wears a beautiful black velvet coat if you could only have him for a husband you'll be very well provided for indeed but he is blind so you must tell him some of your prettiest stories but tiny did not feel at all interested about this neighbor for he was a mole she had a thing about moles obviously prejudiced maybe however he came and paid his visit dressed in his big black velvet coat dark dark glasses little stick and um

he is very rich and learned and his house is 20 times larger than mine said the field mouse he was rich and learned no doubt but he always spoke slightly out of the sun and the pretty flowers because he'd never seen them didn't really know how to talk about them because he hadn't seen them you see Thumbelina was obliged to sing to him and other things and many other pretty songs as well and the mole fell in love with her because she had such a sweet voice but he said nothing

yet for he was very cautious a short time before the whole the mole had a dug he had decided to dig a long passage under the earth which led from the dwelling of the field mouse to his own and here she had permission to walk with Thumbelina whenever she liked but he warned them not to be alarmed at the sight of a dead bird which lay in the passage it was a perfect bird with a with a beak and with feathers and could not have been dead long very long it

was just lying there just where the mole had made his passage the mole took a piece of phosphorescent wood in his mouth and glistened like fire in the dark then he went before them to light them through the long dark passage when they came to the spot where lay the dead bird the mole pushed his broad nose through the ceiling the earth gave way so that there was a large hole and the daylight shone into the passage in the middle of the floor lay a dead swallow his beautiful wings pulled

close to his sides his feet and his head drawn up under his feathers the poor bird has evidently died of the cold it made little tiny very sad to see it she did so love the little birdies all all the summer they had sung and twit to her so beautifully but the mole pushed it aside with his crooked legs and said he will sing no more how miserable it must be to be born a little bird i'm thankful that none of my children will never be birds for they they can

do nothing but cry tweet tweet yeah and always die of hunger in the winter yes you may well say that as a clever man they slamed the field mouse what is the use of his twittering for when winter comes he must either starve or be frozen to death still birds are very high bred Thumbelina said nothing but when the two others had turned their backs on the bird she stooped down and stroked the side of the soft feathers which covered their head and kissed closed eyelids perhaps this was the one

who sang to me so sweetly in the summer she said and how much pleasure it gave to me you dare pretty birdie the mole now stopped up the hole through which the daylight shone and then accompanied the lady home but during the night Thumbelina could not sleep so she got out of bed and wove a large beautiful carpet of hay as you do they didn't have televisions then she carried it to the dead bird and spread it over him with some some down from the flowers and which she had found

in the field's mouse's room it was as soft as wool and she spread some of it on each side of the birds so that it might lie warmly in the cold earth farewell you pretty little birdie she said farewell thank you for your delightful singing during the summer when all the trees were green and the warm sun shone upon us then she said she laid her head in the bird's breast but she was alarmed immediately for it seemed as if something inside the bird was thump thump thump thump it was

the bird's heart it was not really dead only denumbed with the cold and the warmth had restored him to life in autumn all the swallows fly away into warm countries but if one happens to linger the cold seizes it seizes it it becomes frozen and falls down as if dead he remains there where it fell and the cold snow covers it Thumbelina trembled very much she was quite frightened for the bird was large a great deal larger than herself she was only an inch high but she took courage laid the

wool more thickly over the poor swallow and then took a leaf which she had used for her own counter pain and laid it over the head of the poor bird the next morning she again stole out to him to see him and he was alive but oh he was weak it was so weak i was very very weak he could only open his eyes for a moment to look at Thumbelina who stood by holding a piece of caved wood in her hand for she had no other lantern thank you pretty

little maiden said the sick swallow i have been so nicely warmed that i shall soon regain my strength and be able to fly about again in the warm sunshine oh said she it is cold outdoors now it snows and freezes stay in your warm bed i will take care of you then she brought the swallow some water and a flower leaf and after he had drunk she told him that he had wounded one of his wings in a thorn bush and could not fly as fast as the others who were

soon far away on their journey to warm countries then at last he had fallen to the earth and he could remember no more that was as much as he could remember nor how he came to be where he she had been found and the whole winter the swallow remained underground and Thumbelina nursed him with the care and love and neither the mole nor the field mouse knew anything about it for they did not like swallows neither the mole nor the they didn't know didn't like it at all and very soon

the springtime came and the sun warmed the earth then the swallows bade farewell swallow bade said goodbye to tiny Thumbelina and she opened the hole in the ceiling which the mole had made and the sun shone in upon them so beautifully that the swallow asked if he if she would go with him she she could sit on his back and he said and she would fly away into the green woods but Thumbelina knew it would make the field mouse very grieved if she left her in this manner and she said

no i cannot i'm afraid farewell then farewell you good pretty little maiden said the swallow and he flew out into the sunshine Thumbelina looked at him and the tears rose in her eyes she was very fond of the swallow very fond indeed tweet tweet sang the bird as he flew out into the green woods and Thumbelina felt very very sad she was not allowed to go out into the warm sunshine the corn which had been sown in the field over the house of the field mouse had grown up high into

the air and formed a thick wood to tiny with only one inch in height yeah you are going to be married Thumbelina said the field mouse my neighbor has asked for you what good fortune for a poor little child like you we we will prepare your wedding clothes they must be both woolen and linen nothing must be wanting when you are the mole's wife the mole's wife no no so tiny had to turn the spindle and the field mouse hired four spiders who were to leave to weave every day and

night every evening the mole visited her and was constantly speaking at a time when the summer would be over then he would keep his wedding day with Thumbelina but now the heat of the sun was so great that it burned the earth and made it quite hard like a stone as soon as the summer was over the wedding should take place but Thumbelina was not at all pleased for she did not like the tiresome mole one inch every person every morning when the sun rose and every evening when it went

down she would creep out of the door and up the wind as the wind blew aside the ears of the corn so that she could see the blue sky she thought how beautiful and bright it seemed up there and wish so much to see her dear swallow again but he never returned for by this time he had flown far away and into the lovely green forest so when autumn arrived Thumbelina had her outfit quite ready and the field mouse said to her four weeks the the wedding must take place then

Thumbelina wept all she wept and said she would not marry the disagreeable mole i'm not gonna marry him no you can't make me i don't want to no nonsense said the field mouse don't be obstinate or i shall bite you with my white teeth he's a very handsome mole the queen herself does not weave more beautiful velvets and furs his kitchen and cellars are quite full you ought to be very thankful for such a good fortune so the wedding day was fixed on which the mole was to fetch tiny Thumbelina

away to live with him deep under the earth and never again to see the warm sun because he did not like it the poor child was very unhappy at the thought of saying farewell to the beautiful sun and as the field mouse had given her permission to stand at the door she went to look at it once more farewell bright sun she cried stretching out her arm towards it and then she walked a short distance from the house for the corn had been cut and only the dry stubble remained in

the fields farewell farewell she repeated twining her arm around a little red flower that grew just by her side greet the little swallow for me say hello to him for me if you should see him again tweet tweet sounded over her head suddenly she looked up and there was the swallow himself flying close by as soon as he spied Thumbelina he was delighted and then she told him how unwilling she felt to marry the ugly mole and to live always beneath the earth and never to see the bright sun anymore

and she told him as she wept she did cold winter is coming said the swallow and i'm going to fly away into warmer countries will you go with me you can stow me back and fasten yourself on with your sash then we can fly away from the ugly mole and his gloomy rooms far away over the mountains into warmer countries where the sun shines more brightly than here where it's always summer and then the flowers bloom in great beauty fly now with me dear little Thumbelina you saved my life when

i lay frozen in that dark passage yes i will go with you said tiny and she seated herself on the bird's back and with her feet on his outstretched wings and tied her girdle to one of his strongest feathers then the swallow rose in the air and flew over forest and over sea high above the highest mountains covered with eternal snow tiny would have been frozen in the cold air but she crept under the bird's warm feathers keeping her little head uncovered so that she might admire the beautiful lands over

which they passed at length they reached the warm countries where the sun shines brightly and the sky seemed so much higher above the earth here on the hedges and by the wayside grew purple green and white grapes bananas apples lemon and oranges hung from trees in the woods and the air was fragrant with myrtle and orange blossoms beautiful children ran along the country lanes playing with large gay butterflies and as the swallow flew farther and farther every place appeared still more lovely at last they came to a blue lake and

by the side of it shaded by trees of the deepest green stood a palace of dazzling white marble built in the olden times vines clustered around its lofty pillars and at the top were many swallows nests and one of these was the home of the swallows who carried Thumbelina this is my house said the swallow but it would not be uh for me just to live here you would you would not be comfortable you wouldn't want to live here you you don't it's mine you don't want to live here you

must choose for yourself one of these lovely flowers and i will put you down upon there and you should have everything that you can wish to make you happy plus you're too smelly i can't have you too close this will be delightful she said and clapped her little hands for joy a large marble pillar lay on the ground which in falling had been broken into three pieces between these pieces grew the most beautiful large white flowers so the swallow flew down with Thumbelina and placed her on one of the broad

leaves but how surprised she was to see in the middle of the flower a tiny little man as white and transparent as if he had been made out of crystal he had a gold crown on his hand and delicate wings at his shoulders and was not much larger than tiny himself he was the angel of the flower for a tiny man and a tiny woman dwell in every flower and this is the king of them all oh how beautiful he is whispered tiny to the swallow the little prince was at

first quite frightened at the bird who was like a giant compared to such a delicate little creature as himself but when he saw Thumbelina he was delighted and thought her the prettiest little maiden he'd ever seen who needed a bath he took the gold crown from his head and placed it on hers and asked her name and if she would be his wife and queen over all the flowers now this certainly was very different sort of husband to the son of a toad or the mole with my black velvet with

um holding her holding her black velvet and fur she said yes to the prince then all the flowers opened and each of them out came a little lady and a little lord little man and a little lady also pretty it was quite a pleasure to look at each of them each brought a tiny little present but the best gift was a pair of beautiful wings which had belonged to a large white fly and they fastened them to Thumbelina's shoulders so that she could fly from flower to flower hmm then there

was much rejoicing and a little swallow who sat above them in his nest was asked to sing a wedding song which he did as well as he could but in his heart he felt sad for he was he was very fond of tiny Thumbelina and would have liked never to part from her again you must not be called tiny anymore no more Thumbelina you must not be called Thumbelina anymore said the spirit of the flowers to her it is an ugly name and you are so pretty we will call you

Maya farewell farewell said the swallow with a heavy heart as he left the warm countries to fly back into Denmark randomly Denmark was never mentioned until now there he had a nest over the window of a house in which dwelt the writer of fairy tales the swallow sang tweet tweet and from his song came the whole story and when he was alone he let off the biggest fart he's ever let off because he'd been keeping it in for days and he felt so much better it's just he felt lighter just felt lighter oh i'm so glad to get that far out he said to himself and they all lived happily ever after they go to sleep