Thumbelina
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| "Thumbelina" | |
| Author | Hans Christian Andersen |
|---|---|
| Original title | "Tommelise" |
| Translator | Mary Howitt |
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | Danish |
| Genre(s) | Fairy tale |
| Published in | Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Andet Hefte. 1835. |
| Publication type | Fairy tale collection |
| Publisher | C.A. Reitzel |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | 15 December 1835 |
| Published in English | February 1846 |
"Thumbelina" (Danish: "Tommelise") is a fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). The tale was published with two others by Andersen in an inexpensive booklet by C.A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Like the English folk tale "Tom Thumb" and similar tales, "Thumbelina" tells the story of a tiny human being and appears to be Andersen's complete invention. Andersen's seven fairy tales of 1835 were not well received by the Danish critics who disliked their casual, chatty style and their lack of morals. The earliest English translation is dated 1846. The tale has been adapted to various media including animated film.
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[edit] Thumbelina
When the story opens, a woman longs for children and receives a magic seed from a witch. Once planted, a tiny girl emerges from its flower. The woman names the child Thumbelina. One night, Thumbelina is asleep in her walnut-shell cradle and is carried off by a toad who wants the miniature maiden as a bride for her amphibian son. Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, and drifts on a lily pad until becoming the captive of a beetle. The beetle discards her when his friends reject her company. Thumbelina tries to protect herself from the elements, but when winter comes she is in desperate straits. She is finally given shelter by a field mouse and tends the mouse's home in return. The mouse suggests Thumbelina marry her neighbor, a mole. Thumbelina finds the prospect of being married to a mole unattractive, but the field mouse will not listen to her protests and even threatens to bite her. Thumbelina escapes the situation by fleeing to a far land with a swallow she nursed back to health during the winter. In a field of flowers, Thumbelina meets a fairy prince just her size and to her liking, and they wed. Thumbelina receives a pair of wings to accompany her husband on his travels from flower to flower, and a new name: Maia.
[edit] Sources
The tale is completely Andersen's invention though taking inspiration from "Tom Thumb" and other tales of miniature people such as E.T.A. Hoffma's "Meister Flak".
[edit] Publication
The tale was first published by C.A. Reitzel 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark as part of Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. Second Booklet. 1835. (Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Andet Hefte. 1835.). "Thumbelina" ("Tommelise") was the first tale in the booklet which included two other tales: "The Naughty Boy" ("Den uartige Dreng") and "The Traveling Companion" ("Reisekammeraten"). The tale was republished 18 December 1849 as a part of Fairy Tales. 1850. (Eventyr. 1850. ), and again 15 December 1862 as a part of Fairy Tales and Stories. First Volume. 1862. (Eventyr og Historier. Første Bind. 1862.).[1]
[edit] Critical reception
The first Danish reviews of Andersen's 1835 tales appeared in 1836 and were hostile. Critics disliked the informal, chatty style and the lack of morals,[2] and offered Andersen no encouragement. One literary journal never mentioned the tales at all while another advised Andersen not to waste his time writing "wonder stories". He was told he "lacked the usual form of that kind of poetry...and would not study models". Andersen felt he was working against their preconceived notions. He returned to novel-writing, believing it was his true calling.[3]
[edit] English translations
Mary Howitt was the first to translate the tale into English and published it as "Tommelise" in Wonderful Stories for Children (1846). However, instead of the opening consultation between the childless woman and the witch as found in Andersen, Howitt had the childless woman rewarded with the magic barleycorn after providing a hungry beggar woman with bread and milk.
Charles Boner also translated the tale in 1846 and gave the heroine the name 'Little Ellie' while Madame de Chatelain, in her 1852 translation, dubbed the child 'Little Totty'. The editor of The Child's Own Book (1853) called the child throughout, 'Little Maja', the name she usually receives at the end of the tale from the fairy prince.
It is likely H.W. Dulcken was the translator responsible for the name, 'Thumbelina'. Dulcken's widely published volumes of Andersen's tales appeared in 1864 and 1866.[4] 'Tomme' means 'inch' in Danish and the tale is sometimes published as "Little Tiny" in English.
[edit] Commentaries
The tale was inspired by Tom Thumb (and its similar tales) as well as "Meister Flak" by E.T.A. Hoffmann. It was the first of Andersen's tales to "dramatize the sufferings of the outsider who is different and therefore an object of mockery". It was also the first to use an identification or presence of the swallow "the migratory bird whose pattern of life his [Andersen's] own traveling days were coming to resemble".[2]
The tale is a possible "distant tribute" to Andersen's confidante, Henriette Wulff, the hunchbacked daughter of the Danish translator of Shakespeare.[4]
[edit] Adaptations
- It was adapted into a very popular Russian 30-minute cartoon in 1964 at Soyuzmultfilm studio, directed by Leonid Amalrik.[1]
- The Adventures of Thumbelina. Film 1 was a 7-minute Russian cartoon released in 1994 at Ecran Studio, directed by Boris Akulinichev.[2]
- The film was adapted into a 49-minute animated film by Golden Films in 1993. Thumbelina was produced by children's film producer Diane Eskenazi, further developed the original storyline and featured the works of many famous European composers in its soundtrack. A number of original sequences from this version were later reflected in the theatrical 1994 version.
- It was later adapted into a 1994 animated film directed by Don Bluth, released by Warner Bros and starring the voice talents of Jodi Benson, Will Ryan, Barbara Cook, Gino Conforti and John Hurt
- A crossover between Thumbelina and Tom Thumb was made in 2002, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina.
[edit] References
- ^ "Hans Christian Andersen: Thumbelina". Hans Christian Andersen Center. http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/register/info_e.html?vid=10. Retrieved on 2008-02-02.
- ^ a b Wullschlager, Jackie (2002). Hans Christian Andersen. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-91747-9.
- ^ Andersen, Hans Christian (1871, rep. 2000). The Fairy Tale of My Life. New York: Cooper Square Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-8154-1105-7.
- ^ a b Opie, Iona; Peter Opie (1974). The Classic Fairy Tales. Oxford University Press. p. 219. ISBN 0-19-211559-6.
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- Tommelise Original Danish text
- Thumbelina Jean Hersholt's English translation
- SurLaLune: Annotated Thumbelina
- KIDOONS presents the Fairy Tale: "Thumbelina"
