Thumbelina Is Cold!

Grandma Lu continued her story by saying, "It was wintertime now and Thumbelina was so very cold. The snowflakes began to fall on her. She was so tiny that when a snow flake fell on her it felt like a big shovel full of snow. Remember she was about the size of your thumb."

"She tried wrapping herself in a dry leaf, but it cracked and broke into tiny pieces so she started to walk to shelter hoping to find someplace where she could keep warm.

Close by where she had been living there was a great big house. There were sunflowers in the yard. She was so happy. But once again, the sunflowers were hard because they were cold also. She stood under the sunflower leaf deciding if she would be able to walk into the big house. It looked so far away."

"Thumbelina decided that she would try it. She got to the porch and noticed a small hole in the bottom of the house. She bent over and looked inside. It was nice and warm in there, so she walked right in and a field mouse met her at the door and said, "You look tired and hungry and very cold. Come into my kitchen where it is warmer. I will give you something to eat."

"Thumbelina was so happy because she hadn't had anything to eat for two days. Her tummy was growling. The field mouse liked the little girl and told her that she could stay with her all winter if she would like to. The mouse said that she had to clean her house and tell her stories to pay her back for her kindness. Thumbelina agreed and she was very warm and happy there."

"One day the field mouse said, 'We are going to have company soon. My neighbor is going to visit. He is very rich and has many rooms. He also wears a beautiful black fur coat. You would be very well off if you would marry him. He is blind and cannot see, so if you would tell him your nice stories I'm just sure he would like to make you his wife.'"

Grandma Lu said, "Well, Thumbelina was not a bit interested in getting married to a mole. Have any of you ever seen a mole?" No one had so she showed the children a picture of the field mouse and the mole. " A mole lives underground and digs holes in my yard, Grandma Lu chuckled. The story teller in the book is right. Moles are blind so they have no clue what sunlight looks like or beautiful flowers. There are many people that are blind too. We are all different aren't we?"

"Well, Thumbelina did sing to him and he loved her beautiful voice, but he didn't ask her to marry him yet, because he was a very careful mole. Dogs and cats don't like moles, so he had to be careful not to go out of his tunnels. He made many many tunnels under the ground, so the field mouse was right. He had a very big house."

Marlee said, "Well, who would want to marry a mole? Yuk! That's just silly, Grandma Lu."
Everybody laughed and agreed with Marlee.