Thumbelina, Chapter 16: Seeing the World
The tiny man introduced himself. "I am Prince Fada. This is the kingdom of the flower fairies."
He began to whistle. All the other flowers started to open up. Each flower had a tiny person like Thumbelina inside. Everyone smiled at her.
"This might be where I belong," she whispered to herself. Thumbelina was surprised and happy to see people like her.
"My name is Thumbelina," she said. "Do you live in the flowers?"
"Yes, each flower is home to one of us," laughed the prince. "But where is your home?"
"I don’t really know, Prince Fada," said Thumbelina. "I just know what I enjoy doing, like looking at the stars."
"We sit in our flowers and watch the night sky," said the prince. "Then we all sing together."
"Really?" asked Thumbelina, remembering Mrs. Marigold’s windowsill.
"What kind of flower do you sleep in?" asked the prince.
"My bed was a walnut shell with a blanket of tulip petals," Thumbelina replied.
"Yes, tulips are our people’s favorite flower," said Prince Fada.
Thumbelina was very excited.
"Please tell me how you found us," said the prince.
So Thumbelina told him everything that had happened.
"Yes, our people love adventures too," agreed the prince.
"But singing kept me strong and happy," said Thumbelina.
Prince Fada’s eyes shone. "Yes, we all have lovely voices and love to sing."
"I found that I could learn bird songs easily," said Thumbelina.
"We are great friends with birds," said Prince Fada. Then, after a moment, he said, "I believe you are one of us. You look like us. You sound like us."
"But there is one thing that is different," Thumbelina said. "I don’t have wings."
Prince Fada smiled. "Yes, you do."
He whistled a happy tune. Another fairy brought a pair of wings. She put them on Thumbelina.
"They’re beautiful!" Thumbelina said excitedly. She could not believe it. She smiled shyly at the prince.
"And they fit perfectly," he said.
Thumbelina turned to look at her wings.
"Now I can go wherever I want!" she said joyfully.
The prince frowned. "But don’t you want to stay here with me? You can become my princess. We can live happily together."
Thumbelina looked at him. Then she looked up at the sky.
"Before, I didn’t know where I belonged," she said. "Now, I know. But I want to see Mrs. Marigold again. After that, I want to see the world! Then I will happily return home. Don’t worry, prince. I promise to come back."
Thumbelina shook her wings and flew toward the sky. Her adventure as Thumbelina was over. But her life as a fairy was just about to begin.
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