1Denmark, Spring 1845
ONCE UPON A TIME… There was a widow who yearned for a child. As she had been on her own for so many years, she went to a kindly witch and said to her, "'I would so much like to have a tiny, little child; can you tell me where I can get one?"
"Oh, we have just got one ready!" said the Witch. She gave the widow a special barley-corn. The Witch instructed the widow to plant the barley-corn in a flower pot and tend to it until it sprouted. "And then you'll see something wonderful happen!"
"Oh, thank you!" said the widow and paid the Witch for the barley-corn.
Then she went home and planted the special seed. After a time, there grew out of the flower pot a large and beautiful flower. The petals remained tightly closed.
"Hello there," the widow whispered to the flower. "Aren't you a pretty thing? I can't wait to meet you!" She pressed a kiss to the petals.
The flower shivered for a moment before unfurling. The woman gasped at the sight of a tiny girl curled up at the center of the flower.
The girl's flowing red hair shifted as she yawned and sat up. She blinked sleepily before smiling. "Hello. I couldn't wait to meet you too! The Witch said that you would be my mother?"
The widow nodded, tears within her eyes. She extended her hand for the tiny girl to hop on. She brought her hand up towards her face.
"Yes. I am to be your mother and you are to be my child. I will call you… Thumbelina!"
Thumbelina smiled. "Thumbelina… I like it!"
Welcome to the story that's been keeping me up for months now!
I know I'm meant to be re-writing my Miraculous series, but the single question "What if Cornelius and Thumbelina 'courted' before Let Me Be Your Wings?" infiltrated my every creative thought. I LOVE the 1994 Don Bluth Thumbelina, but watching it back as an adult made me realize that there are some things that could happen to further flesh out the characters and story. Because I end up writing what I want to read, that's what I set out to do!
A note about chapters. I already have everything planned & sectioned out. That means that some chapters will be average length or longer (1,500+) and some chapters will be shorts (1,000) depending on what the scene calls for. Just a heads up on that!