..I took some years ago of my sweet niece a beautiful summer day in Gotland at my sister´s farm long before I bought my own house here. Sis had been growing rhubarbs of which I picked a huge leaf and asked little Stella to sit down on it and pretend to be Thumbelina (Tummelisa) from the lovely fairy tale by H C Andersen. This she did and I took the photo and later placed it on top of another photo taken in Sandhamn of the glittering summer sea out there in the archipelago. And then I merged them together in PhotoShop. I was so happy with the result above! It actually looks like she is floating on water the way Tummelisa/Tiny did in the famous saga.
"Thumbelina" (Danish: Tommelise) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a thumb-sized girl and her many adventures before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size. "Thumbelina" is mainly Andersen's invention, although he did take inspiration from tales of miniature people such as "Tom Thumb". . The earliest English translation of "Thumbelina" is dated 1846. The tale has been adapted to various media including song and animated film:
"Thumbelina" (Danish: Tommelise) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a thumb-sized girl and her many adventures before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size. "Thumbelina" is mainly Andersen's invention, although he did take inspiration from tales of miniature people such as "Tom Thumb". . The earliest English translation of "Thumbelina" is dated 1846. The tale has been adapted to various media including song and animated film:
"When he saw Tiny, he was delighted, and thought her the prettiest little maiden he had ever seen. 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. "
(The classic saga illustrated by Elsa Beskow.)
"This certainly was a very different sort of husband to the son of a toad, or the mole, with my black velvet and fur; so she said, "Yes," to the handsome prince. Then all the flowers opened, and out of each came a little lady or a tiny lord, all so pretty it was quite a pleasure to look at them. Each of them brought Tiny a present; but the best gift was a pair of beautiful wings, which had belonged to a large white fly and they fastened them to Tiny's shoulders, so that she might fly from flower to flower. "
The talented Dutch artist Sarah Haras´ painting "The toad kept Thumbelina captured on a lily leaf."
