There was once a woman who wanted very much to have a child. So one day she went to a Fairy and said to her: 'I should so much like to have a little child; can you tell me where I can get one?'
'Here is a barley-corn for you’, said the Fairy. ‘Put it in a flower-pot, and then you will see something happen.'
The woman went home and planted the barley-corn; there grew out of it a large and beautiful flower, but the petals were tightly closed as if it were still only a bud.
'What a beautiful flower!' exclaimed the woman, and she kissed the red and yellow petals; but as she kissed them the flower burst open and in the middle of the blossom sat a little girl, quite tiny, trim, and pretty. She was scarcely half a thumb in height; so they called her Thumbelina.
