Thumbelina and the Imagination

Recently, I've been giving the fairytale "Thumbelina" another look.  Many people see the wee mite as the hero of the story, but I prefer to think of the mother of Thumbelina as the hero.  Thumbelina represents the mother's center, soul, imagination.  All writers are inventors and creators, so the story is relevant to both men and women.

There was once a woman (1A) who wished very much to have a little child, but she could not obtain her wish.  At last she went to a fairy (1B), and said, "I should so very much like to have a little child; can you tell me where I can find one?"

"Oh, that can be easily managed, " said the fairy.  "Here is a barleycorn (2A) of a different kind to those which grow in the farmer's fields, and which the chickens eat; put it into a flower-pot, and see what will happen."

"Thank you," said the woman, and she gave the fairy twelve (2B) shillings, which was the price of the barleycorn.  Then she went home and planted it, and immediately there grew a large handsome flower, something like a tulip in appearance, but with its leaves tightly closed as if it were still a bud (3).  "It is a beautiful flower," said the woman, and she kissed the red and golden-colored leaves, and while she did so the flower opened, and she could see that it was a real tulip.  Within the flower, upon the green velvet stamens (4), sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden (5).  She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave her the name of "Thumbelina," or Tiny, because she was so small.

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(1A)  In another version, the woman is described as an "old widow."  I like the "old widow" version better because she represents middle age, the time when many people feel they have lost their creative energy.  Thumbelina would represent the rebirth of our imagination.  In the other version ("woman" version), the mother simply disappears and the hero becomes Thumbelina.  I'm more interested in the Jungian approach, although I may not be doing it just right:  the "old widow" is  the hero of the story, and each character is part of her psyche.

(1B)  In another version of the story, the fairy is instead a witch (crone).  I like the use of the witch (crone) better because she completes the trinity--virgin (the flower bud), mother (bud opens), and crone.  

(2A)   From The Symbolism of Bread.

Piero Camporesi among others has pointed to the sexual symbolism of bread. In his book The Magic Harvest Camporesi claims that, "Bread serves as an emblem of both male and female reproductive organs, and edible metaphor of the phallus and the vulva, both in the (feminine) ellipsoid loaves and in the numerous loaves of phallic form". Is this an extension of bread as life-giving symbol? The phrase "She's got a bun in the oven" is still used of a pregnant woman. Taking a loaf with Camporesi, semen could be wheat seed that has been transformed after much grinding of millstones/ thighs, mixing with various fluids, baking in the oven/womb into the foetus/loaf.

But what is it about bread that allows it to be symbolically life giving? After all, we don't need bread to live. Camporesi talks of bread as a symbol of "life in perpetual regeneration . . . of the continuity of existence". But I think he is missing something. Focusing only on baking and ingestion throws too narrow a light. I believe it is not bread per se that is carrying the meanings, but the whole cycle from planting to eating. In fact, not until the bread is eaten can the cycle be complete.

Let me draw a parallel. A traditional English folk song tells the tale of John Barleycorn. John is the barley plant, more particularly the barley seed. In the song men come into the field and cut down John Barleycorn, then beat him (threshing), grind him between two stones and bung him in a vat, effectively killing him. The punch line, though, is that John Barleycorn "lives to tell tale, for they pour him out of oaken vat and they call him nut brown ale". This is a story of resurrection, as of course are the stories of Christ and of Persephone.

I also found these references to barley or grain:  Fruitfulness, reaping, prosperity, reverence, purification, transformation, change, The Bread of Life, The Chalice of Plenty , The Ever-flowing Cup , the Groaning Board (Table of Plenty)

(2B)  Twelve represents a complete cycle, as in twelve months or twelve disciples.

(3)  As I said, the bud can be symbolic of virginity.  The virgin is the first stage of the triple goddess.  I also found that the tulip can represent "imagination and dreaminess."  The tulip is also a flower that blooms in the Spring.

(4)  Velvet stamens--sounds beautifully erotic.

(5)  The Anderson illustration shows her as a young maiden.  An illustration I found on the internet shows an infant inside the flower.  I like the Anderson illustration better.  

*Illustration credit:  Wayne Anderson