Every morning when the sun rose, and every evening when it went down, she would steal out of the door, and when the wind blew the ears of corn aside so that she could see the blue sky, she thought how beautiful and bright it seemed out there and wished so much to see her dear swallow again. But he never came; for by this time he had flown far away into the lovely green forest.
[[98]]
When autumn came Thumbelina had her outfit all ready, and the field mouse said to her, “In four weeks the wedding must take place.”
But Thumbelina wept and said she would not marry the disagreeable mole.
“Nonsense,” replied the field mouse. “Now don’t be obstinate or I shall bite you with my white teeth. He is a very fine mole; the Queen herself has not such a beautiful velvet coat His kitchens and cellars are quite full. You ought to be very thankful for such good fortune.”
So the wedding day came, on which the mole was to take her away to live with him, deep under the earth, and never again to come out into the warm sunshine, because he did not like it. The poor child was very unhappy at the thought of saying farewell to the beautiful sun; she went to the door to look at it once more.
“Farewell, bright sun,” she cried, stretching out her arms towards it; and then she walked a short distance from the house, for [[99]]the corn had been cut and only the dry stubble remained in the fields.
“Farewell, farewell,” she repeated, and threw her arms round a little red flower that grew just by her side. “Greet the little swallow for me if you should see him again.”
“Tweet, tweet,” sounded over her head suddenly. She looked up and there was the swallow flying close by. He was delighted to see Thumbelina. She told him how unwilling she was to marry the ugly mole and to live always deep under the earth where the sun never shone. And as she told him she wept.