Google’s newest Doodle is celebrating the birthday of Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson. The Google Doodle is unique in its own way. The Google logo transforms into five different pictures from Thumbelina. Each logo is illustrating one particular scene from the famous children’s story book Thumbelina. The first picture is depicting the tiny Thumbelina in a flower; by clinking the mouse over the Google’s Doodle will take the user to the next scene which shows Thumbelina seeking shelter from a mouse after her escapement. Next picture in the series shows Thumbelina shivering in the snow, the fourth one depicts Thumbelina fleeing on the back of a bird, and the last one shows the ‘happily ever after’ final scene in which Thumbelina meets a tiny prince to marry her.
Thumbelina is literary fairy tale about a girl Thumbelina, a thumb-sized girl and her life adventures before she falls in love with a little flower prince of just about her size. Thumbelina is an invention of Anderson but he did mention that he took inspiration from tales about small people including ‘Tom Thumb’ and others. Thumbelina was first published in 1835 in Denmark. Hans Christian Anderson published seven fairy tales the same year. His other fairy tales were not well received by the critics but one critic applauded ‘Thumbelina’ and commented that the tale is ‘most delightful’ fairy tale one could ever wish for.
The first English translation of Thumbelina is dated 1864.
Thumbelina has been adapted into an animated film as well as a live action dramatization. The tale was also adapted into a song which was nominated for Academy Award too.
Thumbelina