MUSIC BOX II - AN INTERLUDE

Thumbelina was carried on her lilypad by the winds and water far across the pond where it bled into the streams, and down the river where the elements became violent and unforgiving. A simple pond leaf was no match for the harsh, raging rapids. The poor girl's lilypad was destroyed, leaving her stranded along the river banks, and forced to take shelter wherever she could find it. Days passed, beating little Thumbelina to exhaustion and desperation. She took shelter under a small bridge.

It was there that she heard a peculiar and pitiful cry for help. A bird was screeching from an otherwise abandoned nest. Though weak, and barely capable of taking care of herself, Thumbelia offered her care to the baby bird, gathering what little food she could find in the autumn days. Winter was fast approaching and the nature around the river was dying. Soon, all Thumbelina could find was yellow grass and stale roots.

A mouse happened upon them both and offered to take them in.

Thumbelina accepted the mouse's offer, grateful to be safe.

She had found a new home, and made not one, but two new friends. Thumbelina spent the winter in the company of a newly formed family, caring for the baby bird as if it were her own daughter. She'd share the same stories her mother had told her every night before bed and play games with the kind mouse. Yuletide would come and go and for that brief winter everything felt like it was as it was meant to be; Thumbelina with her mouse-companion and bird-child, at peace.

Spring came, and Thumbelina happened to see a man walking by, clad in flamboyant pied clothing, looking like a clown with a smile on his face and glee in his eyes. Raised to his lips was a pipe, tooting a melody that put a spring in his step. He stopped along the river bank and continued playing, and shortly after, Thumbelina witnessed a shocking, awful hoard of rats marching after him. There must have been hundreds, if not thousands of them squeaking as they followed the tune of the piper.

What happened next horrified Thumbelina. The rats that had followed so loyally to the music reached the bridge and began to hurl themselves from the stones into the river, drowning themselves. Yet, the piper continued playing, smiling, and even laughing as every rat lept to their death. The music had hypnotized the mice and transfixed them to their doom

Then came the greatest horror of all. The mouse who had shared her home with Thumbelina emerged from her hole and began following suit with the other rats. Thumbelina heard her cry out "Help me! Save me! I can't stop!" Her body was moving on its own. She tried everything - tugging on her companion's tail, tripping her, pushing her back but she was too small, too weak to control her, hands too tiny to block her love's ears. There was no stopping the mouse from charging forth with Thumbelina on her back into the river. Gripped by fear, the small girl was staring Death in the face.

The small bird had since grown during the winter from a young hatchling to a proud dove. As the mouse lept from the bridge the bird swooped down from the sky and picked Thumbelina up in her talons. She carried her away, crying as she watched her companion sink into the murky river waters.

And so Thumbelina's second love came to an end. She wept for the mouse all night, and straight on until morning, sitting on the bird's back as she continued flying far away. The bird followed the brightest stars in the sky, and when dawn broke the night, a warm glow cast over the horizon.

At the edge of the sea, Thumbelina and her daughter saw the shadow of an island, lush and colorful. A rainbow stretched over its tall mountains and dipped into its deep, blue lagoons. They had found a new home, far from the pain and sadness of old.