Suddenly a great cockchafer buzzed along. Alas! he caught sight of little Thumbelina. He flew to her, put his claw round her tiny waist and carried her off, up on to a tree.
Poor little Thumbelina! How frightened she was! How grieved she was, too. Would he fly away, she wondered, or would her sash hold him fast?
她解下腰帶,把一端系在蝴蝶身上,把另一端緊緊地系在葉子上。葉子帶著拇指姑娘一起很快地在水上流走了。
突然一隻很大的金龜子嗡嗡嗡飛過。哎呀,他看到了她。他飛向她,用爪子抓住她纖細的腰,把她帶到一棵樹上去了。
可憐的拇指姑娘!她是多么地害怕!她又是多么地傷心!他飛走了沒有?腰帶會不會把他系的太緊了?
The cockchafer was charmed with the little maiden. He placed her tenderly on the largest leaf he could find. He gathered honey for her from the flowers, and as she sipped it, he sat near and told her how beautiful she looked.
But there were other chafers living in the tree, and when they came to see little Thumbelina, they said, "She is not pretty at all."
"She only has two legs," said one.
"She has no feelers," said another.
Some said she was too thin, others said she was too fat, and then they all buzzed and hummed together, "How ugly she is, how ugly she is!" But all the time little Thumbelina was the prettiest, daintiest little maiden that ever lived.
金龜子為這個小少女而傾倒,他溫柔地把她放在最大的一片葉子上,還取出蜜糖給她吃,她吸吮著蜜糖,他坐在旁邊告訴她是多么漂亮。
樹林裡還住著其它金龜子,他們都跑來看拇指姑娘,“呦,她長的一點都不好看吶。”
有一個說:“她不過只有兩條腿罷了!”
“她連觸鬚都沒有!”另一個說。
他們七嘴八舌,有的說她太瘦了,有的說她太胖了, 然後所有的金龜子一齊叫道,“她多么醜啊!太醜了!”但不管怎么說拇指姑娘確實是這個世界上最美麗,最嬌艷的姑娘。
And now the cockchafer who had flown off with little Thumbelina thought he had been rather foolish to admire her.
He looked at her again. "Pretty? No, after all she was not very pretty." He would have nothing to do with her, and away he and all the other chafers flew. Only first they carried little Thumbelina down from the tree and placed her on a daisy. She wept because she was so ugly - so ugly that the chafers could not live with her. But all the time, you know, she was the prettiest little maiden in the world.
於是現在呢,金龜子覺得自己崇拜她真是太傻了,他再仔細端詳她,真的很美嗎?不,並不是很美。他再也沒興趣為她做任何事情了,他和其他金龜子一起飛走了。他們帶著她從樹上飛下來,把她放在一朵雛菊上面。她在那上面哭得怪傷心的,因為她長得那么醜,連金龜子也不要她了。可是她仍然是人們所想像不到的一個最美麗的人兒。