《小不點或拇指姑娘》，1835 年

Little tiny or thumbelina, 1835

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《拇指姑娘》是安徒生童話集第二卷中的第一個故事，於 1835 年 12 月出版，正好趕上聖誕節。

“thumbelina” was the first story in the second installment of Andersen’s Eventyr, published in december 1835, just in time for christmas.

這個時間與他作為作家的首次真正勝利相吻合：

Its date coincided with his first real triumph as a writer:

小說《即興詩人》的出版，很快就重印並被翻譯成德語。

publication of the novel the Improvisatore, soon reprinted and translated into German.

第一卷童話故事收到的評價褒貶不一；

the first volume of fairy tales had met with mixed reviews;

至少有一位評論家建議安徒生完全停止創作童話。

at least one reviewer advised Andersen to stop writing them altogether.

在第三卷的引言中，安徒生承認這樣的評論 “削弱了創作的慾望”，但他堅持了下來。

In his introduction to the third volume, Andersen conceded that such reviews “weakened the desire” to write but that he had persevered.

喚起他在紡織間和收穫時節聽到的故事的記憶，他使 “褪色的形象” 鮮活起來，並將它們作為自己富有想象力的創作的起點。

Reviving his memory of tales heard in spinning rooms and at harvest time, he brightened up “the faded colors of the images” and used them as the point of departure for imaginative creations of his own.

《拇指姑娘》，安徒生講述一個逃跑新娘的故事，被不同地解讀為一個教導 “人們和同類在一起時才幸福” 的故事，作為一個關於 “在當時的資產階級中並不罕見的包辦婚姻” 的寓言，以及作為一個 “關於忠於自己內心的直白寓言”，它也支援 “傳統觀念，即與一位傳統的好王子的愛情相比，名利一文不值”。

“thumbelina,” Andersen’s tale of a runaway bride, has been variously interpreted as a tale teaching that “people are happy when with their own kind”, as an allegory about “arranged