how ugly and clammy he was , just like his mother ! ` Croak , croak , croak ! ' was all he could say when he saw the pretty little girl in the walnut-shell . ` Do n't talk so load , or you 'll wake her , ' said the old toad . ` She might escape us even now ; she is as light as a feather . We will put her at once on a broad water-lily leaf in the stream . That will be quite an island for her ; she is so small and light . She ca n't run away from us there , whilst we are preparing the guest-chamber under the marsh where she shall live . ' Outside in the brook grew many water-lilies , with broad green leaves , which looked as if they were swimming about on the water . The leaf farthest away was the largest , and to this the old toad swam with Thumbelina in her walnut-shell . The tiny Thumbelina woke up very early in the morning , and when she saw where she was she began to cry bitterly ; for on every side of the great green leaf was water , and she could not get to the land . The old toad was down under the marsh , decorating her room with rushes and yellow marigold leaves , to make it very grand for her new daughter-in-law ; then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf where Thumbelina lay . She wanted to fetch the pretty cradle to put it into her room before Thumbelina herself came there . The old toad bowed low in the water before her , and said : ` Here is my son ; you shall marry him , and live in great magnificence down under the marsh . ' ` Croak , croak , croak ! ' was all that the son could say . Then they took the neat little cradle and swam away with it ; but Thumbelina sat alone on the great green leaf and wept , for she did not want to live with the clammy toad , or marry her ugly son . The little fishes swimming about under the water had seen the toad quite plainly , and heard what she had said ; so they put up their heads to see the little girl . When they saw her , they thought her so pretty that they were very sorry she should go down with the ugly toad to live . No ; that must not happen .
They assembled XXXXX the water round the green stalk which supported the leaf on which she was sitting , and nibbled the stem in two .
before from in into like on so that to under