Oh , dear ! how terrified poor little Thumbelina was when the cockchafer flew off with her to the tree ! But she was especially distressed on the beautiful white butterfly 's account , as she had tied him fast , so that if he could not get away he must starve to death . But the cockchafer did not trouble himself about that ; he sat down with her on a large green leaf , gave her the honey out of the flowers to eat , and told her that she was very pretty , although she was n't in the least like a cockchafer . Later on , all the other cockchafers who lived in the same tree came to pay calls ; they examined Thumbelina closely , and remarked , ` Why , she has only two legs ! How very miserable ! ' ` She has no feelers ! ' cried another . ` How ugly she is ! ' said all the lady chafers -- and yet Thumbelina was really very pretty . The cockchafer who had stolen her knew this very well ; but when he heard all the ladies saying she was ugly , he began to think so too , and would not keep her ; she might go wherever she liked . So he flew down from the tree with her and put her on a daisy . There she sat and wept , because she was so ugly that the cockchafer would have nothing to do with her ; and yet she was the most beautiful creature imaginable , so soft and delicate , like the loveliest rose-leaf . The whole summer poor little Thumbelina lived alone in the great wood . She plaited a bed for herself of blades of grass , and hung it up under a clover-leaf , so that she was protected from the rain ; she gathered honey from the flowers for food , and drank the dew on the leaves every morning . Thus the summer and autumn passed , but then came winter -- the long , cold winter . All the birds who had sung so sweetly about her had flown away ; the trees shed their leaves , the flowers died ; the great clover-leaf under which she had lived curled up , and nothing remained of it but the withered stalk . She was terribly cold , for her clothes were ragged , and she herself was so small and thin . Poor little Thumbelina ! she would surely be frozen to death .
It began to snow , and every snow-flake that fell on her was XXXXX her as a whole shovelful thrown on one of us , for we are so big , and she was only an inch high .
So about as because for from in of on to