andersen biographer jackie wullschlager writes that “thumbelina” was the first of andersen's tales to dramatize the sufferings and hardships of one who is different. as a result of being different, thumbelina becomes the object of mockery. it was also the first of andersen's tales to use the swallow as the symbol of the poetic soul. andersen identified with the swallow as a migratory bird whose pattern of life his own traveling days were beginning to resemble.