The Attraction of the Small: Thumbelina, Lilliputians, Gnomes and Borrowers

Thumbelina raises the question, What's the reason for the character's popularity? 

Thumbelina doesn't transform. There's no narrative arc. Just--lots of stuff happens to her...and she ends up okay. 

But I think human beings are enthralled by the small, going back to Gulliver's Lilliputians and before. The attraction lies in envisioning the small next to the large. 

Even more than fairies and the small, impish, and charming variation of elves (who are far less interesting than the tall, ticked-off, Tolkien variation), little people within human environments allow us to watch ordinary objects--spoons, soda bottle lids, rubber bands--being used for everyday use. 

It's the dollhouse under examination--and more enthralling, in many ways, than giants stomping all over stuff. The Lilliputians are the story within Gulliver's Travels that get remembered before the Brobdingnag. Gulliver amongst giants is basically a prisoner. Gulliver amongst the small transports us back into the world of adaptation. Look at how they make stuff work! 

Gnomes by Wil Hyugen is the same. The gnomes aren't prisoners. They are happy thriving members of a world that they use to their own ends. 

Competence! It's very attractive. 

My favorite examples are the Littles and the Borrowers. Competence and adaptation in both these series come to the fore.