17. The Little Red Hen

Title: Pinkney, Jerry. The Little Red Hen. New York: Penguin Group, c2006. (n.b. there are many other versions of the story I consulted; this one is listed for convenience and because it has beautiful illustrations.)

Summary: A hard-working little red hen finds some wheat seeds. She asks her animal neighbors for help in planting, but each one refuses in turn, saying “Not I.” When the wheat ripens, she asks for help in cutting it down, but again the animals decline. When she needs help threshing the wheat, her neighbor animals again say no. When the wheat needs to be taken to the mill to be ground into flour, the animals still refuse to help. When it’s time to make the flour into bread and the hen asks for help, the animals again chorus “Not I”. But, when the bread is baked, fragrant and golden, and the Little Red Hen asks who will eat it, all the animals eagerly chime in “I will!” Finally, the Little Red Hen puts her foot (claw?) down, and eats the bread all by herself as a reward for all her hard work.
Cultural origins and how identified: This is somewhat problematic. Pinkney's version says the tale is English (from the book's colophon). Another version by Florence White Williams states that the tale is of English origin. An article in Wikipedia claims the story is of Russian origin, but offers no evidence to back this up.
Audience: I would tell this story to anyone from preschoolers on up. I practiced on some 60 and 70 year olds and they loved it. Any setting would be appropriate; library, classroom or performance space.
Notes on adaptation for telling: Even though I love the original “Not I” response from the animals, I think it needs updating for contemporary audiences. So I will let each animal respond in its own way, according to its personality. I think this story could have been a great Looney Tunes cartoon and I’m hoping to channel some of that anarchic humor into my telling.

Note on cover image: This image does not come from the Pinkney book. I found it through Google images at http://www.itheatre.org/Redhen08.html I chose it for its cartoonish quality.

16. The Mitten

Title: Brett, Jan. The mitten: a Ukrainian folktale, adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett. Lancaster, PA: Childcraft Education Corp., c1989.
Summary: The story is set in wintertime. A young boy’s grandmother balks at knitting white woolen mittens, fearing that the boy will lose them in the snow and never find them again. He’s insistent, though, and finally she knits his new mittens of wool as white as snow. Sure enough, on his very first outing with the new mittens, he drops one in the snow. One by one, a cast of curious animals burrow into the mitten to stay warm. A mole, then a hare, then a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox, and finally a great, brown bear all squeeze into the lost mitten to stay warm. Last to wedge itself into the mitten is a tiny field mouse, which perches atop the great bear’s nose. The mouse’s paws tickle the bear’s nose, who gives a tremendous sneeze, causing the
animals to be blown out of the mitten and scattered higgledy-piggledy in the snow. The now hugely stretched-out mitten shoots up into the air, where the boy sees it silhouetted against the blue sky. He grabs it and returns home to his grandmother, bearing both white mittens, although one is mysteriously much larger than the other.
Cultural origins and how identified: The tale is Ukrainian, based on Brett's title information. Another version by Alvin Tresselt also cites the tale as Ukrainian.
Audience: I would tell this to children ages 3 and up, and their families, in either library or school environments.
Notes on adaptation for telling: I adapted the story by adding a repetitive animal chorus as each new animal tries to squeeze into the mitten: “There’s no ROOM in here!” I’ve done this
with my preschoolers and they love to chime in and help tell the story. Another way to enhance the story is to use a mitten into which little animal finger puppets can "crawl"; this is also fun for younger children.

15. Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale from Japan

Title: Stamm, Claus. Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale from Japan. New York: Viking, c1962.

Summary: Forever-Mountain is a conceited wrestler on his way to the Emperor's championships. On the road, he sees Maru-me, a little round girl carrying a water bucket on her head. He decides to tickle her in the hope that he can carry the bucket home for her, but she catches his hand under her arm. No matter what he does, he can't get it out, and is dragged along behind her. He pleads for escape, but Maru-me says she wants to help him become truly strong. After all, if he can't escape from her, how strong can he be? Fearful of being a laughingstock among the other wrestlers, he agrees to live with her, her mother and her grandmother for 3 months, and let them train him. Each day he must wrestle with Grandmother for practice; when he and she stomp their feet, the villagers think it's thunder. When he reaches the Emperor's palace, Forever-Mountain terrifies all his opponents just by stomping his foot, and then simply carries each one out of the ring, where they cry like "fat babies". The tournament ends quickly, which pleases the peace-loving Emperor, who prefers to write poetry. The Emperor gives Forever-Mountain the prize money, but makes him promise never to wrestle again. He agrees, and returns to Maru-me, where he and she live happily as farmers. To this day, when villagers hear thunder, they say it is Forever-Mountain and Maru-me's Grandmother wrestling!

Cultural origins and how identified: The tale comes from Japan according to the book's colophon: "Folklore-Japan". No other information provided other than in the title.

Audience: This story is for children grades K-3 [ages 5-9] according to School Library Journal review; I think it would make a good family story time tale as well. This would be a fun tale to work into a classroom study unit on Japan, though it would work for a library program as well, especially one that included a little bit of cultural information.

Notes on adaptation for telling: I would definitely include some sound effects for Forever-Mountain and Grandmother's stomping feet, and would ask for audience participation.

14. The Legend of the Two Moons

Title: Mora, Francisco X. The Legend of the Two Moons. Fort Atkinson, WI: Highsmith Press, c 1992.
Summary: Chucho the dog is looking for a place to sleep, because his family's fiesta is too noisy. He goes into the forest, where he hears a deep voice coming out of a tree. When he tells the voice that he is only looking for a place to sleep, Perico the parrot flies down and offers him a spot in the tree. Chucho makes his bed in the highest branches, where he notices that there are 2 moons in the sky. Perico is surprised too, and wants to get one of the moons for himself. Chucho says he should not take the moon, but Perico flies off, and pulls a moon out of the sky. It's too heavy for him though, and he drops it in the water. Chucho runs to the water to find the parrot crying over his lost moon. He scolds Perico for being greedy. But when the water calms, they see that there are still 2 moons; one in the sky and one in the water.
Cultural origins and how identified: The tale comes from Mexico. From the book's colophon: "Francisco Mora is an artist who creates whimsical fantasies using folktales to teach about real life. He is heavily influenced by his dreams and memories of his Mexican heritage."

Audience: The Amazon.com website says ages 4-8. I agree with this assessment, and think the tale would be good for library or classroom audiences. This would make a good addition to the study of world origin myths for older kids.
Notes on adaptation for telling: The story is sprinkled with a lot of Spanish words (though there is a glossary), so some practice would be needed for non-Spanish speakers (like me). I would preface the tale by talking with the kids about the moon and asking them: "Did you know that there were once 2 moons? What do you think happened to the other one?" I think this could add a bit to the mysterious quality of the tale.

Cover image note: I could not find an image of the actual book, though I did find many of Mora's other books. The image I selected simply shows 2 moons.

13. The Woman Who Outshone the Sun

Title: Cruz, Alejandro. The Woman Who Outshone the Sun: the Legend of Lucia Zenteno, from a poem by Alejandro Cruz Martinez. San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press, c 1991.
Summary: One day, the beautiful Lucia arrives in the village, trailing butterflies and flowers, and accompanied by a loyal iguana. Her beauty was so great that some people said she outshone the sun, while her long black hair seemed to block it out. When Lucia bathed in the river, the river and the fishes loved her and flowed through her hair. When she was done bathing, Lucia would comb her hair out and the water and fishes would return to the river. The village elders said that the people would always honor Lucia, even though she was different. But the people ignored the elders, and were mean to her. Lucia kept her dignity, which only angered the villagers more, so much so that they drove her away. Lucia went to say goodbye to the river, which flowed through her hair and refused to leave her! When she left, only a dry riverbed remained. When the villagers saw the water, fish and animals leaving, they despaired. They and their animals began to thirst. After much urging from the elders, the people agreed to find Lucia and apologize. They found her and begged for mercy. Lucia was compassionate and agreed to ask the river to return to them, but said that just as the river gives water to all, the villagers must be kind to everyone, even those who seemed different. She combed out her hair; the river and water animals returned and the village rejoiced. In all the celebrating, no one noticed when Lucia disappeared. The elders said that she would always be there in spirit to guide them and keep understanding and love in their hearts.
Cultural origins and how identified: This is quoted from the book's afterword: "The legend of Lucia Zenteno is part of the oral history of the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico." The Zapotec poet Alejandro Cruz Martinez collected many of his people's stories and published his own version of this tale as a poem in 1986."
Audience: This story is for grades K-3 [ages 5-9] according to School Library Journal review. I agree with this assessment. This would be a great story to use to teach about tolerance of differences in a classroom (or library) setting.
Notes on adaptation for telling: This is a bilingual tale, so ideally it should be told by someone who speaks both Spanish and English. Failing that, I'd tell the English version and find a Spanish-speaking storyteller to tell the tale. It might be fun to alternate "episodes" of the tale, if that wouldn't be too confusing. It's a beautiful story, with a saintly heroine, so I'd tell it reverently.

12. Zorro and Quwi: Tales of a Trickster Guinea Pig

Title: Hickox, Rebecca. Zorro and Quwi: Tales of a Trickster Guinea Pig. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, c1997.
Summary: Zorro the fox hunts for Quwi the guinea pig every night in the Peruvian mountains. One night, Quwi sneaks into a garden to hide from Zorro and eats flowers all night long. The next morning, the angry gardener traps Quwi. Zorro finds Quwi in the trap and prepares to eat him. Crafty Quwi tells him that the gardener is forcing him to marry his daughter and live in a mansion; this might sound good, but his future bride is much bigger than he is, and is sure to step on him and crush him. Zorro offers to take Quwi's place in the trap, so that he can live the good life. When the gardener finds him, he beats Zorro with a stick until Zorro manages to escape. Then Zorro finds Quwi pushing against a large rock and again prepares to eat him. Sneaky Quwi tells him the rock was rolling down the hill to crush the village below; if Zorro helps him hold it up, they'll both be heroes. Zorro pushes for a long time but at last, he realizes he's been tricked again. The next morning, Zorro surprises Quwi in the field and once more threatens to eat him. Quwi tells him to go ahead; they'll all be dead soon anyway, because a rain of fire is coming. The panicked Zorro agrees to Quwi's plan to hide in a hole, but once he crawls in, the guinea pig piles thorny bushes over it, saying that they're clouds. He shoves the thorns further into the hole, poking Zorro, and tells him the rain of fire is starting. Zorro falls asleep, and awakes the next day to find nothing has happened. Enraged, Zorro hunts Quwi all day without success. That night, the guinea pig comes to Zorro's den, giving him some cornmeal mush to eat, and apologizing for his trickery. Zorro eats it, but still wants to eat Quwi. Instead, Quwi offers to show Zorro where to find more cornmeal. They creep into a house, and Zorro eats the meal out of a clay pot, but gets his head stuck inside. Quwi promises to give Zorro a rock to break the pot with, but instead leads Zorro to the sleeping home owner's bald head. When Zorro grabs his head, the man startles and wakes! Zorro falls over, breaks the jar, sees the man get his gun, and runs away to the edge of the forest, swearing off guinea pigs!
Cultural origins and how identified: In the afterword, Hickox writes that this story is based a series of tales about "The Mouse and the Fox" from Folktales Told Around the World (University of Chicago Press, 1975). In that book, the stories were told to Jean MacLaughlin by an unnamed 13 year old Peruvian boy. Hickox rewrote 4 of the tales, substituting a guinea pig for the original character of the mouse. She writes that in Peru, Quwi (the Quechua word for guinea pig; cuy in Spanish) is the hero of many trickster tales. The author raised guinea pigs as a child and now has a daughter who does the same, so she decided to make her hero a guinea pig!
Audience: According to School Library Journal, this tale is for K-Grade 3 [ages 5-9]. I agree, but I'd tell this to older audiences too, since I think there's a universal appreciation for trickster tales. This tale would be a lot of fun at a library story time, and could work in the classroom as well.

Notes on adaptation for telling: I'm not sure how to pronounce "Quwi", so I might tweak his name into "Kiwi" instead. This is a fun story and I'd tell it in a lively manner, with "And then...what do you THINK?!" to introduce each new episode of Zorro's humiliation!

11. Ashpet

Title: Compton, Joanne. Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale. New York, Holiday House, 1994.
Summary: A servant girl named Ashpet is indentured to the Widow Hooper and her 2 mean daughters, Myrtle and Ethel. As in all Cinderella tales, Ashpet toils from dawn till dusk, cleaning, cooking, washing, chopping wood, etc. while the lazy (and of course ugly) sisters lay about. Whenever anyone visits the Hooper cabin, Ashpet is concealed beneath a washtub because the sisters are jealous of her beauty. The action begins when the big summer church revival approaches, and in the bustle of preparations, Ashpet inadvertently lets the fire go out. The next day, Myrtle is sent to get fire from Granny since Ashpet is too busy working. Myrtle hollered outside Granny's cabin, but refused to go in and brush her hair, so Granny wouldn't give her the fire. Then Ethel was sent out, with the same results. Finally Widow Hooper sent Ashpet, and she was polite and brushed Granny's hair. When Granny asked if Ashpet was going to the church meeting, Ashpet said she'd probably be too busy working. Soon after, the Hoopers left for the revival. Granny appeared at the cabin, rapped 3 times on the floor, and magically the cabin was sparkling clean. And, there was a new dress and shoes for Ashpet! After being warned by Granny to be home before midnight, Ashpet went off to the meeting and attracted the attention of the Doc Ellison's son. When the Hoopers offered to share their picnic lunch with him, he took it and went to sit with Ashpet, mortifying the Hoopers, who stomped off home. As Ashpet and the doctor's son walked home, she realized how late it was becoming, and kicked off her shoe to distract him, then ran home. The next day, the doctor's son came to the Hooper cabin. Ashpet was stuffed under the washtub. The doctor's son appeared with the missing shoe, tried it on the sisters, who of course couldn't fit into it. As the doctor's son prepared to leave, he tripped over the washtub, revealing Ashpet. She tried on the shoe, which of course fit perfectly. The doctor's son then paid off Ashpet's remaining years of servitude, and they went off together --"happy as could be".
Cultural origins and how identified: In the author's note, Compton states that the Cinderella story is very old, with the earliest recorded version being "Yeh-shien" from China in 850 A.D. Hundreds of Cinderella stories have been collected since then. The Grimm Brothers recorded "Aschenputtel" in 1812, and European immigrants might have brought a similar version to the Southern Appalachian region of America, where eventually it morphed into "Ashpet". This version was published in 1948 by Richard Chase in Grandfather Tales. Compton has further adapted the tale to make the prince a more likely mountain character--a doctor's son.
Audience: School Library Journal states that this is appropriate for Grades 1-3 [ages 6-9] according to its review. I think this would make a good family storytime at the library or at a school reading night, since everyone is so familiar with the Cinderella tale. It could also work as part of a study unit on Appalachia.
Notes on adaptation for telling: I'd give the doctor's son a name of his own, which he lacks in this version, and might wear a little creative costume--a bonnet or some such--to reflect the homespun atmosphere of the tale. The story would make more sense if the audience had some understanding of Appalachian traditions and lifestyle; another reason to tell it to older listeners.