OOH! I know this!
I do a lot of programs with many versions of the same basic story.Here are some
of them:
Note that the first set includes a bibliography of retellings of Could
Anything Be Worse?, my favorite version of the story because the pictures show
the family preparing for Shabbat---which is a
spiritual/psychological/perceptual change, but not a physical/actual/real one.
Mind over Matter / Nothing Happens
The outward situation of the characters is the same at the beginning as at the
end, yet something has happened to make this a satisfying story.
-
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
A peddler, unable to sell the caps he carries on his head, naps against a tree.
When he wakes up, he discovers that monkeys in the tree have taken all but one
of his caps. Yelling at them does no good; but when he throws his cap down,
they imitate him and he retrieves his caps and returns to town. Nothing
happens: his goal was to sell caps and he does not.
Note that there are other stories and images about monkeys and peddlers: The
Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, has a
beaker (the Monkey Cup). The Cleveland Museum of Art has the Peddler
Goblet(link does not work).
-
Could Anything Be Worse? by Marilyn Hirsh
When a man complains to his rabbi that his house is too noisy and crowded, the
rabbi keeps telling him to invite in more animals and people until, at last,
when the rabbi tells him to have them all leave the man thanks the rabbi for
making his house so quiet and roomy. Nothing happens: the man's house is just
as noisy and crowded at the end as it was at the beginning.
Mind over Matter Bibliography
There are many versions of this story. Always Room for One More and Rainy
Morning celebrate the growing number of guests.
- Could Anything Be Worse? A Yiddish tale retold and illustrated by Marilyn
Hirsh, Holiday House, New York, 1974 [Pequot Library]
- It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish folk tale retold and with pictures by
Margot Zemach, A Sunburst Book/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, © 1976, Sixth
printing 1997. [A Caldecott Honor Book] [Dinosaur's Paw]
- Terrible, Terrible: A Folktale Retold by Robin Bernstein, Pictures by
Shauna Mooney Kawasaki, Kar-Ben Copies, Inc., Rockville, MD, © 1998 [Summary:
In this contemporary retelling of the classic Jewish folktale, a rabbi advises
a blended family how to deal with their overcrowded house.] [Rabbi is a woman;
the family decides to keep their pets indoors instead of in the yard.]
- "It Could Always Be Worse," A Treasury of Jewish Folklore: Stories,
Traditions, Legends, Humor, Wisdom and Folk Songs of the Jewish People Edited
by Nathan Ausubel, Crown Publishers, New York, © 1948, 1957
- Such a Noise!: A Jewish Folktale Retold by Aliana Brodmann, Illustrations
by Hans Poppel, Translated by Aliana Brodmann and David Fillingham, A Cranky
Nell Book, Kane/Miller Book Publishers, Brooklyn, New York, © 1989 [Fairfield
Public Library, Main Branch, J398 B] [Translation of: Ein wunderlicher Rat;
Summary: Unable to stand his overcrowded and noisy home any longer, a poor man
goes to the Rabbi for advice.] [one page is out of order; Rabbi and farmer lack
headcoverings; pictures too frantic for my taste]
- A Big Quiet House: A Yiddish Folktale from Eastern Europe retold by
Heather Forest, Illustrated by Susan Greenstein, August House Little Folk,
Little Rock, Arkansas, © 1996 [Pequot Library, J398.2 For ENF] [Summary: Unable
to stand his overcrowded and noisy home any longer, a man goes to the wise old
woman who lives nearby for advice.] [interesting About the Story at end]
- It's Too Noisy! By Joanna Cole, illustrated by Kate Duke, Thomas Y.
Crowell, New York, © 1989. [Fairfield Public Library, Fairfield Woods Branch,
J398 C] [Summary: Unable to stand his noisy and overcrowded home any longer, a
farmer goes to the Wise Man for advice.] [the farmer has pigs]
- Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern, illustrated by Simms Taback, Houghton
Mifflin Company, Boston, © 1967 [Trumbull Library, E2 McGov] [rhyming
cumulative story; cute; man lives alone]
- No Room: an old story retold by Rose Dobbs, illustrated by Fritz
Eichenberg, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, © 1944 [Stratford Library,
J398D632N] [from jacket: “No Room is the story of a selfish old peasant and how
he was cured of his selfishness….in these days of crowded housing its deep
wisdom will be greatly appreciated….— Childhood Education]
- A Cow in the House by Mabel Watts, Illustrations by Katherine Evans,
Follett Publishing Company, Chicago, © 1956 [Stratford Library, J398.2W349C]
- Always Room for One More by Sorche Nic Leodhas, Illustrated by Nonny
Hogrogian, Henry Holt and Company, New York, © 1965 [Fairfield Public Library,
Main Branch, PB PIC] [the Caldecott Medal] [Scottish folk song of man invites
passersby into his small, crowded house until it bursts at the seams from all
the merrymaking, the guests then build him a bigger house; music and meaning of
Scottish terms included]
- Rainy Morning by Daniel Pinkwater, Illustrated by Jill Pinkwater, Atheneum
Books for Young Readers, New York, © 1998 [Pequot Library, J Pin] [Summary: On
a rainy morning, Mr. and Mrs. Submarine invite a cat, dog, coyote, wildebeest,
Ludwig van Beethoven, the United States Marine Band, and others into their home
to share their breakfast of tea and corn muffins.] [The others are a small
European circus; they all stay until the sun comes out; usual Pinkwater
wonderfulness]
- The Cow in the House retold by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Emily
Bolam, Viking, New York, 1997 [Westport Public Library, J398.2 Zi] [a Viking
Easy-to-Read book, level 1] [Summary: Bothered by his noisy house, a man goes
to a wise man for advice.] [Nice repetition; man brings in animals one at a
time in spite of his better judgement; wise man is bald and has a gray beard;
the LCC data includes “[1.Jews—Folklore. 2. Folklore.]” although there is
nothing obviously Jewish about the story.]]
- Cows in the House by Beverly Lewis, illustrated by Chi Chung. [I just came
across this book, which some list as Thai folklore, adapted by a woman that
Wikipedia discribes as a Christian fiction novelist and children's author.]
==================================================================================================
Elijah Stories
Elijah in Jewish folklore is a stranger who comes to town, effects changes,
and leaves. Usually he helps someone, usually worthy, achieve something that
would not have happened otherwise. However, the character is universal:
traditional westerns, with the hero riding off into the sunset, and many
television series, with the main character traveling to a different place or
planet every episode, are examples. For more information, see a paper I wrote
on this topic.
-
The Magician by Uri Shulevitz
A poor magician causes all the fixings of a Seder to appear out of nowhere for
a poor couple
-
The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
A mysterious stranger helps a town, is not compensated accordingly, and walks
off into the sunset with the town's children.
The Sweet Hereafter (at least the movie) was based on this. Donna Jo Napoli
also wrote a new version of this story, Breath.
-
Stone Soup by Marcia Brown.
There are many versions of this story: Jon J Muth's Stone Soup, Marilyn Hirsh's
Potato Pancakes All Around, Aubrey Davis' Bone Button Borscht, Tony Bonning's
Fox Tale Soup. In this case, the stranger's primary interest is his own
satisfaction; creating a sense of community and bringing joy to others is of
little consequence to him. Except when the authors turn the story on its head;
then, the wanderer's goal is to bring happiness to many places.
-
An Angel for Solomon Singer by Cynthia Rylant
A young waiter helps an elderly man, who has moved to an SRO hotel in New York
City, to feel at home. The waiter's name is Angel.
-
"They Can't Take That away from Me" by George and Ira Gershwin
Not exactly a picture book, but it is short. An important person comes into
someone's life and leaves. In the movie, two people, who don't admit how much
they care for each other, separate; but the song could be about the death of a
loved one. I like the building up of insignificant details ("The way you hold
your knife") that add up to "the way you changed my life."
-
Shane by William Schaefer
A mythic cowboy rides into town, saves people, and rides off into the sunset.
Read the book to see how mythic. Pale Rider is similar, but I did not like it
as much (because there's an engineer who's a baddie and I find that hard to
believe (hey, I'm married to one)).
- Some movie suggestions by others
- Chocolat with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp (2000)
- The Bishop's Wife: Cary Grant is the helpful stranger (1947)
- Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: George Carlin saves Keanu Reeves and
Alex Winter (1988)
=======================================================================================
Diminishing Returns
Some stories have a long chain of events or things that diminish in some way.
These stories can be related to cumulative tales or full circle stories.
-
Bit by Bit by Steve Sanfield
A coat wears out.
-
Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman
A coat wears out.
-
Joseph had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback
A coat wears out, with the music of the original song at the end. And it won a
Caldecott Award.
-
I Had a Little Overcoat (Hob Ich Mir a Mantl) [Yiddish folksong transcribed in
Taback's book]
A coat wears out. OK, these four stories have differences---the items that are
made as the bits of the coat wear out are different. But what stays the same is
the ending: what is left when everything else has gone away is the story of
everything going away. Memory can survive events and things. But only if it is
shared and handed down/along to others. Which is why the next story is relevant
and important.
-
Hasidic tale about the Baal Shem Tov and succeeding generations
Told in the preface to The Gates of the Forest by Elie Wiesel book and 9 1/2
Mystics by Herbert Weiner (p.69)
At first, a rabbi saves his people by going into the forest, lighting a fire,
and saying a prayer. Over the generations, how to do each of these three
actions is forgotten, until all that is left is the telling of the events. But
in each generation it is enough.
-
Mathematical concept of recursion (unless this is really cumulative).
For example, factorials: n! is defined to be n x (n-1)!, where (n-1)! = n x
(n-2)!, and so on until you get down to 1!
==================================================================================================
Full Circle
Some stories have a long chain of events or things that end up back where they
started from. These stories can be related to cumulative tales or diminishing
return tales. My "Nothing Happens" page of stories can also be seen as circle
stories. If a story is a journey story that is a round trip, then it is a
circle story.
-
"There's a Hole in the Bucket" (song)
To fix a hole in a bucket, a long chain of things need to be available,
including a bucket without a hole.
-
La Ronde directed by Max Ophuls (movie)
French film about people who form various couples.
- The Stonecutter: A Japanese Folk Tale by Gerald McDermott
A Japanese folktale about a stonecutter who keeps getting his wish to be
powerful until he is the mountain he was originally chipping away at.
- The Stonecutter Who Wanted to be Rich by Getzl
Like the The Stonecutter story above, but this time the stonecutter gets to
return to his original self. Ends with a quote from Pirke Avot, "Who is rich?
He who is satisfied with his lot."
- Abraham's Search for God by Jacqueline Jules
Abraham wonders which entity is the most powerful and finally realizes that it
must be G-d, who created all the aspects of nature, while the stonecutter (see
above) wants that power for himself. Colorful illustrations.
The order is idols < moon < sun < clouds < thunder < rainbow < sun < moon ==>
something greater than everything else.
- The Mouse's Wedding: A fable retold by Ruth Belov Gross
Another retelling about what is most powerful in this case in terms of who to
marry.
- The Magic Fish by Freya Littledale
One of many versions of "The Fisherman and His Wife." The wife asks for so much
that she ends up with nothing; this makes the fisherman happy.
================================================================================
There and Back Again
A man dreams that he will find a treasure under a bridge in a far off town.
When he gets there, a guard laughs and says that if he (the guard) believed in
dreams, he would travel to a small village and dig in a place that the man
recognizes as his home. The man returns, digs and finds the treasure.
This was used as a parable by Rabbi Nachman of Brestov to explain that one may
need to travel to discover what he has always had within himself.
The story is also connected to a man who donated money to a church in England
centuries before Rabbi Nachman lived.
Many Quest and Journey stories are similar; e.g., The Wizard of Oz ("There's no
place like home"), The Hobbit (the rest of the title is Or There and Back
Again).
Notice that in these particular stories, the man returns home empty-handed;
what he has gained is knowledge. Or, perhaps the journey is the treasure.
See the Nothing Happens page here for more stories like this.
-
The Treasure by Uri Shulevitz
A man goes on a journey to find a treasure, only to discover it under his home.
Do we need a teacher to discover our own worth?
-
Captain Jiri and Rabbi Isaac by Marilyn Hirsh
Two guardian angels mix up their tasks and tell the wrong person where to find
treasure. Usually the guard who tells the poor man about his own dream gets no
reward. Although in Shulevitz's The Treasure, he is sent a jewel. In this
story, Captain Jiri and Rabbi Isaac maintain their friendship and help each
other's followers.
-
The Pedlar of Swaffham by Kevin Crossley-Holland
A man dreams, travels to London, talks to a guard, returns home, digs more than
once, becomes very rich and donates money to restore part of his local church
in Swaffham, Norfolk, which has two pews with carvings that seem to memorialize
him. The church is real; the story seems to be about a real person, although
maybe the story itself is described as a legend (as in "not factual").
Rose
Stories are how we make sense of the world.
From: Eileen Polk <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 4:57 PM
Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Multicultural stories
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Friends, I have been asked to assist a teacher of multicultural literacy at
a local college by reading to her students two versions of the same children’s
story, one Jewish and one something else. I have been looking through my
sources, but am having trouble finding something, so I am turning to you. Does
anyone have any suggestions? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank
you, Eileen Polk, Librarian Prentis Memorial Library Temple Beth El
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301
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