Text copyright © 2013 by Veronika Martenova Charles
Illustrations copyright © 2013 by David Parkins
Published in Canada by Tundra Books, a division of Random House of Canada Limited,
One Toronto Street, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario M5C 2V6
Published in the United States by Tundra Books of Northern New York,
P.O. Box 1030, Plattsburgh, New York 12901
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012945435
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Charles, Veronika Martenova
It’s not about the straw! / Veronika Martenova Charles; illustrated by David Parkins.
(Easy-to-read wonder tales)
Short stories based on Rumpelstiltskin tales from around the world.
eISBN: 978-1-77049-331-5
1. Fairy tales. I. Parkins, David II. Title. III. Series: Charles, Veronika Martenova. Easy-to-read wonder tales.
PS8555.H42242I838 2013 jC813′.54 C2012-905310-4
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and that of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative. We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.
Edited by Stacey Roderick
www.tundrabooks.com
v3.1
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
On the Farm Part 1
Elf
(Rumpelstiltskin from Germany)
Lady in Green
(Rumpelstiltskin from Scotland)
The Bridge
(Rumpelstiltskin from Japan)
On the Farm Part 2
About the Stories
ON THE FARM
PART 1
On Sunday, Lily, Ben, and Jake
went to visit Jake’s grandmother
on her farm.
“I’ll make some lunch for you.
I’ll call you when it’s ready,”
said Jake’s grandma.
“Let’s go outside to explore,”
Jake said to Lily and Ben.
They went to see
the chickens and the rabbits.
Then they walked into the barn.
“Look at all the straw!” said Ben.
“If we could turn it into gold,
we would be rich!”
“That’s true,” said Jake.
“But we’d need that little man
to help us, like in the story.
And we would have to
guess his name.”
“What’s his name?” asked Ben.
“Rum-pel-stilt-skin,” replied Jake.
“I know another story,
but the little man has
a different name,” said Lily.
“And it’s not about the straw.”
“What is it about?” asked Ben.
“I’ll tell you,” replied Lily.
ELF
(Rumpelstiltskin from Germany)
In the woods behind a village
there were big rocks.
Inside them, in a cave,
lived an elf.
He often came to the village
dressed only in his underpants.
This annoyed people.
Otherwise, he didn’t get
in anybody’s way.
One day, a girl named Elsa
was picking berries in the woods.
She slipped on the rocks,
fell in between two boulders,
and couldn’t get out.
“Help!” she screamed.
The elf heard her and came.
“Please,” said Elsa,
“can you pull me out of here?
I will sew some nice clothes
for you to wear.”
“I will only help you,”
replied the elf,
“if you come back every day
and try to guess my name.
If, by the third day,
you don’t get it right,
you have to marry me.”
Elsa thought, Guessing his name
shouldn’t be that hard.
And if he doesn’t help me,
I’ll die from hunger and cold.
“I’ll do as you ask,” Elsa promised.
So the elf rescued her.
The elf was waiting
when Elsa came back the next day.
“Is your name Andy?” Elsa asked.
“Could it be Bert? Edwin? Freddy?
Harry? Jay? Rupert? Waldo?”
“Not even close,” laughed the elf.
Elsa began to worry.
Perhaps his name is not ordinary,
she thought.
So, on the second day,
Elsa guessed differently:
“Is your name Elm? Spruce?
Fir? Woodsy? Sandy? Rocky?”
“I haven’t got all day,”
said the elf.
“Tomorrow is your last chance.”
And he hopped inside his cave.
Elsa went home very upset.
If she didn’t guess the elf’s name,
she would have to marry him.
Just then, the neighbor’s boy
walked by and saw Elsa
sitting on the porch, crying.
“What’s the matter?” the boy asked.
“I’ll tell you something funny
to cheer you up,” he said.
“I was walking in the woods,”
said the boy.
“Near the rocks,
I lay down to have a nap.
I heard someone singing,
It’s so great she doesn’t know
that my name is Hop-and-Go!
I peeked between the rocks
and saw an elf clapping his hands
and hopping around like crazy!”
“Thank you for telling me!”
exclaimed Elsa.
She gave the boy a big hug.
Elsa stayed up through the night
sewing a nice jacket and pants
for the elf to wear
so she could give him something
for rescuing her.
The next morning, Elsa went
to the woods without fear.
“Your last guess?” asked the elf.
Elsa placed the jacket and pants
in front of the elf.
“These are for you, Hop-and-Go!”
“Aaarrgh!” screeched the elf.
Then he took the clothes
and hopped over the rock.
And that was the last time
anyone saw him.
“You know what’s funny?”
asked Jake.
“One of the names Elsa said
is my middle name.”
“Which one?” asked Lily.
“I’ll tell you later,” said Jake.
“First, I’ll tell you another story
about guessing a name.”
“Is it about an elf, too?” asked Lily.
“No,” replied Jake.
“It’s about an evil fairy!”
LADY IN GREEN
(Rumpelstiltskin from Scotland)
Jack lived with his mother
in a cottage on a hill.
They were poor
but had a pet pig
they called Gracie.
Every morning,
Jack fed Gracie in the barn.
Then he played and ran with her,
up and down the hill.
One day, Jack found the pig
in the barn, shivering.
“What’s the matter with her?”
he asked his mother.
“Gracie must be sick,” she said.
They covered Gracie with a blanket
and brought her favorite food.
“I hope she gets better soon,”
said Mother.
But Gracie didn’t.
She stayed in the barn,
didn’t eat, and didn’t move.
“Mother, is Gracie going to die?”
asked Jack.
“I don’t know, Son,” she replied.
Later, they saw a lady in green
coming up the road.
Jack’s mother stood to greet her.
“Why are you so sad?”
the lady asked.
“Our pig is sick and may be dying,”
she answered.
“What will you give me
if I cure your pig?” asked the lady.
“Anything you’d like,”
Jack’s mother replied.
“It’s a deal, then,” said the lady,
and she went into the barn.
She took out of her pocket
a tiny bottle of green oil
and rubbed it on Gracie’s snout.
Finally, she said, “Get up, beast!”
As soon as she said it,
Gracie stood up
and went to eat her food.
Jack’s mother was so happy,
she bent down to kiss
the hem of the lady’s dress.
“Stop that,” said the lady.
“Let’s settle our bargain.
All I ask, and will have, is your son.”
Jack’s mother, who knew now
she was dealing with a fairy,
started to wail.
“Your crying won’t help you,”
said the lady in green.
“But I can tell you this:
By our fairy law, I can’t
claim your son until the third day.
And not even then
if you can guess my name.”
Then she turned around and left.
Jack’s mother couldn’t sleep.
She wrote down all the names
she could think of,
but she knew the fairy’s name
probably wouldn’t be common.
On the second day,
as Jack was playing outside,
Gracie suddenly took off
and ran toward the woods.
Jack chased her
to bring her back.
Gracie jumped over fallen trees
and stopped at the edge of a cliff.
Jack caught up with Gracie
and looked down over the ledge.
There, dancing by the stream,
was the lady in green, singing,
Tomorrow is the day
when the child I want, I will claim,
’cause nobody can guess
that Allegra is my name.
Jack ran back home with Gracie
and told his mother
what he had seen and heard.
She was so happy!
She wrote down the name Allegra
so as not to forget it.
On the third day,
the lady in green came back.
“So,” she said, “what’s my name?”
Jack’s mother pretended to think.
“Give me your son right now!”
ordered the lady.
“Please,” said the mother,
“take me instead,
mighty fairy Allegra!”
The lady in green spun around
and backed down the hill,
never to be seen again.
“So, what is your middle name?”
Lily asked Jake.
“Wait!” interrupted Ben.
“Now it’s my turn to tell a story
about guessing a name.
Only it’s about an ogre …”
THE BRIDGE
(Rumpelstiltskin from Japan)
Ever since Shiro was a boy,
he liked to build things
out of sticks and stones.
“When I grow up,”
he told his father,
“I want to be a great builder.”
Shiro studied hard, and in time
he became the most famous builder
in the land.
One day,
two men came to see him.
“Our village sits on the banks
of a big, wide river,” they said.
“Twice we built a bridge,
but the river washed both away.
Could you build a bridge for us?”
Shiro agreed
and travelled to their village.
Never in his life had Shiro seen
a river so wild.
It would be hard to build a bridge
that would stand up to the current.
As he was thinking about it,
a horrible ogre rose from the river.
“What are you doing here?”
the ogre asked.
“I came to build a bridge,”
Shiro replied.
“No human can build a bridge
strong enough to stand up
to this river,” said the ogre.
“But I can build it for you
if you’ll pay my price.”
Shiro agreed.
He spent the night in a local inn.
In the morning, Shiro returned.
He couldn’t believe his eyes!
A strong, splendid bridge
arched high above the raging river.
Not even in the rainy season
could water reach that high.
As Shiro gazed in wonder
at the bridge,
the ogre broke through the water.
“So,” the ogre roared,
“let’s settle the price.
I want you to give me your eyes.”
“My eyes!” Shiro shivered.
“But how can I?” he asked.
“If I give you my eyes,
I won’t be able to do my work!”
Shiro fell to his knees
and pleaded with the ogre.
“Pitiful creature!” said the ogre.
“I’ll give you one chance
to get out of our deal.
If, by sunset, you guess my name,
you can keep your eyes.
If not, I’ll come after you,
take your eyes, and kill you.”
Then the ogre dove
under the water.
Shiro trembled in terror.
Shiro went into the forest
and tried to decide what to do.
As he walked deeper and deeper,
he heard some voices.
He went closer
and peeked through the trees.
In the clearing, he saw children
with horns on their heads
dancing and singing.
Sixth Ogre Oniroku never lies;
he promised to bring human eyes.
Oniroku will bring us a treat;
human eyes, that’s what we’ll eat!
“Sixth Ogre Oniroku,”
Shiro whispered to himself.
“That must be the ogre’s name!
And these must be his children!”
He hurried back to the river.
&n
bsp; The sun was setting.
Just then, the ogre
burst through the water.
“So,” he roared,
“can you guess my name?
You can try three times.”
Shiro pretended to think.
“Is your name
Red Ogre Akaoni?” he asked.
“No, it’s not,” laughed the ogre.
“Then could it be
Eighth Ogre Onihachi?”
This time, the ogre turned pale.
“No,” said the ogre.
“You might as well give up.
Give me your eyes!”
And the ogre stretched
his hairy arm toward Shiro.
“Wait!” called Shiro.
“I still have one more try.
Your name is Sixth Ogre Oniroku!”
At that moment,
the ogre sank beneath the river.
Only giant bubbles remained.
Shiro was relieved.
He returned home.
The bridge that the ogre built
was never destroyed by the river,
even after a heavy rain.
ON THE FARM
PART 2
“If Oniroku was the sixth ogre,”
said Jake,
“where were the others?”
“I think they lived in
different rivers,” Ben replied.
“Jake,” said Lily,
“tell us your middle name now.”
“You have to guess!” said Jake.
“What will we get
if we guess right?” asked Lily.
“Well,” said Jake,
“if Grandma made an apple pie,
I’ll give you an extra piece.”
“It’s a deal,” said Lily.
“Is your middle name Andy?”
she asked.
“No, it’s not,” replied Jake.
“Is it Waldo or Harry?” asked Ben.
“Wrong again,” said Jake.
“What about Edwin?” asked Lily.
“You guessed it!” said Jake.
“Well, you said it was a name
from the story I told,” Lily replied.
Just then, the barn door opened,