Thursday, August 7, 2008

Stories That Never Grow Old

Stories That Never Grow Old
edited by Watty Piper with illustrations by George and Doris Hauman/ published 1938 by The Platt & Munk Co.


This book is probably how I first came to know the story "The Little Engine That Could", and features other classics like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", "The Pied Piper of Hamlin", "Billy Goat Gruff", "The Ugly Duckling" and more.... as well as the tale that scared me more than any in my youth, "Teeny-Tiny".

Soooo, there's this Teeny-Tiny woman, see. She lived in a teeny-tiny cottage in a teeny-tiny village with a teeny-tiny cat and so on.... The wee lady goes on a walk and ends up stealing the clothes off the back of a neighbor's scarecrow so she can wear them as her own. Later that night when she is asleep in bed...

It wasn't very long before she was wakened by a teeny-tiny voice, which came from the teeny-tiny closet.

"Give me my clothes!" said the teeny-tiny voice.

At this the teeny-tiny woman, was a teeny-tiny bit frightened. She called in her teeny-tiny voice: "Who's there?"

There was no reply, so she pulled the teeny-tiny bedclothes up over her teeny-tiny head and went to sleep again.


Needless to say, this isn't the last she hears of the voice; it becomes progressively louder and more angry, until at last... I was so spooked by the illustration of the dresser closet with its handles for eyes and wagging shirt-tail tongue. I would purposely read right up to that story just to freak myself out, but then skip it for fear that the dresser in the picture would come to life and eat me!

The beautiful illustration pictured here is from the story "The Boy and the North Wind" one of those Nordic tales where magic keeps a family fed. I love those stories where a child's fantasies and wishes come true, and they have nothing to do with gold or riches... just simply taking care of one's mother.

12 comments:

daysease said...

ooh, i know i would like this one... i really like the art, too.

Sue said...

I love the old children's books as well. Being almost 50, I suppose you could say some of the books I have from my childhood are "old". But I have a copy of one of my favorite stories, "A Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which belonged to my Grandmother as a girl around 1910. You can see the cover on my blog ( See Beyond Now ). It is precious to me.

Anonymous said...

I have this book from my childhood. It has a dark blue cover with figures etched in the cover. I am 57. It is my favorite childrens book ever. The illustrations are the best. I wish I could find a copy in better shape or a book binder to fix my copy.

Emily said...

I LOVED this book! My mom had a really hard time finding it when I was growing up, so we could only read it at my grandmother's house. That picture brings back so many memories.

"Teeny-Tiny" was one of my favorite stories of all time. I've been desperately trying to get my hands on a copy, but the only editions I can find don't include "Teeny-Tiny" at all. :(

The editions I can find include: The Ugly Duckling, The Bremen Town Musicians, The Fox and the Stork, The Boy and the North Wind, Hansel and Gretel, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Billy Goat Gruff, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Marriage of Robin Redbreast and the Wren, The Little Engine That Could, The Lion and the Mouse.

Are there any in that list that aren't in your edition? What extras are in your edition that are not listed there?

Thanks!!

Burgin Streetman said...

This is my mom's book, but i will be home for easter so I'll try and steal away to have a look.

Emily said...

Thanks! That would be wonderful!

Unknown said...

I remember Lil Hannibal, not sure if that is the correct spelling or not but I remember my mom using her big voice for that story!

Anonymous said...

I still have this book and it's a great one with beautiful illustrations. I would read it over and over when I was a kid and I loved all of the stories. "Shingebuss," (spelling?) was one of my favorites, but I loved them all. Since I am nearly 60, I believe you could call this one a classic.

Stephan said...

Teeny Tiny was one of my favorites too, and yes, the illustrations are fantastic. I've just now been looking at Amazon and AbeBooks. The latter has many available. It would be helpful when people post to include some specific identifier such as ISBN or issue date of the edition since some editions appear to be revised or possibly of different dimensions than the one I enjoyed as a child in the 50's. I want to share this wonderful storybook with my grandchildren.

Anonymous said...

I purchased this book today at a city wide garage sale in Austin, TX. I am 70 years old and can remember this from my childhood. Mine is 1938 copyright, Star Edition. It has full color picture of young woman reading to children on the cover. Book is in great condition. "Teeny Tiny" brought tears to my eyes. What memories.

Victoria / Justice Pirate said...

This was my favorite childhood book. My mom read me The Teeny Tiny Woman on a regular basis in such an awesome teeny tiny voice that I wish I could replicate it. It was my favorite story EVER.

Sadly my copy of the book got destroyed in a flood but I hope to find it again one day, though mine was not called Stories That Never Grow Old, but "Tales From Storyland" with the exact art and stories that you have in this one (same author, etc). I'm only 28, but I want to read these stories to my sons in hopes they'll enjoy them too. I cherish the classics best and try to read them most often because children today will grow up not even knowing what most of them are! That's sad to me.

Anonymous said...

I used to have that book as well and remember a story about Shingebis a duck battling the north wind. One of my favorite stories. I have been looking for one of the original 34 editions that has this story in it. I think the original book had 17 stories in it.
Any Idea where I can locate one?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...