Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Table, the Donkey and the Stick by Paul Galdone


The Table, the Donkey and the Stick was adapted from a retelling by the Brothers Grimm by Hungarian-born Paul Galdone. There once lived a tailor who had three sons and a goat. As the goat nourishes the tailor and his three sons with her milk it is important that she is well fed. So each day the sons take turns leading her out to graze on the finest grass, shoots and hedges. But because of her lies and greediness for food, the tailor mistakenly drives all three of his sons away. The first son becomes an apprentice to a carpenter, the second works for a miller and the third for a woodcarver. Each of the sons works hard and they are in turn rewarded  and are keen to get back to their father, but each also falls victim to an unscrupulous inn keeper. Author/illustrator Paul Galdone had known this story since he was a child in Hungry. He emigrated to the United States in 1921 and studied art at the Art Students' League and New York School for Industrial Design. He has also retold and illustrated The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Little Red Hen, amongst others. Before his death in 1986, he divided his time between his home in Rockland County, New York and his farm in Vermont. 

The unscrupulous innkeeper

Paul Galdone


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