Young People's Stories of Cooperation

Abstract

There are four stories in this oversized pamphlet. The first, The Ruler of the Trees, is from Armenia and is illustrated by Gwen Connelly (2). As the trees dispute who should rule, the palm tree asks them why she should not rule. They tell her, and she responds Very well, to overcome these problems, I small make you part of the royal court in my kingdom (4). She puts everyone to good use. A wise ruler knows that he or she needs the help of others to succeed. The second story is The Animals Who Set Up Housekeeping from Norway, illustrated by Jeff Severn (8). In it, five animals work together to build a house in the woods. The third story, The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage, comes from Germany and is illustrated by Patti Boyd (20). The title characters live happily together. The bird fetches the wood, the mouse fetches water, makes the fire, and sets the table. The sausage cooks by jumping into the pot and stirring it. A squirrel convinces the bird that he is a fool to do so much work while the other two have comfortable lives. So they change jobs. The sausage, while fetching wood the next day, is eaten by a dog. The mouse jumps into the pot but there dies in an instant. The bird starts a fire and falls into the well and drowns trying to put the fire out. This story is new to me. The last story is Holding Up the Sky from China, illustrated by Len Ebert (28). This is the story some of us know as The Persian Bird. Each must do what he can./And this is what I do best (29). The interlocutor here is an elephant. There are acknowledgements on 30. Strangely, a source is acknowledged for only two of the four stories.