The Funny Little Woman facts for kids
The Funny Little Woman
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| Author | Arlene Mosel |
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| Illustrator | Blair Lent |
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Children's picture book |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
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Publication date
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1972 |
| ISBN | 0-525-30265-4 |
| OCLC | 549397 |
| 398.2/0952 E | |
| LC Class | PZ8.1.M8346 Fu |
The book The Funny Little Woman is a children's story retold by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent. It was published by E. P. Dutton in 1972. This book won the famous Caldecott Medal in 1973 for its amazing pictures.
The original story was called "The Woman who Lost her Dumplings". It came from a collection of Japanese Fairy Tales by Lafcadio Hearn, which Arlene Mosel adapted for her book.
Contents
The Story of the Funny Little Woman
The story takes place in Japan. The main character is a funny little old woman who loves to laugh, always saying "Tee-he-he-he!" She is also very good at making delicious dumplings out of rice.
A Rolling Dumpling and a Strange Hole
One day, as she is making her dumplings, one of them rolls away. It falls down a hole in the ground! The funny little woman, determined to get her dumpling back, chases it right down the hole.
She finds herself in a very strange place underground. The path is lined with Jizo, which are guardian statues. The Jizo warn her not to go any further because wicked oni (which are like monsters or ogres) live there. But the woman is too focused on her dumpling to listen, and she keeps going.
Suddenly, an oni grabs her! It takes her in a boat across a river to the oni's house. There, she finds herself surrounded by many more oni.
Cooking for the Oni Team
The oni team forces the funny little woman to cook rice dumplings for them. They give her a special magic paddle. This paddle can make a whole pot of rice dumplings from just a single grain of rice! The magic paddle can create up to ten thousand rice dumplings at a time. When the woman uses it to make about two thousand dumplings, the pot becomes completely full.
Thanks to the old woman, the oni now have rice dumplings for dinner every single day. It turns out that oni eat a lot more rice dumplings than most people! So, the woman lives with these monsters, cooking for them all day, every day.
Homesick and a Plan to Escape
After a very, very long time, the woman starts to miss her home. One afternoon, she decides it is time to go back. She gives up her job as the oni's cook and plans her escape.
When the oni are not looking, the woman quietly takes the magic paddle. She quickly gets into a boat and starts rowing away on the river. The monsters soon realize she is gone! They see her rowing her boat back home on the river and try to follow her.
It's important to know that oni cannot swim or fly. So, the oni team comes up with a sneaky plan to stop her. They secretly start drinking all the river water! They hope that by drying up the river, they can stop her from leaving. They want her to stay with them forever and keep making rice dumplings.
The Muddy River and a Funny Mistake
When the oni drink all the water, the riverbed turns into nothing but thick mud. The old woman's boat gets stuck in the mud. She is too worried to laugh now. She tries to run away, but her hands and feet get stuck, and she falls into the mud. She cannot run away!
Seeing her struggle in the mud makes the oni laugh. They start to mimic her laugh, teasing her. But when they do, they accidentally release all the water they drank from their mouths! The water flows back into the river. This gives the old woman just enough time to finish crossing to the other side in her boat.
Home and Riches
The funny little woman finally returns home. She sees her family again and starts selling rice dumplings to everyone, including her family. She uses the magic paddle to make all these dumplings. Because of her magic paddle, she becomes "the richest woman in all of Japan."
