Teeny-tiny Tale

As told by Jan Sukus

Illustrated by Terry Rose

Copyright 1969

This little picture book from my childhood recently came back into my possession.  As soon as I saw the cover, memories came flooding back.  The memories are of the bright illustrations but also of my teeny-tiny mother voicing the book’s refrain loud and clear – “GIVE ME MY BONE!”

This story is a retelling of an old English tale about a teeny-tiny woman who lived in a teeny-tiny house with her teeny-tiny cat.  The goes for a walk one day (a teeny-tiny walk, of course) and finds a teeny-tiny bone.  The book I have differs from the old folk tale in that the bone is found next to a dog house, rather than in a graveyard.  The stories are otherwise identical.  When the woman returns to her house, she puts the bone in the kitchen cupboard to save it for making soup.  After going up to her teeny-tiny bed for a teeny-tiny nap, she begins to hear a teeny voice calling, “Give me my bone.”  Ignoring the voice doesn’t work, and the demanding voice continually grows louder and louder.  Finally, the frightened woman says, in her loudest teeny-tiny voice, “TAKE IT!” 

I remember finding this story funny.  I’m sure that was in part due to the dramatic reading by my mother.  Also, since the bone was taken from a doghouse and not a graveyard, I assumed it was a dog that came back for his bone, and not a ghost.  

Lessons from this book:  First, persistence pays off.  After demanding over and over again for the bone, the disembodied voice finally gets what it wants.  Second, don’t take what isn’t yours!  I never understood why that woman took a bone that obviously already belonged to someone else.  I didn’t feel the teeny-tiniest bit sorry for the frightful nap she had.