"THE MITTEN" STORY
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) A version of The Mitten is on this web site:
http://www.katedudding.com/
Here are the sources listed there: The Mitten, by Alvin Tresselt, 1964; The Mitten, by Jan Brett, 1989
Both are still in print. Brett's is beautifully illustrated, but Tresselt's version works better for reading aloud or telling with 4 to 8 year olds. We have also done impromptu stagings in story theatre style with young children playing the animals. There is also a Ukranian version in print. I think it is titled The Woodcutter and the Mitten.

2) In most versions of The Mitten, the mitten manages to hold huge animals, like a bear and a fox, but finally bursts when something tiny, like a cricket or a mouse, squeezes in.
Bones of one version: A child loses a mitten in the woods, and a mouse crawls inside it to get warm. Another larger animal comes along (ask the audience for suggestions) and, over the mouse's objections, crawls into the mitten, which stretches to accommodate. Other large animals crawl in, over everyone's objections, and the mitten stretches and stretches. Then a tiny cricket crawls in and just that tiny addition burst the mitten open, everyone going flying in all directions. No one is hurt, but all decide to find homes elsewhere. And the child's grandmother knit a new mitten to replace the old, with the admonition to be more careful.

3) A variation on this story is Who Lives In The Skull? (Think I found it a MacDonald book. And since Jan Brett's The Mitten is so popular in most schools, thought I'd try something different.)
Bones of this version: A horse (cow) skull is found in the woods. Little Mouse Creep Along finds it, and says, "What a fine house for me." She sets up housekeeping. Then along comes Frog Croaks A Lot. Set of questions are repeated as he asks who lives there, and then response when he asks if he can move in, is "If there's room for me, there's room for you. You can come in, too." The story had six characters ending with Bear Squash The Whole Lot. When I told it in a smaller group, I made up enough animals so that everyone had a role. Original names: Hare Hide In The Hill, Fox Run Everywhere, Wolf Leaps Out of the Bushes. Easy to make up more names such as Blue Jay Fly in The Sky, Squirrel Climb About, Duck Swim and Waddle, Raccoon Wash A Lot, etc. When I did it in a small group, I chose the smallest child to be Bear. That way I was sure she didn't really SQUASH anyone.

4) When I tell this story, I fold a piece of construction paper in half. I tape two sides of the construction paper so only the top is open. On one side of the envelope, I put the picture of a mitten. On the other side, I put the picture of a torn mitten. I put a small piece of the torn mitten thumb to use as the mouse's hat. I use cutouts of the animals and put them into the mitten as I tell the story. At the end of the story, I dump out the animals and put the mitten thumb on the mouse as a hat.

5) Interestingly, because the story I need to write is based on the "realistic" child characters in the textbook, I feel a certain constraint as to how "unrealistic" - e.g. with lots of large animals crowding into the mitten - to make the story. This is partly because these children have been presented "realistically" in the texts of the first two books, and I sense the need for continuity there. Another constraint is that the story will also be presented with feltboard figures.

Having mulled over the versions, I think I shall have just one animal - a mouse - going in and nibbling a hole in the end of one finger. The child finds the glove, but doesn't know why there is now a hole. ("But now you do!")

[Suggestion: But the child can remain realistic if the story is what he makes up to explain to his grandmother why when she sent him back to find his missing mitten, all he found were scraps of the red yarn and tracks of many different animals in the snow. When I tell it this way, I usually end by asking the children if they think his grandmother believed his story.]

6) When I tell this story, I have the child go look for his lost mitten. He can't find it. He sees animals running into the forest. He sees a little mouse with a hat that is just the same color as his lost mitten. (It is the thumb of the mitten.) He goes home and his grandmother knits him a new mitten. As the animals snuggle down into the mitten, I use their sounds and then as each succeeding animal comes to the mitten and asks to come in, I say, "and the bear said: and the children supply the sound and the wolf said: and the children supply the sound, etc.

7) In my Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian story collections The Mitten is said to be a "Ukranian folktale".
Margaret Read MacDonald writes in her book The Parent's Guide to Storytelling about The Lost Mitten: "Versions of this tale have been collected from several Russian tellers. The animals mentioned change, but the story always ends with the destruction of the "house." You might like to read the Ukranian version in the picture book The Mitten, by Jan Brett (New York: Putnam, 1989), with your children and talk about the differences between that version and this story."
The story is definitelyin the public domain - but some rhymes might not be! If one specific use of words can be tracked down to one certain author (or translator), then that person has got copyright for his/her use of words.

8) I found a printed version of The Mitten Story in a book called Ukrainian Folk Tales that was printed in Kiev in 1985. The story is called The Magic Mitten and the lineup of animals is mouse, frog, rabbit, fox, wolf, bear, wild boar. All 7 squeeze inside the mitten until a hunter comes by, sees the mitten move, and bang! He shoots his gun, the mitten bursts, helter-skelter the animals run away. No little boy appears in the story in this version, since it starts with an old man who loses his mitten.

9) While doing research on the Ukranian folktale The Magic Mitten, I came across this version on a Ukranian web site
http://www.4to40.com/folktales/index.asp?article=folktales_magicmitten
Similar to the hunting version - but without the bang!
An old man was walking through a forest with his dog following him. And he lost his mitten. Along came a mouse and she climbed into the mitten. "Here I shall live," said the mouse. When along came a frog who asked: "Who, who lives in this mitten?" "Squeaky mouse, and who are you?" replied the mouse. "Croaky frog" replied the frog "Will you let me in?" "Come in." Now there were two of them, when along came a rabbit and asked: "Who, who lives in this mitten?" "Squeaky mouse and croaky frog, and who are you?" "I'm hoppity rabbit please let me in." "All right, come in." Now there were three, when along came a fox that asked: "Who, who lives in this mitten?" Squeaky mouse, croaky frog and hoppity rabbit, and who are you?" "I'm sister fox, let me in as well." Alright, come in." Now there were four, when along came a wolf, and headed right for the mitten: "Who, who lives in this mitten?" asked the wolf. "Squeaky mouse, croaky frog, hoppity rabbit and sister fox, and who are you?" "Brother wolf" replied the wolf "let me in too." "Oh alright, come in." And the wolf climbed right in and now they were five, when out of nowhere there came a wild boar: "Oink-grunt-grunt-oink! Who, who lives in this mitten?" "Squeaky mouse, croaky frog, hoppity rabbit, sister fox and brother wolf, and who are you?" "Oink-grunt-grunt-oink! I'm tusky boar, let me in as well." "What are we to do? Everyone who comes along wants to get into the mitten!" exclaimed the animals. "There is no room for you!" "I'll fit. Please let me in," said the boar. "What are we to do with you? Come in." And the boar climbed into the mitten. Now they were six, but so tightly packed in in that they could hardly move. When suddenly the underbrush crackled and there came a big brown bear that headed straight for the mitten: "Who, who lives in this mitten?" growled the bear. "Squeaky mouse, croaky frog, hoppity rabbit, sister fox, brother wolf and tusky boar, and who are you?" "Ha, ha, ha! There are so many of you in there. I'm troublesome bear, let me in too!" "How will you fit? The mitten is already bursting at the seams!" "Somehow we'll work it out." "Oh, alright, come in. But keep to the side." The bear climbed in. Now they were seven, but so tightly packed in that the mitten was about to burst. The old man realized that he had lost a mitten and headed back looking for the missing mitten, the dog running in front of the old man. The dog ran and ran, when ahead of him he saw the mitten. It was lying in the snow and moving. The dog barked: woof-woof-woof. The frightened animals all ran out of the mitten and scattered throughout the forest. The old man came and took his mitten.

10) Telling the noisy house story in an elementary school, I had a young man ask to be the monkey. I had noticed he had a "daily behavior report form" on his desk, and I had already decided he was going to have a good day to report on to his mom. (It's amazing what full eye-to-eye attention will do when a youngster is beginning to wander off into inappropriate behavior.) Of course, we had a monkey in the story, and the family liked him so much that when they put the other animals back in the barn, the monkey stayed in the house with them. I might just start having the monkey all the time...and I kind of like your elephant, too.

(This web page updated 9/20/05; 1/11/06)