''Teeny-Tiny and the Witch-Woman'' is a story written by Barbara K. Walker and illustrated by Michael Foreman based on an old Turkish folk tale. The story was first published in 1975 by

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

and an

animated short Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

based on the story was produced by

Weston Woods Weston Woods Studios (or simply Weston Woods) is a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded area near h ...

on May 31, 1980, directed by

Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...

The Tale

The story is about three brothers who live in a Turkish village with their mother and grandmother. Their names are Big-One (The eldest brother), In-The-Middle (The middle brother), and Teeny-Tiny (The youngest brother). The two older brothers often mock Teeny-Tiny because of his size and that he is the youngest. The brothers play in and around the village every day. Their mother warns them to never go into the forest, where, according to their grandmother, lives a " Witch-Woman" who eats little children and uses their bones to build a fence around her house. One day, Big-One decides that it might be fun to go play in the woods. In-The-Middle agrees with Big-One, and they ask Teeny-Tiny if he'd like to join them. Teeny-Tiny declines his brothers' offer and reminds them of their grandmother's story. Big-One and In-The-Middle both ignore Teeny-Tiny's warnings and decide to go anyway. Reluctant, Teeny-Tiny follows his brothers, but keeps "His eyes open and his legs ready to run." The boys spend all afternoon playing in the forest and soon it starts to get fairly dark, and the three become lost, hungry and tired. Searching for a way out of the woods, Teeny-Tiny climbs a tree and spots a light in the distance. He and his brothers make their way towards the source - a

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

owned by a grotesque old woman. She offers them food and shelter for the night and promises to lead them out of the woods the next morning. Big-One and In-The-Middle heartily accept the woman's hospitality. Teeny-Tiny is less enthusiastic but relents. After the boys finish their supper, the old woman shows them upstairs to her spare bedroom. Big-One and In-The-Middle both fall asleep right away, but Teeny-Tiny, uneasy, stays awake. Looking out of the bedroom window, he notices a knobby white fence surrounding the house and realizes it is made of human bones. Suddenly, Teeny-Tiny hears what sounds like somebody sharpening a knife. The Witch-Woman comes up the stairs and calls out to the boys, "Who is awake, and who is asleep?" To the Witch-Woman's query, Teeny-Tiny replies "The littlest one is awake." Aware of the old woman's motives, Teeny-Tiny makes up a series of bedtime rituals, such as cooking an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

and

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the d ...

s, and

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

in a

sieve A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift, is a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet material. T ...

, to stall for time. While the Witch-Woman prepares to fetch some water in a

for Teeny-Tiny, she places her three magic items, a bar of

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

, a

sewing needle A sewing needle, used for hand-sewing, is a long slender tool with a pointed tip at one end and a hole (or ''eye'') to hold the sewing thread. The earliest needles were made of bone or wood; modern needles are manufactured from high carbon steel ...

, and a

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

on a high shelf. Teeny-Tiny takes this opportunity to wake up his brothers and inform them of the old woman's true identity. The three brothers sneak into the kitchen and climb up on each other's shoulders to steal the objects from the high shelf before fleeing from the cottage. Still engrossed in her futile chore, the Witch-Woman looks up, sees the boys running away, and makes chase. Pursued, Teeny-Tiny uses the magical items they had pilfered earlier. The first item he uses is the soap, creating a mountain of foam, forcing the Witch-Woman to run around. Then Teeny-Tiny throws the sewing needle, creating a mountain of needles, which the Witch-Woman runs into. Undaunted for the second time, the Witch-Woman continues pursuing the brothers and begins catching up. Desperate, Teeny-Tiny throws the knife over his shoulder. The knife cuts a crack in the earth, creating a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.Weston Woods Studios Weston Woods Studios (or simply Weston Woods) is a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded area near h ...

in 1980. The short is a retelling of the thrilling story featuring frightening and sometimes amusing imagery. The short was first released on

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

for use in schools and libraries. This short has also been featured on a number of collections of other scary stories such as the Children's Circle video series and some holiday collections by

Scholastic Books Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

. The short was directed by veteran Weston Woods Studios director,

External links

* {{YouTube, dR0L_aBp490, Watch the animated short *
Teeny-Tiny and the Witch-Woman
' on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Turkish folklore 1975 children's books 1980 films Pantheon Books books American picture books Children's books adapted into films

The Tale

See also

External links