''The Wee Free Men'' is a 2003 comic

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

by British writer

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his '' Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first no ...

, which takes place in his

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat ...

setting. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unlike most of the books in the ''Discworld'' series. A sequel, '' A Hat Full of Sky'', appeared in 2004 (both books were republished in a combined edition, ''The Wee Free Men: The Beginning'', in August 2010); a third book called '' Wintersmith'' appeared in 2006; and the fourth, ''

I Shall Wear Midnight ''I Shall Wear Midnight'' is a comic fantasy novel by English writer Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld. It is the fourth novel within the ''Discworld'' series to be based on the character of Tiffany Aching. It was published on 2 September ...

'', was released in September 2010. The final book in the series, ''

The Shepherd's Crown ''The Shepherd's Crown'' is a comic fantasy novel, the last book written by Terry Pratchett before his death in March 2015. It is the 41st novel in the ''Discworld'' series, and the fifth based on the character Tiffany Aching. It was published ...

'', was released in 2015. While Terry Pratchett's first ''Discworld'' book for children, ''

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents ''The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents'' is a children's fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, published by Doubleday in 2001. It is the 28th novel in the ''Discworld'' series and the first written for children. The story is a ...

'' had swearing translated to rat language, in this book it is in the dialect of the

Nac Mac Feegle The Nac Mac Feegle (also sometimes known as Pictsies, Wee Free Men, the Little Men and "Person or Persons Unknown, Believed to be Armed") are a fictional type of fairy folk that appear in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' novels '' Carpe Jugulum'', ...

which is taken from Scots and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

. An illustrated edition of the novel, with pictures by Stephen Player, appeared in print on 2 October 2008.

Plot summary

Tiffany Aching Tiffany Aching is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's satirical ''Discworld'' series of fantasy novels. Her name in Nac Mac Feegle is Tir-far-thóinn or "Land Under Wave". Tiffany is a trainee witches (Discworld), witch whose growth into ...

is a 9-year-old girl who literally sees things differently from others. While playing by the river near her home, she sees two tiny blue, kilted men who warn her of a "green heid" in the water. Suddenly a vile green monster,

Jenny Greenteeth Jenny Greenteeth a.k.a. Wicked Jenny or Ginny Greenteeth is a figure in English folklore. A river-hag, similar to Peg Powler or a grindylow, she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. The name is also used to descr ...

, appears in the water. Using her brother Wentworth as bait, Tiffany ambushes the beast and cracks it with a frying pan, while Wentworth is completely unfazed, as he is unable to see either the little men or the monster. She goes into town to visit a travelling teacher and comes upon Miss Tick, a witch who has been watching her. Tiffany is told that these little men are the Nac Mac Feegles, who are rough and rowdy fae folk who speak in Scots. Miss Tick informs her that she is likely the witch of the wold she resides in, and gives her the toad familiar she carries as a guide before tricking Tiffany out of the tent and disappearing. Tiffany returns home to discover that the Nac Mac Feegles are not only incredibly fast and strong, but afraid of her, as she catches them stealing eggs from under a chicken and a sheep right out of the field. When Wentworth is kidnapped by the Queen of the Fairies, Tiffany seeks out the help of the Nac Mac Feegles to rescue him, as they are the most powerful otherworldly things she knows and they're more than willing to submit to her will, terrified by one who is not only a witch but one who can read and write. Rob Anybody, and a group of other Feegles including Big Yan and Daft Wullie take her back to their home where she meets the buzzard-aviator Hamish, the bard-Feegle William, and their clan leader the Kelda. Tiffany is told that her brother has been taken by the Queen to her domain in Fairyland, and not only must she take the Feegles to go rescue him, but she must also take up the reins as Kelda, as the current one is about to die. After worming her way out of marrying Rob Anybody, Tiffany goes out of the mound to the field where the Feegles test her First Sight and Second Thoughts by letting her find the entrance to the queen's domain. Once in, Tiffany and the Feegles face several large wolves who the Feegles handily clobber, and several dream-causing blob-people called dromes. Going through drome-caused dreams, she finds Roland, the son of the Baron of her homeland. Tiffany and Roland go through several dreams and the normal dreamscape to eventually find a dream with both Wentworth and the Queen in it. Tiffany narrowly escapes defeat at the hands of the Queen's dream-minions by having Roland release the Feegles from their trapping in a large walnut, and they escape from that dream into one of Tiffany's imagining. Once in that dream, the Feegles and Wentworth are presumed to have perished at the hands of the Queen's trickery, and Tiffany escapes with Roland's unconscious body out back into the dreamscape, heading for the exit, full of regret that she could not save her friends. The Queen mocks her inability to save them and her insecurities, but Tiffany reconnects with her homeland's heritage to gain the strength to defeat the Queen at her own game of dreams in the darkest hour. The Feegles who she later meets back up with reveal that the trap the Queen had set was not nearly enough to stop the Feegles, and that they and Wentworth are both fine. Tiffany, Roland, Wentworth and the Feegles all return to their homeland, where the Baron mistakenly gives his son all of the credit for saving them, which Tiffany ends up being okay with. Another large influence on the narrative of the story and development of Tiffany's character is her Granny Aching, a hard working, silent, and knowledgeable shepherd. She was the book's definition of a witch. Stories and memories of her are mentioned here and there in the book, and her memory helps Tiffany defeat the Queen at the end.

Characters

*Tiffany Aching *Wentworth Aching *Granny Aching *Perspicacia Tick *The Nac Mac Feegle *The Chalk Hill Clan *Rob Anybody *Daft Wullie *William the Gonnagle *The Kelda of the Chalk Hill Clan *Toad *No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Jock-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock

Film

In January 2006, reports emerged that director Sam Raimi had signed up to make a movie based on this novel with a script by

Pamela Pettler Pamela Pettler is an American screenwriter, television producer and television writer. In television, she has written episodes for ''ABC Weekend Specials'', ''Charles in Charge'', ''CBS Summer Playhouse'', ''Clueless'' (also co-executive produc ...

, the writer of

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

's ''

Corpse Bride ''Corpse Bride'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's Corpse Bride'') is a 2005 stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton with a screenplay by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler based o ...

''. Sony Pictures Entertainment had recently acquired the rights to the book. In a June 2008 interview, Pratchett said "I saw a script that I frankly thought was awful. It seemed to be ''Wee Free Men'' in name only. It had all the hallmarks of something that had been good, and then the studio had got involved. It probably won't get made." In December 2009, Pratchett said that he had "got back ''The Wee Free Men''". In 2013, Terry Pratchett's daughter

Rhianna Pratchett Rhianna Pratchett (born 30 December 1976) is an English video game writer and journalist. She has worked on '' Heavenly Sword'' (2007), ''Overlord'' (2007), '' Mirror's Edge'' (2008) and ''Tomb Raider'' (2013) and its follow up, '' Rise of the ...

announced that she would be adapting ''Wee Free Men'' into a film. In 2016 it was confirmed that the film will be developed in association with

The Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

Reception

''The Wee Free Men'' was listed in '' TIME's'' "THE 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME", the only novel by Pratchett alone to make that list (the other being ''

Good Omens ''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the c ...

'', a collaboration with Neil Gaiman).

References

External links