Troughton. The Quail's Egg

The Quail's Egg is a children's book by Joanna Troughton, with art by the author, published in 1988. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Troughton indicates that the story comes from Sri Lanka, but she does not give her source; I'm 99% sure that she was relying on Parker's Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, "The Female Quail," which is available at the Internet Archive. A quail's egg rolled into a rock, and she needed help to retrieve it. The mason refused to help, as did the village headman, and also the pig, the vedda (forest dweller), the timbol thorn, the fire, the water-pot, the elephant, the rat, and finally the cat who said yes, so the final cumulative chain is: "Well then, the Cat went to catch the Rat, the Rat went to creep into the ear of the Elephant, the Elephant went to make muddy the Water-pot, the Water-pot went to quench the Fire, the Fire went to burn the Timbola, the Timbola went to prick the body of the Vedda, the Vedda went to shoot the Pig, the Pig went to feed in the rice field of the Village Headman, the Village Headman went to tie up the house-door of the Mason, the Mason went to cut the rock, and take and give the egg." Parker helpfully cites some other versions of the story.

In her preface to the story, Troughton compares the story to the English folktale of the old woman and her pig, which is indeed the most well-known "chain of command" stories. Troughton has simplified the chain in her version, leaving out the vedda and the headman; the mason is the only human being in her chain, and she says "mouse" instead of "rat." Here you can see the cat, the mouse, the elephant, the water, the fire, the creeper, the pig, the mason, and then the quail... with a newly hatched quail chick!

I like how the cover inside papers show all the characters!

Aliki. Hush Little Baby

Hush Little Baby: A Folk Lullaby is a children's book with the lyrics of a traditional folksong and illustrations by Aliki, published in 1968. It is available at the Internet Archive.

As you can see from the cover, the illustrations are very charming. That little kitten appears in all the illustrations even though it is not part of the song lyrics. The kitten is not sure about this dog named Rover!

This is another "problems and solutions" type of story, although it is admittedly not much of story... but it is an adorable song. You can read more about the song and its history at Wikipedia: Hush Little Baby. Aliki is also a prolific children's book author and illustrator, so I'll have more of her work to share in future posts.

Baehr. Mouse in the House

Mouse in the House is a children's book by Patricia Baehr, with art by Laura Lydecker, published in 1994. It is available at the Internet Archive.

Mrs. Teapot has a nice life in her nice house... until a mouse comes and nibbles her book and nibbles her cake and sips her tea. The mailman advises her to get a pet, and the baker gives her a kitten, but the kitten breaks the china. The butcher then gives her a dog, but the dog digs holes in Mrs. Teapot's garden. The grocer gives her an owl, but the owl just sleeps while Mrs. Teapot filled the holes in the garden, swept up the broken china, and then flies figure-eights... but the mouse is still nibbling. The pet-store owner gives her a snake; the snake sleeps in her bed, so she doesn't get a good night's sleep. The mailman recommends a trap, but when she puts cheese in the trap, the mouse has no interest.

In the end, she sends the snake and the owl and the dog and the cat away with the mailman, and happily shares her house with the mouse.

There is a nice little story here; students might enjoy putting this into verse, or maybe they can think of some other things that Mrs. Teapot might try before she decides to share her house with the mouse, giving the mouse a book of his own, a cake of his own, and his own cup of tea too.

I'm not quite sure how to describe this chain tale type; I think I'll call it a chain of problems and solutions. In this case, though, the additions to the chain are solutions to the original problem, rather than being solutions to the problem caused by each new item. That makes it less of a chain, but it's still fun to read, especially because the author develops the story cumulatively, reminding us each time of the accumulation of (failed) solutions to problem of the mouse-in-the-house.