THE MITTEN

The Mitten

From Repetitive Stories: A collection for young and old, 
Hella Coenen, 1997

Winter Story

Once upon a time in the middle of winter and old man walked through a forest and his dog followed him. When those two were walking along, one of his mittens fell in the snow.

Nibbler the mouse came along, twirling his whiskers and looking at the world. He saw the mitten and thought it was as good as a palace. He stood in front of it and called out, “who lives in this mitten?”

No one answered for there was no one inside. “I will live there myself,” said Nibbler the mouse, and in he went and set up home.

The Croaker the frog came along, a jump, three strides, a jump again. “Who lives in this mitten?”

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, and who are you?”

“I am Croaker the frog, can I come in?”

“Yes do, and make yourself at home.” So the frog went and the two of them began to live together.

Then a hare came running by. “Who lives in this mitten?”

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, I do, Croaker the frog, and who are you?”

“I am Bandy Legs the hare, and hill jumper. Can I come in?”

“Yes, do and make yourself at home.” So the hare put his ears down and went in and the three of them began to live together.

Then fox came running by. “Who lives in this mitten?”

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, I do, Croaker the Frog, I do, Bandy Legs the hare, the hill jumper, and who are you?”

“I am Reynard, the fox the fine talker. Can I come in?”

“Yes do, and make yourself at home.” So the fox went in and the four of them began to live together.

Then a wolf came prowling by. He saw the mitten. “Who lives in this mitten?”

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, I do, Croaker the Frog, I do, Bandy Legs the hare, the hill jumper, I do, Reynard the fox the fine talker, and who are you?”

“I am Prowler the wolf who lurks behind the bush. Can I come in?”

“Yes do come in then.” And the wolf went in and the five of them began to live together. Then from the middle of the forest came a wild boar walking by, “Who lives in this mitten?”

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, I do, Croaker the Frog, I do, Bandy Legs the hare, the hill jumper, I do, Reynard the fox the fine talker, I do, Prowler the wolf who lurks behind the bush, and who are you?”

“I am Flat Nose the boar. Can I come in?”

“You are too big. You probably won’t fit in.”

“Well, I will try,” And the Boar went in then, and the six of them began to live together. And then there came along a bear. He was very slow and heavy.

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, I do, Croaker the Frog, I do, Bandy Legs the hare, the hill jumper, I do, Reynard the fox the fine talker, I do, Prowler the wolf who lurks behind the bush, I do, Flat Nose the boar, and who are you?”

“I am bear Bigfoot. Let me in.”

“We cannot let you in. There is no room.”

“Sit a little closer.”

“All right, if you make yourself a little smaller,” Yes, the bear could just fit inside. Now the seven of them began to live together inside the mitten.

In the meantime the old man had noticed that he had lost his mitten. He turned around and began to search for it. The dog went in front of him and sniffed all the way. Suddenly he saw the mitten, it was lying in the snow and ... moved as if it were alive.

The dog began to bark “Woof, woof, woof!”

The seven animals in the mitten got such a fright that they quickly jumped out and ran into the forest.

Then the old man came and picked up his mitten.

Story notes:
I have also come across this story as a shortened version: there were only the first five characters, and the little house was a pot that had fallen on the side of the road. After all the characters had made the pot their home, the story ends like this:


And then there came along a bear. He was very slow and heavy. 


"Little house, little house, who lives in this little house?"

“I do, Nibbler the Mouse, I do, Croaker the Frog, I do, Bandy Legs the hare, the hill jumper, I do, Reynard the fox the fine talker, I do, Prowler the wolf who lurks behind the bush, and who are you?”


"I am bear Squash-the-Lot." And the bear sat down on the pot and squashed the lot of them!


The way to tell this story is to make one hand the pot, and fingers and the thumb of the other hand the animals that go in one by one. When it came to the end and the bear came along, the bear squashed the whole lot. If a child is acting out the pot and characters with their hands, you can squash the lot with your own and end up in a big bear hug.

Seems a bit of a harsh ending, but my experience is that children love it!