Well hello and welcome to Super Great Kids Stories.
Wise tales from storytellers around the world which will make you laugh and sometimes cry.
Recommended for ages 5 to 105.
I'm Kim and I love stories.
Our current theme is fairy tales around the world.
And today we have an action-packed fairy tale from Norway, beautifully told by Sarah Lisa Wilkinson, who told you The Witch's Stone.
Note to parents this story could seem a little bit unsettling, but only fleetingly, and the ending is very happy.
How are you, super great kids?
I hope you had a happy week.
I enjoyed meeting Wangari the Storyteller from Kenya at our online show this weekend.
One of the highlights was meeting some of you.
I'll say hello after the owlet shoutouts.
Lots of you said it was snowing where you live, and Wangari, the Storyteller, told us she's never seen snow and could not imagine what it's like to be that cold.
Imagine not having a winter!
Oof!
And something else that put a wag in my tale this week is that several of you have written to tell us what you think of our book.
One of our fans wasn't very keen on reading but since getting the Super Great Kids Stories book for Christmas, He's excited to read it and even wants to read stories to his family.
Yippity-doo-dah-day!
That made my tail wag so hard it slapped my ears.
And my third reason to be cheerful is that this week's story is a really tip-top fairy tale from Norway in Northern Europe.
Tatterhood was collected by Asbjørnsson and Mo, two friends who were story collectors like the Brothers Grimm in Germany.
It's told by Sarah Lisa Wilkinson.
Sarah Lisa lives in London and her mum is from Finland, which is a country next door to Norway.
Sarah Lisa grew up speaking Finnish and going to Finland for holidays.
So she's particularly interested in stories from Nordic countries in Northern Europe.
Finland is a country in Northern Europe which is known as one of the happiest countries.
Perhaps that's because they have millions of saunas.
That's a kind of hot room where you can sit and get very steamy and hot after you've just jumped into an ice-cold lake.
Yes, wild swimming and saunas are both on my things to do to make me happy list.
Just before we hear from Sarah-Lisa...
Can you have a think about what you'd put on your happy list?
In other words, what makes you happy on a grey winter's sort of day, or even on a too hot sort of summer's day.
Have a little think about that while we have a quick word with the grown-ups.
Hello, super great kids.
I'm back.
Did you think about what sorts of things make you happy?
I wonder if any of you said cuddling your cat, or reading by the fire, or cycling, or swimming, or singing or knitting?
Ask your grown-ups what makes them happy.
And now, without further ado, it's time to give a warm welcome to Sarah Lisa Wilkinson.
Hello Super Great Kids, this is Sarah Lisa and this is a story from Norway called Tatterhood.
Once upon a time there was a queen and she had everything that she could possibly want, because she was the queen.
She had a lovely castle.
She had a lovely king.
She had a lovely crown.
It was really golden and really shiny and she had lovely loving subjects that cheered every time she walked among them.
Yeah, yeah, it's the queen.
We love you, queen.
They bought mugs and plates with her picture painted on them.
There was only one thing that she didn't have.
A baby.
And that was a shame, because the queen really did want a sweet little smoochy wootchy scoogly, woogly baby.
You know, one of those ones who would gurgle and giggle and never ever cry.
And so not having one made her feel really sad.
And one day she was feeling so sad about it that she went into the royal kitchens and she took a huge packet of royal biscuits and she walked out of the castle and into the forest.
And as soon as she was deep enough in the forest that she was sure that nobody could hear her, the queen howled out her despair.
And her first howl was so loud that bats were loosed from their beds.
And her second howl was so loud that wolves turned tail and fled.
And her third howl was so loud that the crone of the woods, the old woman who lived deep in the forest, woke up, crawled out from underneath the rock she came from and said Shut up.
Goodness me!
I heard you the first time, Queen.
Yes, I know, you can't have a baby.
That is very sad.
But honestly, there's no need to be so howly about it.
And the Queen looked at the Crone of the Woods, who was all mossy and green and a little bit dribbly, and she said Can you help me?
And the crone looked at the queen and said, oh, maybe, maybe, but how will you pay?
And the queen looked at the crone and said, biscuits?
And the crone looked at the queen and said, yeah, that's fine, take a seat.
And so the queen sat down upon the forest floor and she gave the crone her packet of royal biscuits and the crone, oh good, chocolate chips.
I'll have them later with a cup of tea.
And then she said, right.
You want to have a baby?
This is what you have to do.
You need to do exactly as I tell you.
Follow my instructions to the letter.
Can you do it?
The queen said yes.
The crone said good.
Then go back to the castle and give yourself a really good wash.
You know, do not skimp.
Get in there between your toes, behind your ears, and then you take that water that you have washed in and you pour it beneath your bed.
And in the morning, you're going to find two flowers growing there.
One of them will be sweet.
With delicate pink silky petals, the other one will not be sweet.
It will have tattered leaves and spiky bits.
Now this is important.
You eat the sweet flower.
Don't eat the other one.
Don't even touch it.
Don't smell it.
Don't look at it.
Can you do it?
The queen said she could.
And she got to her feet and she ran out of the forest.
And as she was running out of the forest, she thought she could hear behind her cackling, hooting laughter.
But she thought, well, that probably doesn't mean anything.
And so she went back into the castle and she did exactly as the crone had told her to do.
And in the morning, when the queen looked under her bed, There were those two flowers growing, just like the crone had said there would be.
And the queen picked the sweet flower and oh, it melted on the tip of her tongue like a lump of sugar.
It was exquisite.
But it wasn't very filling.
So the queen looked at the other flower.
The queen picked the other flower.
Queen smelled the other flower.
It smelled so good and before she knew what she was doing, oh no, oh no, she had eaten the other flower and that was what the crone had told her not to do.
But then again, thought the queen, it is not as if the crone said don't eat the other flower because something bad will happen.
Perhaps it will be fine.
I'm just going to pretend that it didn't happen and say no more about it.
And so that is what the queen did.
And nine months later, the queen gave birth to a baby girl who was sweet and soft and scoogly and woogly.
And the queen said, oh, my God.
Look at her.
She is so perfect.
She is so cute.
I am going to call her Princess Sugar Plum Rose Petal Unicorn Pie.
Oh, said the king.
Yes, well, there's loads of time to decide on a name.
And then the queen screamed.
She chucked the baby to the king as she gave birth again.
But this time to a wild goat.
Meh!
And astride that wild goat was another baby girl.
And in her hand she held a wooden spoon that seemed to have a life of its own.
The baby girl had bright beady eyes.
She had spiky tufty hair.
And between those tufts were two small bumps.
And she galloped round the bedchamber.
Bopping are the midwives on their bottoms with her spoon.
And then she turned around to face the queen. opened her arms wide and said, Mama!
But the queen said, Oh, no.
No way.
Not me.
Not you.
This must be a joke.
This must be a trick.
Someone, anyone, just get rid of it.
But when she said that, Princess Sugar Plum Rose Petal Unicorn Pie screamed.
And she wouldn't stop until the girl on the goat trotted over to her and took her by the hand.
And the queen looked down at her two daughters and realised there was going to be no parting them.
And there wasn't.
Even though they grew up so differently.
Princess Sugarplum Rosebittle.
I'm just going to call her Plum from now on, if that's OK with everyone.
She was spoiled rotten, showered with gifts and kittens and puppies and shown off to all of the most important people in the kingdom.
But the other girl, well, the queen didn't even really know what to call her.
So the girl named herself.
She called herself Tatterhood because she was always wearing this tattered hood pulled over her head and her face.
And because she wasn't shown off to anyone, she did what she liked.
And any time Plum had the chance, she would sneak away to join her sister.
They would go and climb trees in the forest.
They would explore the cellars and the turrets of the castle.
And when Plum would come back home, the queen would despair at all of the dirt on her face and the muck in her hair.
And she would say, why?
Why do you have to do it?
Go running around with your wild sister.
And Plum would say, because mum, look at her.
She's amazing!
And the queen would look at Tatterhood with her wooden spoon, galloping around on her wild goat, and she just couldn't see it.
Until one night years later, when the girls had both turned sixteen, the castle was set upon by witches.
And these were not helpful forest-crown witches.
These were island witches, cruel and savage, with blood-red eyes and bad attitudes.
And they flew like a ragged flock of birds over the sea and inside the castle.
The king and the queen.
They were shutting the shutters and bolting the bolts, and Tatterhood went up to the queen and said Mother, what do the witches want?
And the queen said, oh my goodness, what a question.
Who knows what witches want?
All I know is to say turn up here and cause nothing but trouble.
And so then Tatterhood went to the king and she said, father, like, how do you get rid of them?
And the king said, ah, well, you don't really is the thing.
You sort of just wait it out and hope they get bored.
I see, said Tatterhood.
Well, why don't we call that plan B?
And then she went and saw Plum and she said, Plum, I need you to do something for me.
I'm going out there and it might get a little bit hairy.
So I need you to promise that you will not follow me until I tell you myself it is safe to do so.
Can you do that, Plum?
And Plum said, yeah.
And then she said, Tatterhood, please be careful.
And Tatterhood smiled and said Plum, I'm not going to be careful, am gonna be awesome.
And she went and she got on her wild goat and she thrust her wooden spoon into the air and as she rode out of the castle she pulled back her tattered hood and there, sharp and proud, beneath the light of the moon, were two horns growing from her head.
And then they charged and that wooden spoon popped and jabbed and bopped again and witch upon witch was flung, flailing from their broomsticks, calling out ow my face and oh my bottom.
And the queen, from a window in the castle, watched as her daughter, with the help of a goat single-handed, drove away every single witch from the place.
And she saw it.
She's amazing.
And Plum couldn't help it.
She ran out of the castle, chanting and cheering, Tata Hood!
Tata Hood!
But there was this one witch you see lurking behind a castle wall waiting for her chance to escape.
And as Plum ran out, the witch saw, and then she flew, and then she plucked Plum's sweet little head from Plum's sweet little shoulders and she replaced it with the head of a cow that she always had on her for situations just like this.
And then she was off, flying over the sea to join her savage sisters.
And Tatterhood turned around and saw Plum there, now with a cow's head on.
And she said, Oh, Plum, what happened to you?
And Plum looked at Tatterhood and said And the queen and the king ran out of the castle saying Oh, Tatterhood please, Tatterhood please.
You have to help us get Plum's real head back.
And Tatterhood looked at Plum again and said, Plum, do you want your real head back?
And Plum looked at Tatterhood and said, Moo!
OK, said Tatterhood, I'll see what I can do.
Father, I'm going to need a ship.
Of course, said the king.
I will get you the finest ship and I will get you the finest sailors.
Na, na, na, na, na, said Tatterhood.
I don't need any fine sailors.
All I need is my sister, my spoon and my goat.
And so Tatterhood on her goat and plum, now with a cow's head on, got onto the ship and they set sail over a rocky choppy sea.
And they got to the island of the witches.
They crept up to the witches' stinking shack.
They pushed open the door and the first thing they saw was Plum's real head hanging on the wall and sprawled out before her.
Were the witches just being disgusting?
Some of them were slurping up slugs and worms.
There were some who were even snacking on one another's toenails.
And Plum stepped forward, and when the witches saw her, they came towards her.
But then Tatterhood was by her side, the wooden spoon held high, and when the witches saw the spoon they were like oh no, oh no, not the spoon, not the spoon, and they drew back.
And so Plum walked through the room.
Moo!
Moo!
Moo!
Moo and every single witch knew exactly what she meant as she lifted her own head from the wall, took off the cow's head and reunited herself.
And then they legged it.
They got out of there as quickly as they could, back onto the ship and they set sail.
And Tata looked at her sister.
And Plum stayed silent.
Because you don't get over that kind of thing too quickly.
And Tatterhood said, look, we don't have to talk about it until you're ready.
And so Plum stayed silent as they sailed over the sea under the sun.
And Plum stayed silent as they sailed over the sea and under the moon.
She stayed silent as they sailed through a storm out the other side, through the misty grey, early light of dawn, until they came to an island with calm blue waters.
And Tattered sniffed the air and said, What do you think of this then, Plum?
And Plum screamed silently.
And Tattered said, Yeah, I agree.
It smells good.
And so she dropped anchor and her and the goat went onto the shore and said Oh, Plum feels good too.
Do you want to check it out?
And still on the ship, Plum stayed silent.
And so Tattered and the goat began to walk up and down on the shore.
Saying things like, oh, this bit's nice, Plum.
Oh, Plum, this bit over here is lovely.
Oh, Plum, this bit makes me want to shake my hips.
And Tatterhood and the goat began to shake their hips.
Oh, this bit, Plum, this bit makes me want to stamp my feet.
And Tatterhood and the goat began to stamp their hooves and their feet.
And this bit, Plum, this bit makes me want to do this.
And Tatterhood turned around and she shook her bottom right at Plum's face.
And Plum laughed.
She laughed so hard, tears flew out of her eyes and at that moment, the king of the island and his daughter, the princess, stepped onto the shore.
And the king saw Plum's rosy laughing cheeks and the princess saw Tatterhood's shaking bottom.
And they bowed and curtsied and welcomed them, because they didn't get many visitors and they were very grateful for the company.
And so the king, who was a kind and a handsome king, escorted Plum up to the castle and Tatterhood on her goat, and the princess walked behind.
And now that Plum could talk again, she could not stop.
She told the king everything, how the witches had taken her head, how they'd gone to get it back, and then they'd been sailing and sailing, and sailing and the king was like no way, that's amazing.
And then he told Plum how he used to sail around the world too when he was younger.
But then he'd found this island and made it his home because he loved it so much.
And he'd brought his daughter up all alone because he'd lost his wife.
But he worried about his child.
You know she was really shy because she'd never left the island and really seen any more of the world.
And Tatterhood and the princess walked in silence.
The princess.
I don't know if you've ever met anybody like this in life. or in a story.
But she had been born with a crescent moon on her brow and stars around her eyes.
So she was very shiny, but very shy.
And she walked with her head turned down, just occasionally glancing up at Tatterhood.
And after they'd been walking for some time, Tatterhood said to the princess do you know that you've got something on your face?
And the princess blushed and said, yes, yes, I know.
I was born with it.
I think people think it's strange.
And Tattered said, yeah, people might think that.
And they walked a bit more in silence.
And then Tattered said, you know, you can ask me something if you like.
And the princess said, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I haven't met many people.
I'm never really sure how conversations work.
And Tattered said, that's OK.
I'll help you.
Why don't you ask me why it is that I'm always riding around on this wild goat?
Okay, said the princess.
Why are you always riding around on a wild goat?
And Tatterhood got off the goat and she said, try it and see.
And so the princess climbed on the goat's back and the goat galloped away and jumping through the trees of the forest.
And when they came back, the princess's cheeks were flush pink.
Her eyes were bright.
There were pine needles stuck in her hair.
And Tatterhood said, Do you see?
And the princess said, Yeah.
And now, said Tatterhood, why don't you ask me why it is that I'm always holding this wooden spoon?
Why are you always holding that wooden spoon? said the princess.
And Tatterhood gave her the spoon and said, Try it and see.
And when the princess took the spoon off, it took her up and then took her down, and then it spun around and around and around and Tatterhood said Do you see?
And the princess said, Yeah!
And now, said Tatterhood, why don't you ask me why it is I'm always wearing this old tattered hood?
Why are you always wearing an old tattered hood?
Take it off and see.
And the princess drew back the hood.
And there, sharp and proud, were those two horns growing from Tatterhood's head.
And Tatterhood said to the princess, Do you see?
And the princess said, Yeah.
And Tatterhood said, Are you scared?
And the princess said, No.
And she reached over and she touched just the tip of one of those horns.
And as she did, The crescent moon on her brow blazed bright.
And by that time, they'd reached the castle.
And when they did, Plum turned around and she told Tatterhood that her and the king had fallen in love and they were going to get married and she was going to stay here and make this island her home.
And Tatterhood said, yeah, I suppose I could see that coming.
And then Plum asked if Tatterhood would stay too.
And Tata had said that she would stay for the wedding, of course, but then she would be sailing on.
And Plum could have seen that coming too, but she still did cry about it a little.
And the two sisters hugged tight.
But once they stepped apart, the princess with the moon on her brow said, Oh!
When you go, can I come too?
Because, you know, I've never really left this island and I really feel that I should see some more of the world.
And Tatterhood said, yeah, you can.
And then there was a wedding and it was a good wedding.
And after the wedding, there was a party and it was a really good party.
You know, everybody was invited. tattered and plums parents the king and the queen the crone of the woods even all of you and if you didn't get your invitations well it means they were just lost in the post but it doesn't matter because they had such a good time at that party that they promised they would do it again the next year they would meet And there would be dancing and there would be laughing and there would be loving and there would be biscuits and it would be absolutely wonderful and it would be absolutely wild.
Oh, thanks so much, Sarah Lisa, for sharing that story.
I hope you liked it.
If you did, can you think why you liked it?
I liked it because one of its messages was, dare to be different.
I also liked the way Tattercoats encouraged the princess to ask questions.
And you know I really like questions.
So here's my question for you.
Which of those two sisters would you rather be and why?
Would you rather be plum, all rosy-cheeked and sweet and kind?
Or would you rather be tattercoats, wild and strange with a love of adventure?
Maybe you could send us a picture of those two sisters sailing over the sea and under the sun towards that island in calm blue waters.
Send your pictures via our website to supergreatkidsstoriescom and we can share them with other story lovers on our picture gallery on our website and on our Facebook page.
Facebookcom forward slash supergreatkidsstories.
And now it's time to fly around the world with story owl to say hello and a big thank you to the owlets who've recently joined our storytelling club.
Let's start here in the uk and greet joseph, who's seven and lives in newcastle.
Underline his favorite stories are the cat who ate the palace bring me a light Molly and the Leprechaun and Stone Soup.
Good choices, Joseph.
A long flight west now across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, to say hello to Julia in Edmonton, Alberta.
Julia is seven and has been listening since she was three.
Wow.
She listens on long car trips and before and after school.
Her favourites are The Ghost of the Bloody Finger, Molly and the Skeleton Bonita, the Tricky Sheep and Stories by Toop, especially all the Anansi ones.
Let's head south west now to the US state of Oregon, where Coraline, who is eight, lives in Portland.
She loves the Anansi stories and says she can't possibly pick a favourite one.
But her favourite storyteller is Jason Buck.
Flying east to Minneapolis now to say hello to Gabriel, who's seven, and Esme, who's five.
Gabriel's favourite story is Monkey Liver Soup, and Esme loves Tiange and a yellow dress.
Now their baby brother Rumi, who is about seven months old, is a story lover in the making.
Oh, that's lovely to hear.
And Story Owl is staying in Minneapolis now because Wren, who is five, and Dylan, who is three, also live there.
They became owlets at Christmas and they really love The Three Bears Rap told by Liz Weir in Northern Ireland and The Ghost of the Bloody Finger told by Tienan in London.
Good stories, Ren and Dylan.
And we're off now to the snowy mountains of northern New Hampshire to greet Meriwether, who is six, and three-year-old Felix, who love listening on long car journeys.
Meriwether's favourite story is The Owl, Girls and the Witch from Argentina.
And Felix's is Why the Sea is Salty.
A long flight down to Smithville in Texas next, where Zespri will be five next month.
She likes to retell her favourite story, Molly and the Skeleton, to her parents.
That makes my heart sing, Zespri.
Well done, you.
Back up to Boston, Massachusetts.
Now to greet Owlet's sisters, Elliot and Sloane, who've been listening for four years.
Elliot loves The Ghost of the Bloody Finger so much that she's learnt it by heart.
And Sloane loves The Three Bears Rap.
So brilliant.
Keep up the storytelling, everybody.
And finally all the way west across the US to San Jose in sunny California to say hello to nine-year-old Logan and Liam, who were seven last month.
They often listen in the car and their favourite, favourite stories are the scary ones.
Hello now to some of you who came to our online show last Saturday.
Hello to Tikku from Switzerland, to Freya and Isolde in the Yukon in snowy Canada where they say it gets so cold that their dad's beard freezes on the way to school.
Hello to Maisie in the US, who sent us lovely photographs of her listening to the show.
To Ezra in Massachusetts in the US.
Oma from Northern California and Imani and Subira.
And to Romi and Dani, also in Northern California.
And hello to Ruby and Etta in Derbyshire.
And to Annie and Rupert and Arun in London.
We have another online show in February.
Do join us.
We love seeing all the pictures which you've drawn while listening to the stories.
Our picture of the week goes to seven-year-old Asha from Houston in Texas, who drew a very imaginative picture from the Polish fairy tale Misery.
Misery was a very unwelcome guest who visited a poor couple and then refused to leave.
Yikes!
I love the way Usher, that you've captured his character small and bony, with lanky hair and tattered clothes, a spotty nose and a downturned mouth.
I do not think I'd like him hanging around my house.
Would you?
A really clever drawing of a great story.
Thanks for sharing, Asha.
If you want to see that picture and many others, go to our website supergreatkidsstoriescom and click on the tab Artwork and Photos.
Or go to our Facebook page, facebook.com forward slash supergreatkidsstories.
And if you follow us on Instagram, see our pictures on our picture gallery at.
That's it for this week.
Thanks to all Owlets for your super great support.
It's because of you that we are able to find and commission new storytellers.
If you'd like to support us on Patreon or on Apple Podcasts, we'll say hello to you on the show.
You can hear our stories advert-free.
And, depending on your level of subscription, you'll have access to at least 45 Super Great Scary Stories and over 60 bonus stories.
Plus, you'll get access to our Super Great Kids Stories Express with short introductions, no adverts, purely story.
Great for listening to stories back to back.
Visit our website for more details, supergreatkidsstories.com.
And finally...
We wanted to say a big thank you to those of you who bought a copy of our book and to those of you who have reviewed it online.
Thank you very much.
Do keep telling your stories and singing those songs.
Thanks again to our storyteller this week, Sarah Lisa Wilkinson, for her brilliant fairy tale from Norway.
This podcast was produced at Wardour Studios in fabulous Fitzrovia in London.
