Re: farmer and the noisy hut

[Barbara Kinkead <kinkead@TENET.EDU>]

I really want this message to go only to Sylvia Adair, but I no longer
seem to have her address.  Sorry, folks.  The title Tamah is describing,
I believe, is "It could always be worse," by Margot Zemach.  I would
imagine there are other versions...
Barbara Kinkead, St. Mark's School of Texas, Dallas (Kinkead@Tenet.edu)

On Mon, 31 Oct 1994, Tamah Graber wrote:

> On Sun, 30 Oct 1994, Sylvia Adair wrote:
>
> > Dear netters:  I've got a request from a teacher that has me stumped. She
> > needs a book for elementary school students called (she says) The Farmer and
> > the Noisy Hut.  She doesn't have an author, or any other information.  I
> > vaguely recall a folktale like this, where it is too quiet in the hut and th
 e
> >
> This is a story that has many versions.  I first encountered it as a
> Jewish folktale, probably in THE WISE MEN OF CHELM, but maybe not, where
> the farmer goes to the rabbi to ask advice  because his tiny house is so
> crowded.  The rabbi tells him to bring in the goats.  The farmer goes
> back to say that now it is REALLY crowded, and is told to bring in more
> animals.  He keeps coming back and is told to bring in more animals.
> Finally the rabbi tells him to put out all the animals, and the farmer
> sees how quiet  the house has become and how much room there is for the
> people.   Sorry I can't help with a specific title or author.  It is
> probably a folk tale that appears in many different versions and from
> many different countries.
> Tamah Graber
> Darnestown E.S.
> Darnestown   MD     tgraber@umd5.umd.edu
>