The Giant Turnip
Encyclopedia
"The Giant Turnip" or "The Enormous Turnip" is a children's fairy tale
of Russian
or Slavic
origin. It was first published in 1863 in the collection Russian Folk Tales, edited and published by Aleksandr Afanas'ev.
It is a progressive story, in which a grandfather plants a turnip, which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. He asks the grandmother for help, and they together still cannot pull it up. Successively more people are recruited to help, until they finally pull the turnip up together. The specific ordering and set of people and sometimes animals varies.
In English, the fairy tale has had multiple treatments. One of the unfinished projects of award-winning illustrator Ezra Jack Keats
was a version of "The Giant Turnip"; artwork for the book was published in the 2002 collection Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
of Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
or Slavic
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....
origin. It was first published in 1863 in the collection Russian Folk Tales, edited and published by Aleksandr Afanas'ev.
It is a progressive story, in which a grandfather plants a turnip, which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. He asks the grandmother for help, and they together still cannot pull it up. Successively more people are recruited to help, until they finally pull the turnip up together. The specific ordering and set of people and sometimes animals varies.
In English, the fairy tale has had multiple treatments. One of the unfinished projects of award-winning illustrator Ezra Jack Keats
Ezra Jack Keats
Ezra Jack Keats , Caldecott-winning author of The Snowy Day, was one of the most important children's literature authors and illustrators of the 20th Century....
was a version of "The Giant Turnip"; artwork for the book was published in the 2002 collection Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury.