Whuppity Stoorie

by Carolyn White

A Scottish variant of Rumpelstiltskin and Tom Tit Tot. Grumphie, a beloved pig, is ailing. A fairy woman dressed in green appears and asks the animal's owner, "If I cure your pig, what will you give me?" Too quickly the woman answers, "Anything your ladyship asks." The price exacted for the cure is the woman's daughter, Kate. The green lady will return to claim the child in three days, unless they can guess her name.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Ardea Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title / Author / Publication Date: Whuppity Stoorie/Carolyn White/1997

Genre: Fiction, Fairytale

Format: Hardcover

Plot summary: A fairy demands a woman's daughter in exchange for curing her sick pig.

Considerations or precautions for readers advisory: N/A

Review citation: McClelland, Kate. Whuppity Stoorie. (Book Review). School Library Journal.

Section source used to find the material: EBSCOhost: Children’s Core Collection (H.W. Wilson), Monroe County Public Library

Recommended age: 8 and up

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whuppity Stoorie by Carolyn White, Hindi language translation by Arvind Gupta- Children’s Illustrated KateColour Picture Book- The book narrates the Scottish story of a family from Quittal Rumfit village in Scotland of mother and daughter Kate and her female pig Grumphie. When Kate comes to drop left over food for Grumphie. She finds that Grumphie is ill and is not eating. Both mother and daughter try local medicines but Grumphie is still ill. Scots believe that pigs can know evil and good spirits. They saw that a storm in which a lady in green dress with a pole and bird sitting on her shoulder. She said that she is able to cure Grumphie. They agreed. Grumphie was cured. Now, she asked for her fees. Fees was her daughter Kate or they should inform her name. Mother and Kate were worried. Kate travelled down the hill, crossed the river and found the lady in green dress singing. She said that her name was “Whuppaty Stoorie”. Kate returned back. The lady in green was with her mother demanding to take Kate with her. Kate informed the name of the lady in green to her mother. The lady in green was angry but she returned back. Coloured illustrations help the reader to relate to the story. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a less fancy version of Rumplestiltskin--a fairy lady heals a peasant's pig and in return demands her daughter. In order to save her, the peasant has to guess the fairy's name. The illustrations were detailed and rustic.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Scottish folktale similiar to Rumplestilskin. Entertaining and well illustrated. My daughter enjoyed the story, though she thought the text was long for a picture book.

[Brittany Messer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to my sister who is becoming a first grade teacher and she was not a fond of the book. I thought the wording and sentence structure would be a little challenge for Primary children. The story taught a valuable lesson of do not count your chickens before they hatch just because you think a plan will go your way something can always happen to disrupt it. The story its self was very long and had many words on the pages. This book would be good for older children but younger children would have trouble with some of the text.

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED reading this book again. The illustrations are beautiful!

February 29, 2020: I have started a collection of books--- folktales, stories, legends, etc--that come from countries of my ancestry to share with family members. Somewhat by accident, I found this one from Scotland (my Burt family line). What a fun, delightful book! I especially enjoyed the illustrations as the fun words (including the title!).

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Scottish folktale version of "Rumpelstiltskin, but with a female fairy, rather than an imp, as the wicked magical creature. Steven D. Schindler provides atmospheric illustrations in watercolor, gouache and pastel.

[NECaruso · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are lovely and I appreciate a good 'read the fine print' story, especially one about diabolical fairies. A good book to show children they shouldn't promise 'anything' unless they know what they're really bargaining for.