Illustrated Juvenile / Goose girl kills wolf with stockings. [s]

[M—]

When I was a kid, I read this illustrated juvenile book about a young girl who killed a wolf. The story was a little bit like a fairy tale and kind of had elements of the Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and the Goose Girl tales, but it had a very original feel to it and there was no magic in story at all.

The young girl was an orphan and very poor, and her job in her village was to tend a flock of geese. She was invited to a village event, like a party, as a cruel joke, and somehow outfitted herself with clothing that included a pair of stockings, but she wasn't accepted at the party and left to go back to her geese. The village, as it happened, was being stalked by a lone wolf, and the local prince, a young hotblood, had organized a grand hunting party that night to find and kill the wolf. But the wolf found the girl and her flock first, and the girl took a long stick and tied her stockings to the end of it and, when the wolf lunged toward her, shoved the stockings down his throat which caused him to choke to death.

The hunting party had been close on the wolf's heels and, when they found the girl with the dead wolf, the prince was dismissive of the girl and irritated that she dared kill the wolf before he had a chance to do so. But a member of the hunting party said that the girl had been very brave and adopted her.

I read this story in the late 80s or early 90s, and I think it was a recent printing at the time. While it wasn't a picture book, it was illustrated and the illustrations had been vivid – I remember the one of the girl killing the wolf particularly – but they weren't color pictures, more like sepia-toned sketches. I thought my mother owned the copy I read, but I haven't refound it in her collection. It's quite possible the book had been associated with the Newbery Honors – my mother delights in collecting books associated with Newbery, Caldecott, and Reading Rainbow, which doesn't necessarily mean that the book itself had taken a Newbery award or honor, but the author might have with a different book.

Does this story sound familiar to anyone? Thanks much!

[M—]

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[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Bump.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

M--I recently found copy of The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales which is appearantly a oompilation of a bunch of fairy tale "retellings". You might want to check it out to see if your story is in it.

[M—]

Thanks! The Fairy's Return doesn't sound like the book I'm looking for, though. Its fairy-tale content is specific to Levin's Princess Tales series, which began with her debut novel in 1997, and the earliest the stories themselves published is 1999. The standalone, illustrated work I read would have existed in time for me to read it circa 1990.

[M—]

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[Tab]

This sounds very similar to The Turkey Girl . Could you possibly be remembering the wrong bird?

Here's a description of the book
Kirkus:
An easy-reading domestication, derived perhaps from the American Indian folk tale (though Berson gives his the usual European cast and costumes), about Tally who lives alone with turkeys in a hut on the edge of town. During a cold, lean winter, she diligently scrapes away the ShOW so the turkeys can find something to eat. There are two instances of grateful turkey magic--in the second they provide Tally with fine feather clothing to attend a ball in town (but she is discovered late in the evening and flees in disgrace)--and two instances of Tally's brave protection of the turkeys: First, she beats off attacking dogs who belong to the king's son, and later she kills the wolf that the prince had come to town to hunt. In both cases the prince is miffed, but one of his hunters is impressed, and so the story ends with the hunter and his wife adopting Tally and taking her turkeys along

[M—]

Gosh, that's gotta be it. No wonder searching for books with geese didn't yield any results! My local library doesn't have copy, so I'm off to plumb the depth of the interlibrary loan system.

I'm going to move this thread to the Solved folder, but I'll come back after I've reread the book and give a final confirmation as well.

Tab, thank you so very much. I am thrilled!

ETA: Confirmed!