Country
Lithuania

Tale typology
Intercultural traditions

Age Suitability
Suitable for 3-7 years old children

Tale summary
The tale is about being able to overcome all difficulties together. As the Lithuanian folk proverbs say:
One on the battlefield - not a warrior.
Alone in a porridge is vanished.

Educational potential / Learning Outcomes
Fairy tales train children's imagination, help them understand many things and make the world clearer to them.

Playing table theater, children experience life situations.

Full Plot
Once upon a time, there were an old man, grandmother and granddaughter.

In front of their house they had a garden. In the spring an old man planted a turnip. The turnip grew, and grew, and grew some more until it was enormous.

The old man started to pull the turnip out of the ground. He pulled
and pulled, but it was just too big for one man alone. So he called his
wife to help.
- Grandmother, come and help me!

- Grandmother, come and help me!
The old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the
turnip and they pulled and pulled, but could not pull it out.

So the old woman called her granddaughter to help.
- Granddaugther, come and help us!
The granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip and they pulled and pulled. But the turnip was just too big and they could not pull it out. So the granddaughter called the dog over to help.

-Dog, come and help us!
The dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip and they all pulled and pulled. But still they could not pull the turnip out. So the dog called the cat over to help.

-Kitty, come and help us!
The cat took hold of the dog, the dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip and they pulled and pulled. It seemed impossible, but still they could not pull it out. So the cat called the mouse over to help.

-Mouse, come and help us!
The mouse took hold of the cat, the cat took hold of the dog, the dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip. They all pulled and pulled, and pulled some more –and finally out came the turnip!

It took the help of the tiny mouse to finally pull out the turnip.

One Lesson Plan
Grandmother of one of the children read the story to children.
After listening to the fairy tale, there where discussion of the characters of the fairy tale and found out why grandfather alone did not pull the turnip, how the other characters behaved. The main idea for the discussion is that with the friends we can overcome the difficulties.
Remembered Lithuanian folk proverbs and explained their meaning:
One on the battlefield - not a warrior.
Alone in a porridge is vanished.

Later played table theater with wooden figurines.
After that split in roles, chosen clothes and played a tale.