An old peasant, tired of listening to his wife's endless complaining, her constantly expressed desire for fish, sets out to fulfill her wish in this adaptation of a traditional Hungarian folktale. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon the perspective), a hungry fox crosses his path, and feigning death, finds a way to profit from the old man's hard work...

I can't say that the depiction of the old peasant's wife was particularly pleasing - women seem to come off very badly in Hungarian folklore - but the latter half of this tale reminded me rather strongly of the French story, Renard and the Eels (found in the collection Renard the Fox). I'm always happy to find these kind of folk parallels, and would have been interested in the second half of this tale, which Judit Bodnar left off, in order to create a more picture-book friendly narrative. The colorful illustrations by Bulgarian-born artist Alexi Natchev accentuate the humor of the tale. All in all, a very pleasing folkloric retelling, sure to entertain readers with a taste for fox tales! ( )

In this story, an old peasant is quite content with his life. He has rich lands, enough food to eat, and a cozy cottage. One day his wife, however, gets it into her head that she really wants some fish, and from that day forward, she won't shut up about it. Finally, half-badgered to death, the peasant goes out fishing, and catches a pretty great load of fish. A hungry fox smells the fish and plays dead in the middle of the road. When the peasant finds the fox, he knows his wife will love the tail as a stole, and he throws the fox in the back of the wagon. The crafty fox then pushes all but one fish out of the wagon and the unsuspecting peasant drives home. When he gets there, he finds only one fish in the back of the wagon. Tired of being nagged by his wife, he rides off on his trusty old ox.

In this Hungarian folktale, the fish aren't magic, but they do represent wanting what you can't have, instead of being content with what you do have. This book has gorgeous illustrations, full of the traditional Hungarian color motif of red, black and white. Students will root for both the fox and the old man, and will be relieved when he escapes his shrewish wife.

For ages 6 -10. ( )