The Great Big Enormous Turnip

The Great Big Enormous Turnip
Tale from Ukrain
By Alexei Tolstoy

An old man planted a turnip seed.
It grew very big! The turnip was enormous!
The old man thought he just had to pull on the leaves to get it out.
He tried to pick his turnip but it didn't come up.

He quickly called his wife.
The old woman was in the living room with her cat, dog, and bird.
The old man pulled the turnip leaves and the old woman pulled him.
But they couldn't pull the turnip up.

The old woman called her granddaughter.
The granddaughter was reading in a tree.
The old man, the old woman, and the granddaughter tried
But could not pull the turnip up.

The granddaughter called the black dog.
The dog was on the couch.
The old man, his wife, the granddaughter, and the dog tried
But could not pull the turnip out.

The dog called the cat in the flower garden.
The old man, his wife, the granddaughter, the dog and the cat tried
But the turnip did not move.

The cat called the mouse.
A teeny tiny mouse.
The old man, his wife, the granddaughter, the dog, the cat and the mouse tried
They all worked together and the turnip popped out -ZABOOM!

They all fell splat!
They were so excited! Then they went to the kitchen with the turnip and ate it up.


THEME: cooperation.

Jump & Jive Fall 2008 - This material has been created by Colleen Willis for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org/], supported by the
U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California
by the State Librarian. Any use of this material should credit the author and funding source.