Tom Tit Tot The English Fairy Tale

TOM TIT TOT

In a faraway land there lives a woman. She has a daughter. She works every day. But her daughter is lazy. She does not like to work. She likes to eat.

The woman bakes five pies. The pies are hard. She says, “Daughter, put the pies on the shelf and leave them. They will come again and they will be soft.”

The girl is hungry. She does not want to leave the pies. She takes the five pies and eats them.

In the evening the woman says, “Daughter please, bring me a pie.“

The daughter answers, “I can not. There are no pies.”

The woman is surprised. “But where are they?” she asks.

The daughter answers, “You know that I like pies. Every time I see a pie, I eat it. So there are no pies.”

The woman is very angry. She goes to her garden and sings:

“My daughter can eat five pies a day,

My daughter can eat five pies a day.”

Accidentally the King is near her garden today. He hears the song and comes to her garden. He asks, “What is your song about, woman?”

She answers, “It is a song about my daughter.”

“Sing it for me”, asks the King.

The woman changes the words of the song and sings:

“My daughter can spin five skeins a day,

My daughter can spin five skeins a day.”

The King thinks and says, “Your daughter is a good girl. I want to marry her. She will live with me in my castle. I will give her everything for eleven months. But then I will ask her to spin five skeins every day of the last month. If she can do it, I will live with her all my life. If she can not do it, I will put her to prison for all her life.”

The mother and her daughter are happy. They think that the King will forget about skeins. Soon the King marries the girl.

Now the girl lives in the castle. She has everything. Eleven months pass. She is worried. She remembers about the skeins. But the King never remembers them.

The last day of the eleven months comes. The King takes the girl to a big room. There is a chair and a spinning-wheel in it. He says, “You will sit here and spin five skeins. Tomorrow I will come to you. If you do not spin five skeins by the night, I will put you to prison and you will die there.” The King leaves and closes the door.

The girl is scared. She can not spin five skeins. She sits down on the chair and cries.

Suddenly, she hears a knock on the door. The girl opens it. She sees a small imp with a long tail.

“Why are you sad?” the imp asks the girl and twirls his tail.

The girl tells him her story about the pies, the King and the skeins. The imp thinks and says, “I can help you. I will come every day and bring you five skeins.”

“What do you want for that?” the girl asks. “You will guess my name. I will give you three guesses every night. But if you do not guess my name before the end of the month you will be my wife.”

The girl knows a lot of names and she loves the King. So she thanks the imp and says, “I agree.” The girl goes to sleep.

The imp disappears. The next evening he brings five skeins to the girl.

He says, “What is my name?”

“Are you Bill?” the girl asks.

“No”, says the imp.

“Are you Sam?” the girl asks.

“No”, says the imp.

“Are you Ted?” the girl asks.

“No”, says the imp, twirls his tail and disappears.

The King comes to the room and sees the girl and five skeins. He is happy. He says, “I see that you can spin. You must do it every day of this month or I will put you to prison.”

Every day the imp comes to the girl and brings her five skeins. The girl tries to guess his name but she can not. She remembers many names but she can not guess the right name. She is scared. She does not want to live with the imp. And the imp is happy and laughs every day.

The girl remembers long and difficult names. The imp comes and she asks him,

“Are you Abraham?”

“No,” says the imp.

“Are you Nicodemus” the girl asks.

“No,” says the imp.

“Are you Methusalem” the girl asks.

“No,” says the imp and twirls his tail.

“Tomorrow is the last day of the month. If you do not guess my name, you will be my wife.” The imp laughs and disappears.

The King comes to his wife and sees the skeins. He says, “You are a good girl. Tomorrow is the last day of the month and I will live with you for all my life. Let’s have dinner together.”

The dinner is tasty but the girl can not eat. She is sad and scared. She does not want to leave the King. The King sees that his wife is sad. He says, “I will tell you a funny story. There is an imp in my forest. He has a long tail. He sits in the forest and spins with his tail. He twirls his tail. He sings a song:

“Nimmy nimmy not,

My name is Tom Tit Tot”

The girl is happy. She laughs and says, “The story is funny!” I like it.”

The imp comes with five skeins on the last day of the month. He says, “Now you are my wife. But you can try and guess my name.”

The girl asks, “Are you Solomon?”

“No,” says the imp.

“Are you Zebadee?” the girl asks.

“No,” says the imp and laughs, “One more name and you are my wife.”

“I can not be your wife. I am the wife of your King,” says the girl and sings:

“Nimmy nimmy not,

Your name is Tom Tit Tot!”

The imp cries and disappears. And the girl and the King live a happy life together.