HOP O' MY THUMB

'''Hop o' My Thumb''' ( French : Le Petit Poucet ) is a French literary fairy tale written by Charles Perrault. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Blue Fairy Book''.^[1]
It is Aarne-Thompson type 327B, the small boy defeats the ogre. Other tales of this type include ''Esben and the Witch''.^[2]
The story concerns the Little Poucet who is the youngest of seven children in a poor woodcutter's family. His greater wisdom compensates for his smallness of size. After the children are abandoned by their parents, he finds a variety of means to save his life and the lives of his brothers. After being threatened and pursued by a giant, Poucet steals the magic "seven-league boots" from the sleeping giant.
This type of fairy tale, in the French oral tradition, is often combined with motifs from the type 327A, similar to ''Hansel and Gretel''; one such tale is ''The Lost Children''.^[3]

Contents

See also

References

See also

★ Molly Whuppie

★ Hansel and Gretel

★ Buttercup

References

1. Andrew Lang, "Hop O' My Thumb" ''The Blue Fairy Book'' New York: Dover, 1965
2. Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Hop O' My Thumb"
3. Paul Delarue, ''The Borzoi Book of French Folk-Tales'', p 365, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1956