Belching Hill

Belching Hill  Retold by Morse Hamilton, Illus. by Forest Rogers, 1997.

This retelling is based on "The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumplings," recorded by (you guessed it) Lafcadio Hearn and "The Old Woman and the Rice Cakes" by Ethel Johnston Phelps. On the famous Belching Hill or Geppuyama live a poor old woman and her pig, Hanako. They are very happy eating rice dumplings, which the old woman loves to cook. One day a hot dumpling rolls away and is grabbed by a giant hand that comes up through the grass. The old woman and Hanako follow it down under the hill and finds a "snarl of ogres", and one of them has gulped down her dumpling! She scolds the ogres, but they give her an ultimatum: cook more dumplings or be their dinner herself. Well, she loves making dumplings, but how will she feed so many ogres? Luckily, they have a magic spoon and fortunately the old woman has a few tricks up her sleeve, enough to get her and Hanako home safely with a little something extra for her trouble.

Rogers' pictures are gently humorous, beginning with the old woman making fish, frog, and pig faces with her animal friends. The brightly colored fuzzy and scaly ogres are appropriately weird and scary, but in a fun way. They may have extra eyes, horns and impressive tongues and talons, but as long as their attention is turned to the dumplings, they are more silly than threatening.Watercolors, gouache and colored pencils were used to make the art, which is also bursting with life: trees, birds, flowers, little animals, etc.

I found this book an overall treat!

The Wise Old Woman by Yoshiko Uchida, Illus. by Martin Springett

I'm back with a renewed desire to look at illustrated fairy and folktales from different cultures. This time I have chosen Japan. In the past, I have checked out tales from Russia and Africa.

Today's tale, The Wise Old Woman, satisfies me personally because it values both women and old age. In a town where anyone over 70 years old is deemed useless and condemned to die, live a young farmer and his clever and considerate old mother. Unable to leave his mother to perish, the farmer privately defies their cruel lord and hides her in a secret room under his home.

A couple of years later, when another mighty lord threatens to conquer the village, who is able to meet his challenge and save the people? Naturally, it is the wise woman. Three impossible tasks are set that baffle the wittiest ones in town, as well as an intelligent badger. When the village lord realizes that the old mother has solved the riddles and prevented the overtaking of his land, he gives her three bags of gold and decides that all the elderly must be treated with respect and shown honor.

Yoshiko Uchida was a Japanese American author who wrote more than 30 books, many of them about Japanese folklore. Martin Springett is a British-born illustrator of adult Fantasy, as well as children's books. His paintings for The Wise Old Woman are done with airbrush and ink. His pictures take the reader to a time "long ago," and he dresses and arms his characters in what I would assume is a traditional style. The pretty old mother stands up tall and serene as she meets her challenges and improved fortune.