Intended audience: Early Middle School (11-13)
Why this audience?: This is a great story for students who think they have heard all there is when it comes to folktales. It begins like any other tale with a Queen wanting a child and witch telling her how to conceive. After that though, this long story takes many twists and turns with the title character, Tatterhood, nicknamed after her rough clothes and her tendency to ride on a goat. Middle school students won't know what to do with her, but it will spark some interesting conversation after and discussion of why there aren't more characters like Tatterhood in folklore.
Characters: Tatterhood
Tatterhood's younger twin sister
The Queen
The King
The Witch
The Trolls
The Prince
The Younger Prince
Tatterhood's younger twin sister
The Queen
The King
The Witch
The Trolls
The Prince
The Younger Prince
Scenes/Settings: The castle and gardens of the King and Queen
The ship
The road to the Princes' castle from the dock
The ship
The road to the Princes' castle from the dock
Synopsis: There once was a King and a Queen who wanted children very much could not conceive. The Queen spent her days roaming the castle grounds bemoaning her situation until one day she saw a little girl playing in the castle fountain. She chased the child out and chided her for trespassing on the King's property. The little girl chided back, "You would not chase me as you do if you knew the powers my mother has."
This peaked the Queen's interest and she sent for the girls mother who happened to be a witch. When the Queen told the witch of her desperate desire to have a child the witch told her what she must do: bathe in two pails of water, throw the water under her bed before went to sleep, and then eat the the two flowers that blossom there overnight.
Indeed, the spell worked and before long the Queen was pregnant with twins. The day the Queen gave birth her first child who was born with a wooden spoon and rode upon a goat. The second child born just after was fair and sweet. Two twins could not have been more different, but they were as close as any sisters could be. The first sister, whom all in the kingdom called Tatterhood for her wild ways and rough cloak, spent most of her days getting dirty and running around. The second sister, mild mannered and beautiful, spent her days like any good princess, inside with her mother.
One night however, a pack of trolls broke into the castle and the Queen rushed to hide her children, although they were almost grown. Tatterhood pushed her mother aside and took her wooden spoon to fight off the trolls. She wacked their noses and fought for hours so the palace was filled with shrieks and squeals. When Tatterhood did not return her sister became so worried she also pushed her mother aside and left the safety of her bedchamber to go find Tatterhood. Immediately, she was set upon by to trolls who whipped off her head and replaced it with a calf's head. The younger princess began to run around the castle on all fours and moo like a calf.
When Tatterhood discovered her sister she was very upset, but she knew she knew where the trolls lived so she commissioned a ship from her father, the King, and sailed off with her sister to recapture her sister's beautiful head. When they reached the palace of the trolls. Tatterhood swiftly and silently alighted onto the dock with her goat in tow and made her way to the great hall of the trolls who had passed out from so much merriment at Tatterhood's castle the night before. Tatterhood spied her sister's head mounted on the wall and so she snatched it and stole out the front door with a BANG. This woke the trolls up and they chased Tatterhood but her goat began to but them all and she battered them with her wooden spoon until they were all so bruised the fell back and allowed Tatterhood to escape.
When Tatterhood had fixed her sister's head she suggested they use this opportunity to see the world and have an adventure. They sailed to many cities and saw much until they came to a city where two Princes lived. When the sister's docked a messenger was sent from the castle inviting both Tatterhood and her sister to the castle to dine with the Princes. Tatterhood refused and told the messengers that if the Princes wanted to meet with them they should come to the ship themselves.
And so they did. The princes arrived a short while later and when the younger sister met the older prince Tatterhood knew what had happened. Her sister was in love. Her younger sister pleaded with her sister to accompany her to the castle with the two princes and so she did. The younger prince was not excited by his luck to accompany the mud covered, rough cloaked Tatterhood but he did so anyway for the sake of hospitality.
As they rode up the long hill to the castle, the two princes on horses, the younger princess on a small horse and Tatterhood on a goat, the younger prince was flummoxed as to what to say. Here was the strangest looking girl he'd ever seen, casually riding a goat as if it was no big deal. "Why do you ride on that goat instead of a horse?" he asked finally.
"I can ride on a horse if I choose," said Tatterhood carelessly. And before the prince's very eyes Tatterhood's goat transformed into magnificent white horse.
Flabbergasted the prince turned to Tatterhood in amazement, "But then why do you wear a rough and dirty cloak?"
"Is it a dirty cloak? I can change it if I choose," she retorted with a smile. And again, her robes magically began to transform into a decadent velvet green robe, fit for a queen. "Will you not ask me why my face is marred in mud?" she asked.
The prince responded, smiling now too, "That too shall be as you choose." And as soon as he had said the mud began to wash away from Tatterhood's face and it shone as bright as the sun.
But whether she was as beautiful as her sister or plain we will not know, because it did not matter to the prince who trusted Tatterhood to live exactly as she chose. And that night there was a great party at the castle and the two sisters and the two brothers lived happily ever after, which was their choice.
This peaked the Queen's interest and she sent for the girls mother who happened to be a witch. When the Queen told the witch of her desperate desire to have a child the witch told her what she must do: bathe in two pails of water, throw the water under her bed before went to sleep, and then eat the the two flowers that blossom there overnight.
Indeed, the spell worked and before long the Queen was pregnant with twins. The day the Queen gave birth her first child who was born with a wooden spoon and rode upon a goat. The second child born just after was fair and sweet. Two twins could not have been more different, but they were as close as any sisters could be. The first sister, whom all in the kingdom called Tatterhood for her wild ways and rough cloak, spent most of her days getting dirty and running around. The second sister, mild mannered and beautiful, spent her days like any good princess, inside with her mother.
One night however, a pack of trolls broke into the castle and the Queen rushed to hide her children, although they were almost grown. Tatterhood pushed her mother aside and took her wooden spoon to fight off the trolls. She wacked their noses and fought for hours so the palace was filled with shrieks and squeals. When Tatterhood did not return her sister became so worried she also pushed her mother aside and left the safety of her bedchamber to go find Tatterhood. Immediately, she was set upon by to trolls who whipped off her head and replaced it with a calf's head. The younger princess began to run around the castle on all fours and moo like a calf.
When Tatterhood discovered her sister she was very upset, but she knew she knew where the trolls lived so she commissioned a ship from her father, the King, and sailed off with her sister to recapture her sister's beautiful head. When they reached the palace of the trolls. Tatterhood swiftly and silently alighted onto the dock with her goat in tow and made her way to the great hall of the trolls who had passed out from so much merriment at Tatterhood's castle the night before. Tatterhood spied her sister's head mounted on the wall and so she snatched it and stole out the front door with a BANG. This woke the trolls up and they chased Tatterhood but her goat began to but them all and she battered them with her wooden spoon until they were all so bruised the fell back and allowed Tatterhood to escape.
When Tatterhood had fixed her sister's head she suggested they use this opportunity to see the world and have an adventure. They sailed to many cities and saw much until they came to a city where two Princes lived. When the sister's docked a messenger was sent from the castle inviting both Tatterhood and her sister to the castle to dine with the Princes. Tatterhood refused and told the messengers that if the Princes wanted to meet with them they should come to the ship themselves.
And so they did. The princes arrived a short while later and when the younger sister met the older prince Tatterhood knew what had happened. Her sister was in love. Her younger sister pleaded with her sister to accompany her to the castle with the two princes and so she did. The younger prince was not excited by his luck to accompany the mud covered, rough cloaked Tatterhood but he did so anyway for the sake of hospitality.
As they rode up the long hill to the castle, the two princes on horses, the younger princess on a small horse and Tatterhood on a goat, the younger prince was flummoxed as to what to say. Here was the strangest looking girl he'd ever seen, casually riding a goat as if it was no big deal. "Why do you ride on that goat instead of a horse?" he asked finally.
"I can ride on a horse if I choose," said Tatterhood carelessly. And before the prince's very eyes Tatterhood's goat transformed into magnificent white horse.
Flabbergasted the prince turned to Tatterhood in amazement, "But then why do you wear a rough and dirty cloak?"
"Is it a dirty cloak? I can change it if I choose," she retorted with a smile. And again, her robes magically began to transform into a decadent velvet green robe, fit for a queen. "Will you not ask me why my face is marred in mud?" she asked.
The prince responded, smiling now too, "That too shall be as you choose." And as soon as he had said the mud began to wash away from Tatterhood's face and it shone as bright as the sun.
But whether she was as beautiful as her sister or plain we will not know, because it did not matter to the prince who trusted Tatterhood to live exactly as she chose. And that night there was a great party at the castle and the two sisters and the two brothers lived happily ever after, which was their choice.
Story Climaxes/High Points: The younger prince realizes that Tatterhood is not as rough as she might seem. Every time he gives her the benefit of the doubt and trusts in her judgement she surprises him with her rare beauty and magic. She changes her rough cloak to a magnificent robe and her goat to a horse. This realization that Tatterhood's good judgement should be trusted above all is how the younger prince falls in love with Tatterhood.
Special Chants/Phrases: Tatterhood: "I can change it if I choose..."
Bibliographic Information:
Phelps, E. J. (Ed.). (1978). Tatterhood. In Tatterhood and Other Tales. New York: Feminist Press.
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