The Mitten Fairy Tale

One winter an old man was walking through the forest when he dropped his mitten. There it lay in the snow.

A mouse came running by and saw the mitten. "It's warm in here. I'll live here," she said, and she crawled inside. Then a frog hopped up. "Who lives in the mitten?" "I do, the mouse. Who are you?" "I am the frog. Let me in too." "Come in."

Then a hare came running. "Let me in too!" So the hare squeezed in. After him came a fox, and she fitted in as well. And the mitten stretched and stretched.

Then a wolf came. "Let me in too!" "All right, come in." In went the wolf. Last of all a bear came lumbering up. "I want to get warm too!" "But there's no room!" Still, the bear somehow squeezed inside.

The mitten was about to burst, and all its seams were stretched tight. Meanwhile the old man had noticed his mitten was missing and was walking back with his dog to look for it. The dog saw the mitten and began to bark loudly.

The frightened animals tumbled out of the mitten and scattered into the forest. The old man came up, picked up his mitten and put it on. And the mitten was lovely and warm.