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Cover of Mr. Vinegar: A Gentle Retelling
Folktales & LegendsPicture bookLevel 3Ages 3–5

Mr. Vinegar: A Gentle Retelling

English · 21 pages · 591 words · 5 min read

A gentle retelling for listeners ages 3–5 of the English tale “Mr. Vinegar” from Joseph Jacobs’s English Fairy Tales (1890): when Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar’s vinegar-bottle house falls down, a lucky door wins them a bag of gold, and Mr. Vinegar trades the gold for a cow, the cow for bagpipes, the bagpipes for gloves, and the gloves for a stick, until a parrot laughs at him.

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Original work by
Traditional; collected by Joseph Jacobs
Adapted by
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The opening of Mr. Vinegar: A Gentle Retelling, free to read.

  1. Illustration from page 2 of Mr. Vinegar: A Gentle Retelling

    A great glass vinegar bottle stood by the road, with a little wooden door. It was Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar’s house, the only one they had.

  2. Illustration from page 3 of Mr. Vinegar: A Gentle Retelling

    Swish, swish, thump! Mrs. Vinegar’s broom knocked the glass wall. Clitter-clatter, clitter-clatter! Down tumbled the whole bottle. She stood blinking in the heap.

  3. Illustration from page 4 of Mr. Vinegar: A Gentle Retelling

    Home came Mr. Vinegar. “Oh, Mr. Vinegar, Mr. Vinegar, we are ruined!” she cried. “Here is the door,” he said. “I will take it on my back, and we will go forth to seek our fortune.”

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