Wonder Teller
Cover of The Husband Who Was to Mind the House: A Gentle Retelling
Folktales & LegendsPicture bookLevel 3Ages 3–5

The Husband Who Was to Mind the House: A Gentle Retelling

English · 21 pages · 600 words · 5 min read

A gentle retelling for listeners ages 3–5 of the Norwegian folktale “The Husband Who Was to Mind the House” from Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Popular Tales from the Norse, in George Webbe Dasent’s translation: a grumbling husband swaps jobs with his wife for a day, and the butter churn, the pig, the cider barrel, and the cow on the grass roof all get the better of him.

Read first 4 pages
Original work by
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe
Translated by
George Webbe Dasent
Adapted by
Wonder Teller

A look inside

The opening of The Husband Who Was to Mind the House: A Gentle Retelling, free to read.

  1. Illustration from page 2 of The Husband Who Was to Mind the House: A Gentle Retelling

    Once there lived a man who grumbled at all his wife’s housework. One evening at haymaking time, he stamped in. “Nothing in this house is ever done right!”

  2. Illustration from page 3 of The Husband Who Was to Mind the House: A Gentle Retelling

    “Don’t be so cross,” said his wife. “Tomorrow let’s change our work. I’ll go out with the mowers and mow, and you shall mind the house at home.” “Yes!” said the man. “That suits me.”

  3. Illustration from page 4 of The Husband Who Was to Mind the House: A Gentle Retelling

    Swish, swish! By sunrise his wife was in the hayfield among the mowers, swinging her scythe, a long curved blade for hay. Now the man had the house to mind and look after.

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