Story Planning: Tom Tit Tot

Source Notes:

There was once a woman who baked five pies. She overbaked them. She told her daughter to put them on the window ledge because “They’ll come again,” meaning the crust will soften. The daughter was confused and thought she needed to eat them so that they can actually come again. She ate them all. Later, the mother asked the daughter to fetch a pie because they must’ve come again. The daughter checked and the dishes were still empty. The mother began to sing about how her daughter ate five pies. The king overheard this song but could not hear the words so he stopped to listen. The mother, ashamed, changed the words of the song to make the song about her daughter spinning five skeins. The king wanted a wife that could do that, so the king asked to wed her daughter. The mother agreed, and the king said if the daughter could not spin five skeins every December day that he would kill her. The last day of December came and the daughter had to spin five skeins or else shed die. She began to weep out of fear when a little black thing with a long tail came in and asked what was wrong. The thing decided to help the girl spin the skeins, but if the daughter could not guess its name by the end of the month, then the girl would become hers. Every day, the daughter received the flax and food. Everyday the thing came and took the flax, and returned in the evening with spun skeins. The daughter was unable to guess the name of the creature, and on the second to last night, the king decided to eat with the girl. He told a story of how he ran across this little black thing that was spinning a wheel super fast. The thing was singing, “Nimmy nimmy not My name’s Tom Tit Tot.” The next day, the thing came back one last time ready to take the girl; however, this time the girl got his name correctly. The thing shrieked and vanished.

Character Sketches:

The daughter will be somewhat of a disappointment. She does a lot of things incorrectly in the home. Her parents are getting tired of all her mistakes and want her to move out. When the king surprises the parents with a marriage offer, the parents are quick to accept.

The king will be a little crueler. The daughter will resent having to go live with him.

The little black thing will have more description because if not for the illustrations you almost think of a cat not a gremlin looking thing. He will be more mischievous and sneaky in my story. He will have the plan to take the girl for his own before the conversation with her.

Tom Tit Tot

By John D. Batten found on Sacred Texts

Bibliography:

English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890). Link