The Cat on the Doverfell

A wonderful comment from a wonderful reader inspired this post. I miss reading picture books to my kids they grew up. Sometimes I read children's  books when no one is looking. The Cat on the Doverfell by Tomie dePaola is a favorite and sadly out of print. Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve by Jan Brett is the same folk tale with beautiful illustrations but without the humor that Tomie dePaola puts in his illustrations.
The story is about a man from Finnmark taking a white bear to the King of Denmark and stops at a cottage for the night.  Halvor, the cottage owner and family are ready to leave for the night because the trolls are coming, the man with the bear stays anyway. The trolls come eat, drink and make a merry mess then a troll sees the "kitty" under the stove and pokes it with a sausage, "kitty" roars and the trolls flee. The next year Halvor is out chopping wood for Yuletide when a troll hollers at him and asks if he still has the same "kitty" Halvor says he does and she has seven kittens bigger and fiercer than she is. And the Trolls never bother Halvor again. Savoring Christmas memories....--Ann--