Many people have told this wonderful folktale over the years. Jan Brett made it famous in her book but I first found it years earlier in a book by Alvin Tresselt. His book was illustrated by a Ukrainian artist, Yaroslova. Besides illustarting books, she also made Pysanky eggs, painted on glass and made icons. Her parents owned Surma, the oldest Ukrainian bookstore in the U.S. until it closed in 2016.
The Tresselt book has a different ending than depicted in Jan Brett's book. I have always preferred it for its drama and surprise. In this version my grandson acts out parts of the story adding the various animals to the mitten as they seek protection from the cold.
At the end, a tiny butterfly alights at the edge and tries to enter, but the mitten can no longer withstand the strain and bursts, expelling the animals in all directions. A fun story but for the Ukrainian people being ousted from the safety of their homes and their country, it is a sad and troubling time.
And while the butterfly was the creature who was the last straw to burst open the mitten, it was really the bear who stretched it to its limits, breaking the seams. Just like the Russian bear is battering Ukraine, killing thousands of people, destroying homes, libraries, schools and hospitals.
The Ukrainians are trying so hard to defend their country with bravery, inventiveness and determination. But they need help, the Russian bear is big, hungry and powerful.
Are we going to be the butterfly that looks away and lets it happen? Or could we all be that butterfly whose flapping wings change something thousands of miles away?
Donate, talk to your representatives, do something, democracy is in peril.
Support.savethechildren.org
Unicefusa.org
Icrc.org (Red Cross)
Help.rescue.org (International rescue Committee)
