The Old Woman who Tricked the Fairies by Ailie Finlay

It's the well-known traditional Scottish tale, told by the Scottish storyteller Ailie Finlay. This version includes lots of intriguing noises. Children love them as it is easy to understand and includes a lot of repetition. The children can be also easily encouraged to join in with the noises which the story is full of.

This is a story of an old woman who was very good at baking.

She made the best cakes in the whole of Scotland.

Spice cakes, lemon cake, orange cakes… (Use smells here)

Now fairies love cake.

One day the fairies carried the old woman away to the fairy hill.

‘Make us cake!’ they said.

‘I will make you cake,’ said the old woman, ‘but I can’t bake without my favourite bowl and spoon.’

So the fairies flew away and fetched the old woman’s favourite bowl and spoon. (‘Mix’ with the spoon in the bowl.)

‘It’s not really working,’ said the old woman with a sigh. ‘At home I always listen to my budgie singing while I am baking. I need my budgie.’

So the fairies flew away and fetched her budgie.

The budgie sang. (Blow the bird whistle)

And Mrs Mactavish mixed. (‘Mix’ the spoon in the bowl.)

‘Oh dear!’ said the fairies, ‘it is so noisy!’

‘It’s not really working,’ said Mrs Mactavish with another sigh. ‘At home the mouse in the corner always squeaks while I am baking. I need that wee mouse.’

So the fairies flew away and fetched the wee mouse from the corner of her kitchen.

The mouse squeaked. (Squeeze the mouse squeaker)

The budgie sang. (Blow the bird whistle)

And Mrs Mactavish mixed. (‘Mix’ the spoon in the bowl)

‘Oh dear!’ said the fairies, ‘it is so noisy!’

‘It’s not really working,’ said the old woman with another sigh. ‘At home I always listen to my favourite cow mooing outside the window while I am baking. I need my favourite cow.’

So the fairies flew away and fetched her favourite cow.

The cow mooed. (Turn cow noise-maker over)

The mouse squeaked. (Squeeze the mouse squeaker)

The budgie sang. (Blow the bird whistle)

And the old woman mixed. (‘Mix’ the spoon in the bowl)

‘Oh dear!’ said the fairies, ‘it is so noisy!’

‘It’s not really working,’ said Mrs Mactavish with another sigh. ‘I think I need all my cows!’

So the fairies flew away and fetched her whole herd of cows.

The cows mooed. (Turn cow noise-maker over and encourage everyone to ‘moo’!)

The mouse squeaked. (Squeeze the mouse squeaker.)

The budgie sang. (Blow bird whistle)

And the old woman mixed. (‘Mix’ the spoon in the bowl)

The cows mooed. (Turn cow noise-maker over and encourage everyone to ‘moo’!)

The mouse squeaked. (Squeeze the mouse squeaker.)

The budgie sang. (Blow bird whistle)

And the old woman mixed and mixed and mixed. (‘Mix’ the spoon in the bowl)

‘Oh dear,’ said the fairies. ‘Oh dear, oh dear! It is so noisy! It is too noisy! We’re taking you home!’

And they did. They took the old woman and her cows and her mouse and her budgie and her bowl and spoon home.

Now the fairy hill is quiet again.

But every now and then the old woman bakes some cakes and leaves them on the hill for the fairies.

And she lived happily ever after with her budgie and her mouse and her cows.