rcoaxum12's Full Review: Robert D. San Souci - The Talking Eggs: A Folktale...
“The Talking Eggs” is a very lovable yet surreal tale about an innocent little girl named Blanche who overcomes greed and cruelty by helping an elderly woman who may not be who she seems in Robert San Souci’s version of this famous Creole tale.
SUMMARY
“The Talking Eggs” is the story about a good-natured little girl named Blanche who lives with her mother and her older sister Rose. Blanche’s mother loves Rose better than Blanche because Rose and Blanche’s mother are both extremely alike each other. While Blanche spends her time doing the all the housework around the house, her mother and Rose are busy lounging around on the porch and talking about foolish things.
One day, Blanche’s mother and her older sister Rose sent Blanche out to get some water from the well. There, Blanche meets an old woman who asks Blanche if she could get some water from the well for her. Blanche does as the old woman said and gives the old woman some water from the well. The old woman thanks Blanche and tells her that God will bless her for her kindness. When Blanche gets home, however, both her mother and her sister get extremely angry with Blanche for taking a long time to get the water from the well and they both start to beat Blanche severely. Blanche was so upset about the whole incident that she ran away to the woods and there she meets the old woman again. The old woman asks Blanche why she is crying and Blanche tells the old woman that her mother and Rose blamed her for something that was not her fault and that they started to beat her up. The old woman calms Blanche and tells her to come to her house for the day, but warns Blanche not to laugh at anything she approaches at the old woman’s house.
When both Blanche and the old woman approached a shabby shack in the forest, Blanche spots many strange animals around the shack, such as, a two-headed cow with corkscrew horns and chickens of a different color that have two or more legs on their bodies. Of course, Blanche did not laugh at the creatures, even though they were extremely funny looking. When Blanche enters the old woman’s home, the old woman tells Blanche to make a fire in the fireplace for supper. While Blanche is tending the fire, the old woman:
TAKES OFF HER HEAD!!!!!!!
and starts to comb her hair while her head is resting in her lap. Of course, Blanche was extremely frightened by this somewhat gruesome display, but she does not say anything about it. At last, the old woman puts her head back on in satisfaction and tells Blanche to put in an old beef bone in the pot. Blanche thought that this would be a miserable meal, but then the boiling water in the pot turns into a magnificent stew as she puts the bone in the water. Next, the old woman tells Blanche to grind up a grain of rice on the mortar and as Blanche grinds up the single grain of rice; the mortar was overflowing with rice. After they have a satisfying supper, the old woman leads Blanche out of the porch to witness dozens of rabbits dancing in the moonlight and both the old woman and Blanche enjoyed the show.
The next morning, the old woman tells Blanche to get up and get some eggs from her chicken house. She tells Blanche to get the eggs that say:
“TAKE ME!!! TAKE ME!!!”
And to not take the eggs that say:
“DON’T TAKE ME!!!! DON’T TAKE ME!!!!”
The old woman also said that once she gets the eggs, she should throw the eggs over her left shoulder so that they could break on the road she is going to travel on. So, Blanche goes to the chicken house and takes the plain eggs instead of the jeweled eggs because the plain eggs said:
“TAKE ME!!! TAKE ME!!!!”
As Blanche goes on home, she throws the eggs one by one over her shoulder and when the eggs broke; dozens of treasures came pouring out the eggs including gold and silver coins, beautiful dresses and a beautiful carriage led by a magnificent pony. When Blanche makes it back home, both her mother and her older sister Rose were astonished at the fine things that Blanche received and asked her where she got the riches from. Blanche said that she got the riches from an old woman in the forest. Blanche’s mother started to treat her more kindly than before after she found out about the riches. However, when Blanche was fast asleep, her mother grabs Rose and tells her to go to the old woman’s house and get the same treasures that Blanche received so that they would leave Blanche at their house and go to the city themselves.
Rose goes by the same well that Blanche found the old woman and she spots the old woman by the well. Rose asks the old woman about her younger sister getting riches from her and wonders if she could get the same riches as her sister. The old woman invites Rose over to her house and as before, she tells Rose to not laugh at the animals at her house. However, Rose starts making fun of the animals at the house and when the old woman told Rose to cook supper, Rose refused to cook any supper and they ended up not having any supper that night. The next morning, when the old woman takes off her head to comb her hair, Rose grabs her head and threatens the old woman that she will not give her back her head until she shows her the treasures that Blanche got. As before, the old woman tells Rose to get the eggs that said:
“TAKE ME!!! TAKE ME!!!”
And to not get the eggs that said:
“DON’T TAKE ME!!! DON’T TAKE ME!!!”
Rose then leaves the woman’s head on the porch and heads towards the chicken house. When Rose spots the jeweled eggs, she decided to grab the jeweled eggs even though the jeweled eggs said:
“DON’T TAKE ME!!! DON’T TAKE ME!!!”
Once Rose starts walking back home, she starts throwing the jeweled eggs over her right shoulder and guess what comes out of those eggs? You have to read the ending to find out if Rose got as rich as her sister and what has become of good-natured Blanche.
PROS
“The Talking Eggs” is a great book about being obedient and kind towards other people. Blanche displays kindness towards other people when she gave the old woman at the well some water to drink. Blanche also displayed obedience when the old woman told Blanche to pick only the eggs that said:
“TAKE ME!!!! TAKE ME!!!!”
Robert D. San Souci’s retelling of the ancient Creole tale is marvelous as it contains lots of scenes dealing with magic and also some suspense, especially in the end referring to the fate of Rose and her mother. Robert D. San Souci’s language is simple yet soothing as Blanche makes fast friends with the old woman. Jerry Pinkney’s illustrations are truly beautiful and creative. His drawings display realistic looking people and surroundings as he masterfully gives details in the characters facial expressions and provides appropriate colors for the environment surrounding the main characters.
CONS
Parents should know that the scene where the old woman takes off her head may upset young children. Even though this scene is done extremely delicately since the image does not actually show the old woman taking off her head, children might think that anyone can take off their heads and still live through the whole ordeal. However, small children need to understand that the old woman is actually a fictional character and what she does to her head does not necessarily affect the people in reality.
OVERALL
“The Talking Eggs” is one of the most beautiful and surreal stories I have ever read. Robert D. San Souci’s narrative and Jerry Pinkney’s drawings both created a story that is full of magic and laughter that will be a favorite among both kids and adults for many years. This book also beautifully describes the cultures of the Creole people in the olden days. Children who would like to explore the heritages of the Creole people back then would really enjoy reading this book for references.
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