#607 of 1001 · March 30, 2022

An eerie tale of menace and wrath is contained in The Hobyahs, an old English tale retold by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Alexi Natchev. An orphan girl lives with an old man and an old woman in a little hemp-stalk hut on the edge of the woods along with five dogs named Turpie, Topie, Tippy, Tarry, and Teeny. Over the course of five nights, sinister beasts called the Hobyahs emerge from the forest and begin slinking toward the house. The dogs bark loudly enough to scare the creatures off, but the old man and woman, ignorant of the danger, punish their faithful pets for the disturbance—over the pleas of the girl, they whip the poor animals and abandon them in the woods. Now defenseless, the elderly couple is quickly devoured on the sixth night, but the girl is rescued by the loyal dogs, who gobble up the Hobyahs. San Souci’s dramatic language and Natchev’s eerie art create an atmosphere of ghostly suspense. A note for folklore enthusiasts: The original tale, published by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 volume More English Fairy Tales, contains only one dog, Turpie. This animal suffers a much more grisly fate than those in San Souci’s softened adaptation—to punish him for barking on the five nights, the old man cuts off each of his four legs and then his head. #hemp #hut #forest #woods #dog #dogs #monster #monsters #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks