HINNY WINNY BUNCO

An initially charming but ultimately cute and uncohesive folk-like tale about kind young farmer Hinny Winny Bunco, whose mean big brother makes him do all the work on the farm. After a shabby old man gives Hinny Winny Bunco a fiddle as reward for a drink of water, the young farmer is able to meet his brother's increasingly impossible demands by serenading the plants (persuading them to grow fast), the farm animals (to give more milk or eggs or fat), and the local villagers (to help him with his work). Then Hinny Winny Bunco leaves his brother, starts his own farm, and, with his fiddle, wins the woman his brother has also been courting. Winter's cunning drawings help carry the tale to that point; but the story sags as Hinny Winny Bunco, his wife, and their 15 children learn to make music together, and it ends with uncompelling wish fulfillment when the shabby old man turns out to be the king and Hinny Winny Bunco and his family move into the palace to play music full time.