THE LITTLE WEE TYKE: An English Folktale

A poor ragged lassie brings the little wee tyke home, but her family doesn't think they can keep a dog when everything is going wrong. The mother announces that the well is bewitched, the farmer (father) says the gate is bewitched, the son frets that the cow is bewitched and won't give milk, and the little boy has a similar report from the henhouse. But to each one the little wee tyke answers ""Leave me alone to deal with this""--and he does, finally routing the witch herself when she comes by with more mischief. There's no hint of why the witch has it in for the family or how the little dog came by his powers--nor, aside from the obvious underdog appeal, does Sewall establish any basis for taking the tyke's or the ragged lassie's part. What she gives us instead is the mere skin and bones of a story, without the charms or undertones that make a successful simple folktale more than it is.