{{Short description|Russian and Ukrainian folktale}} {{Hatnote|For the Grimms' fairy tale about a giant turnip see [[The Turnip (fairy tale)|The Turnip]]}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox short story | name = Repka | author = | image = [[File:The Giant Turnip.jpg|220px]] | caption = Illustration by [[Elisabeth Boehm]], 1887 | title_orig = Репка | country = [[Russian Empire]] | genre = [[Fairy tale]] | published_in = ''[[Russian Fairy Tales|Народные русские сказки]]'' | publication_type = | publisher = | media_type = Print | pub_date = 1863 }}
'''"The Gigantic Turnip"''' or '''"The Enormous Turnip"''' ({{langx|ru|Репка}}, ''{{Transliteration|ru|Repka}}'', {{IPA|ru|ˈrʲepkə|IPA}}, {{Literal translation|small turnip}}; [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index|ATU 2044, ‘Pulling up the turnip']]) is a [[Cumulative tale|cumulative]] [[Russian fairy tale|Russian]] fairy tale, collected in [[Arkhangelsk Governorate]] and published in 1863 by folklore researcher [[Alexander Afanasyev]] in his collection ''[[Russian Fairy Tales]]'' (tale number 89), a collection not strictly Russian, but which included stories from [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]] alongside Russian tales.<ref>{{Cite web|last = Афанасьев|first = А. Н.|title = Репка: Сказка N 89.|work = Фундаментальная электронная библиотека: Русская литература и фольклор|access-date = 29 November 2008|date = 1984|url = http://feb-web.ru/feb/skazki/texts/af0/af1/af1-1074.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Suwyn |first=Barbara |title=The magic egg and other tales from Ukraine |publisher=Libr. Unlimited |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-56308-425-6 |editor-last=Kononenko |editor-first=Natalie |series=World folklore series |location=Englewood, Colo |pages=xxi}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Suwyn |first=Barbara J. |title=The magic egg and other tales from Ukraine |publisher=Libr. Unlimited |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-56308-425-6 |editor-last=Kononenko |editor-first=Natalie O. |series=World folklore series |location=Englewood, Colo |pages=41–43}}</ref> The tale is well-known in Ukraine as adapted by [[Ivan Franko]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Franko, Ivan. Ripka. |url=https://www.ukrlib.com.ua/books/printit.php?tid=3795}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Гукало |first=Юлія |date=13 October 2018 |title=РОЛЬ КАЗОК ІВАНА ФРАНКА У ФОРМУВАННІ НАЦІОНАЛЬНО-КУЛЬТУРНИХ ЦІННОСТЕЙ УЧНІВ ПОЧАТКОВОЇ ШКОЛИ |url=http://mir.dspu.edu.ua/article/view/144327 |journal=Молодь і ринок |volume=9 |issue=164 |doi=10.24919/2308-4634.2018.144327 |issn=2617-0825 |s2cid=187396169|doi-access=free }}</ref>
The story has been rewritten and adapted numerous times in other languages, for example [[Polish language|Polish]] by [[Julian Tuwim]];<ref>{{Cite web|title = Fundacja im. Juliana Tuwima i Ireny Tuwim|url= http://www.tuwim.org/index.php?s=13}}</ref> [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] by [[Ran Bosilek]],<ref>{{Cite web|title = chitanka.info| date=18 August 2008 |url = https://chitanka.info/text/8877-djado-i-rjapa}}</ref> and English by [[Jan Brett]].<ref name=":1" />
== Plot ==
It is a [[chain tale]], in which a grandfather plants a [[turnip]], which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. He asks the grandmother for help, and they together still cannot pull it up. Successively their granddaughter and pets are recruited to help, until they finally pull the turnip up together. The specific ordering and set of people and animals varies. However, in the popular Russian version (based on the 1864 adaptation of [[Konstantin Ushinsky]]) their order is quite fixed, with rhythm and rhyme: it is the grandfather (''dedka''), the grandmother (''babka''), the granddaughter (''vnuchka''), the female-dog (''zhuchka''<ref group="note">Some [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] [[wikisource:ru:Народные русские сказки (Афанасьев)/Репка|versions]] used the word "''suchka''" (female dog), but children's versions often replace that with "''zhuchka''", due to the former potentially having a negative connotation, much like the English word "bitch". {{citation needed|date=November 2023}}</ref>), the female-cat (''koshka'') and finally only with the help of the female-mouse (''myshka'') can the giant turnip (''repka'') be pulled up.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
== Adaptations and retellings ==
Several versions for children have been penned, including by [[Konstantin Ushinsky]] (1864), [[Vladimir Dal]] (1870), and [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy]] (1940).{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
A Hebrew version of the same folktale titled "Eliezer ve-ha-Gezer" ("Eliezer and the Carrot"), in which the identity of the root vegetable is changed to rhyme with the main character's name, has become a well known children's story in Israeli culture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zer-Zion |first1=Shelly |date=2019 |title=Theater for Kindergarten Children in the Yishuv: Toward the Formation of an Eretz-Israeli Childhood |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ima/12/1/article-p70_6.xml |journal=Images |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=70–84 |access-date=9 November 2023}}</ref> It was published by [[Levin Kipnis]] as both a theatrical scene-poem (1930)<ref>{{cite book |last=Kipnis |first=Levin |date=1930 |title= Eliezer ve-ha-Gezer [Eliezer and the carrot] |publisher= Gilyonot 2 |page= 23}}</ref> and children's book (1964).<ref>{{cite book |last=Kipnis |first=Levine |date=1964 |title=Eliezer ve-ha-Gezer |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/63078054 |location=Tel Aviv |publisher= S. Zimzon}}</ref>
It is retold as "The Turnip" by Barbara Suwyn in the World Folklore Series' ''The Magic Egg and Other Tales from Ukraine'' (1997), edited by [[Natalie Kononenko]].<ref name=":0" />
The fairy tale has had multiple treatments in English. One of the unfinished projects of award-winning illustrator [[Ezra Jack Keats]] was a version of "The Giant Turnip"; artwork for the book was published in the 2002 collection ''[[Keats's Neighborhood|Keats's Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury]]''.<ref name="kn">{{Cite book|publisher = Viking|isbn = 978-0-670-03586-1|last = Keats|first = Ezra Jack|title = Keats's neighborhood : an Ezra Jack Keats treasury|location = New York|date = 2002}}</ref>
Children's author, [[Jan Brett]], wrote that the inspiration for her [[English language|English-language]] retelling of ''The Turnip'' was travel in 2011 through Russia, and chose animals as characters in her version.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Turnip |url=https://www.janbrett.com/bookstores/the_turnip_book.htm |access-date=12 June 2023 |website=www.janbrett.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The turnip {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/903873648 |access-date=12 June 2023 |website=www.worldcat.org |language=en}}</ref>
"Rep-repa" is an adaptation of a fairy tale, performed by the cult Serbian mock-folk group [[Rokeri s Moravu]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-MP-3zKteo |title=Rokeri s Moravu – Rep repa – (Official Video 1991) |date=6 May 2015 |last=Jugodisk Beograd |access-date=26 July 2024 |via=YouTube}}</ref> Released in 1991,<ref>{{Cite web |title="Rokeri s Moravu" album of 1991 at Dicogs |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2066552-Rokeri-S-Moravu-Rokeri-S-Moravu}}</ref> the song "Rep repa" deals with the [[assonance]] of the words "rep" ([[Rapping|rap]], a musical genre) and "repa" (turnip), hence it is a form of parody of the [[Hip hop music|hip-hop]] style of the era.
In the Chinese city of [[Tianjin]], near the [[Tianjin Foreign Language University]], there is a statue of children pulling out a giant turnip with a little help from animals. However, the statue lacks the figures of the grandparents.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Children pulling on a giant carrot, Tianjin China - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm3MW8_Children_pulling_on_a_giant_carrot_Tianjin_China |access-date=26 July 2024 |website=www.waymarking.com}}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|Children's literature}} * [[Ukrainian fairy tale]] * [[James and the Giant Peach]] * [[The Little Red Hen]] * [[The Turnip]]
== References == ;Notes {{reflist|group=note}}
;Footnotes {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|The Giant Turnip}} * [https://www.russianamericancompany.com/the-giant-turnip/ The Giant Turnip]. A translation of the Russian fairy tale. * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGw5yTOPTSQ The Enormous Turnip (Retold by Irene Yates)]
{{Russian fairy tales}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giant Turnip}} [[Category:Fairy tales collected by Alexander Afanasyev]] [[Category:Fictional plants]] [[Category:Russian folklore]] [[Category:ATU 2000-2199]] [[Category:Ukrainian fairy tales]]