1.        

       Bibliography

Kimmel, Eric. 1993. Three Sacks of Truth:  A Story from France. Ill. by Robert Rayevsky. New York: Holiday House.  ISBN  082340921X

2.       Plot Summary

A king who is not honest is the worst sort of king, and a greedy, dishonest king is even worse.  This is the sort of king who embodies the tale, Three Sacks of Truth:  A Story from France.  Peaches for free are desired by this king, and he has told an evil lie to obtain them.  Promising his beautiful daughter in exchange for the perfect peach, the misleading king does not expect to encounter Petit Jean and his uncanny wit.   After his brothers fail to deliver the perfect peach, Petit Jean succeeds through following the coaching of his mother to be kind to all, thus obtaining a magical fife from an old woman who sits beside a holy well.  When the king proceeds to attempt to involve 10,000 rabbits in an effort to “tie [his promise] in knots,” Petit Jean employs the enchanted fife to masterfully tame the rabbits and outwit the king's schemes involving his daughter, the queen, and even the king himself.  Therefore, he victoriously "keep[s] [his] wits about [him]," as his mother wisely instructs, and wins his beautiful bride.

3.       Critical Analysis

Illustrator Rayevsky’s painterly depictions of the scenes from Three Sacks of Truth:  A Story from France serve to document the absurdity of the dishonest king and the surprising victory of bright Petit Jean.  His illustrations tend to possess an elongated style, an exaggeration of features and viewpoints that creates the illusion of peering into the past, into historical France, to view the thwarting of a selfish king and the triumphant conclusion of the princess and Petit Jean forging a promising, welcome union.  The complication of the rabbits, 10,000 of them no less, serves as the culmination of the endless, manipulative, whimsical demands of the king upon his subjects.  Yet, Petit Jean, through the use of the fife, brings suppressed order out of the chaos of this king’s irrational rule.  Just as Petit Jean, “Lead[s] the rabbits home like a fifer leading a regiment,” the reader intrinsically knows that the people of this kingdom will welcome clever, witty Petit Jean to lead them into more promising days.  Even the rabbit being cooked in the pot arises from the ashes of death, “pull[s] on its skin,” and lives once again, as will the oppressed and discouraged subjects under the rule of an unjust king.  The illustrations often employ dark, shadowy color schemes, depicting the hopelessness of the people under the rulership of this lying, conniving king.  Petit Jean perseveres each time the king tries to trick him, and he clearly holds all of the power by the end of the story.  After all, he is the only one who knows the indelible contents of the third sack of truth and will forever be able to keep his autonomy amidst the “rule” of the secretly disgraced king. 

4.       Review Excerpt(s)

IRMA BLACK AWARD, 1994 WINNER

From Booklist:  “Kimmel’s lively version of a French folktale has many of the age-old satisfying patterns.”

From Kirkus Reviews:  “Entertaining tale; handsome presentation.”

5.       Connections

Various tales emphasizing the number three could be explored and analyzed, especially cross-culturally, to reveal commonalities of thought and customs (e.g., The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears).

A middle or high school lesson on historical France could include the reading of this tale to creatively illustrate the perennial conflict between the upper and working classes of France.

A cross-cultural study of the symbolism of the rabbit (as well as other animals) could be explored, possibly including discussion and reading of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit (ISBN 0723263922).  Further, a cross-cultural study of the symbolism of the peach (as well as other fruits/foods) could be explored, possibly including discussion and reading of excerpts of the entirety of Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach (ISBN 0140374248).  Students could then write their own original tales that include an animal of symbolic significance as well as a fruit/food of symbolic significance, providing a writer’s note to explain the significance of their choices within their stories.