The Little Old Woman
supporting · human · the maker
Made him out of leftovers in about four minutes, and then went to do the washing-up.
How we meet them
With leftover dough and a small idea, in a house with no children in it.
Personality
Practical, unhurried, and not remotely inclined to make a fuss.
What they want
Not to waste good dough.
How they change
From somebody with spare dough, to somebody chasing her own baking down a lane, to somebody standing on a riverbank deciding to simply make another one.
How they speak
Almost nothing. Her best line is at the very end and it is about baking another one.
How the story treats them
The old man teases her about the oven door, which is the closest the story comes to blaming anybody.
One surprising thing
The story goes out of its way to say there were no children in that house, and then she makes a little man out of spare dough and gives him a face. Nobody ever comments on it.
If they were real today
She would be entirely unsurprised by anything that happened in her own kitchen.
Key moments
Two currants and a strip of peel
She builds a face out of what is in the cupboard, in about four seconds, and puts him in the oven without another thought.
She forgot about the time
She goes to the window and does the washing-up, which is the single most consequential thing anybody does in the whole story.
Better make another one
Standing on a riverbank having lost her creation, out of breath, she gives the calmest possible response.
Who they know
The Gingerbread Manfamily
She made him in four minutes out of leftovers and he left within a second of meeting her.
The Little Old Manfamily
Two people who run as far as the gate together and then hold on to it.
Characters like The Little Old Woman
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