The best part of this book are the beautiful illustrations by John Bauer, a Swedish artist of tremendous talent and vision that was cut short at the young age of 36. The fairy tales are full of trolls and changelings, not the usual German fairy tales of witches and lost children. ( )

In the beginning of the tale Jerker finds out that the queen of the town and her daughter were milking other people's cows to steal their money. Jerker made a plan to stop them by plugging the bung that they were using to milk the cows. When he was in the palace he hid behind some barrels and stops them. At the end he gives back all the money. I liked the book because Jerker's plan succeeded. I liked that when Jerker gave back the money they gave him some too for his deeds. This is a Swedish folk tale. I learned that a bung is a barrel stopper. ( )