Grandpa Andrushka is a diligent gardener. In spring, he rushes into the garden with his shovel and rake, and in no time the bed is ready. Gently he puts the seed of a turnip into the soil, carries the water every day and watches the sprout grow. And as the turnip grows, it gets bigger and bigger!
Then the time of harvest has come. But no matter how much Grandpa plucks and pulls at the turnip stalk, it is stuck in the ground. Grandpa calls out to Grandma Marushka: «Come on, help me pull the turnip!» But even with their combined strength, nothing can be done. Then Grandma Marushka calls for grandchild Minka, and Minka whistles for dog Finka. They pull and pull and pull, but the turnip is stuck. The dog now calls for cat Varvarka, and they pull with hands and paws, but to no avail. Now Darka the mouse helps, and when they all pull together ... the turnip finally gives way and tumbles over them all.
The fairy tale of the little turnip that, under the loving care of grandpa, grows to such a size that everyone has to help to pull it out of the ground was written down in the 19th century by the Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko. The Ukrainian artist duo Romana Romanyschyn and Andrij Lessiw have reinterpreted the tradition and designed it as a children's book.

The authors and illustrators

Romana Romanyschyn and Andrij Lessiw were both born in Ukraine in 1984 and studied at the National Academy of Arts in Lviv. After graduating, they founded Studio Agrafka. For over ten years, the pair has been writing, conceiving and designing outstanding books for children and adults. Their award-winning works have already been translated into numerous languages, and some of their non-fiction books are also available in German. With Das Rübchen – Ripka, a narrative work is now available in a bilingual German-Ukrainian edition. Romanyschyn and Lessiw lived in Lviv until the outbreak of the war in February 2022, but have since left the city.