Woodland Dwarfs

The Woodland Dwarfs^[1] are characters from the 1932 Silly Symphony short Babes in the Woods.

Background

Physical appearances

The dwarfs consist of several elderly^[2] dwarfs each having a humanoid appearance and a merry personality. Each dwarf has an identical appearance wearing red outfits, black belts, and brown shoes, as well as having white thick beards resembling gnomes.

Appearances

Babes in the Woods

The dwarfs are first seen working together in a village happily living together such as holding beer mugs, playing checkers, and many other hobbies while Hansel and Gretel watch nearby. As they arrive, the dwarfs greet them and dance together as the form of a celebration while more dwarfs blow on brown jugs as they continue to laugh. However, this was disrupted when a witch arrives, causing the surviving dwarfs to retreat but not before the witch tricks Hansel and Gretel into her house full of sweets, leading it to be a trap where they are held as hostages, alongside several other children who were cursed and turned into lizards, spiders, rats, and bats.

With Hansel and Gretel held hostage, the Witch leaves and chases after a dwarf outside the house. This leads the other dwarfs to fight back firing arrows at her and chase her across the woods. As the Witch attempts to escape, more dwarfs riding on geese fire arrows and drop pumpkins at her from above while Hansel and Gretel purify the children by restoring them back to their normal forms. Later, more dwarfs attack the Witch by hurling pies at her and lassoing her broomstick, while the children bring in the Witch's own cauldron so she could fall and get a taste of her own medicine, causing her to become petrified and turned into stone. All of a sudden, Hansel, Gretel, the children, and the dwarfs all celebrate their victory with the Witch defeated.

Trivia

• The song that plays when the dwarfs blow on their jugs when they first encounter Hansel and Gretel is "Little Brown Jug", an 1869 folk song.

References