Another hard to find children's book

This is a book that I used to read as a kid, which would have been the late 70s / early 80s. I remember the artwork was watercolor, and the characters wore robes and pill shaped hats (the Elbonians from the Dilbert cartoon strip kind of remind me of them; I don't know why, but I feel it was a Russian fable).

The story goes something like this. 99 witches plague a small town. They live in the mountains nearby. Every new moon, if there is no rain, the witches come out of the mountains and turn the milk sour and upset the apple carts, etc. One day a wise man visits the town and hears of their troubles. He asks the villagers for an outfit like the witches wear sealed in a clay pot. The next time there is a new moon and it rains, the wise man goes up to the mouth of the cave, unseals the pot, changes into the dry clothes, and enters the cave, pretending to be one of the witches. The witches, seeing his dry clothes ask him how he survived the rain. "I danced between the raindrops" the wise man replies, and offers to show the other witches how. He starts dancing, and they all start imitating him, and he leads them outside into the rain, where they promptly dissolve, Wizard of Oz style.

Thanks for reading. Any advice is appreciated.

 

I'm afraid I don't know that one ... but I hope somebody does, because it sounds like fun

 

Sounds so interesting. I hope someone knows the name of this tale. Now, I am looking forward to reading it too

 

good one but you want more variety of kids book they see book store that contain amazing books for kids

 

"25 stories for young children"