The Small One
| The Small One | |
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Original one-sheet poster for The Small One
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| Directed by | Don Bluth |
| Produced by | Don Bluth Ron Miller (executive) |
| Story by | Vance Gerry Pete Young |
| Based on | The Small One by Charles Tazewell |
| Starring |
Sean Marshall William Woodson Olan Soule Hal Smith Joe Higgins Gordon Jump |
| Music by | Robert F. Brunner Don Bluth Richard Rich |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
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Release date
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Running time
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26 minutes |
| Language | English |
The Small One is a 1978 American animated featurette produced by Walt Disney Productions and released theatrically by Buena Vista Distribution on December 16, 1978 with a Christmas 1978 re-issue of Pinocchio. The story is based on a children's book of the same name by Charles Tazewell and was an experiment for the new generation of Disney animators including Don Bluth, Richard Rich, Henry Selick, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy.
The story tells of a young boy, outside Nazareth, who must part with his best friend, an old donkey named Small One. He brings it to market, but no one is in need of a "scrawny donkey", except for a tanner.
Outside of the city of Nazareth, a young boy and his father own four donkeys. Three of these donkeys are young and strong. The fourth donkey, Small One, is old and weak, but the boy loves him anyway. Every day, the boy and the donkey play together before they go to work, helping the boy's father to collect wood.
The boy and his father take the donkeys to work one morning, as they always do. Many times, the boy loads Small One with small sticks, since Small One can't carry heavy loads any more. Small One even has trouble carrying stacks of small sticks and the boy helps to carry them for him.
That evening, the boy's father tells the boy that he has to sell Small One. Devastated, but understanding, the boy asks if he can be the one to sell his best friend. The father agrees and tells him that he has to sell him for one piece of silver. That night, the boy comforts Small One and promises to find him a gentle and loving master.
The next morning, the boy takes Small One to the market in Nazareth. Unfortunately, nobody wants an old weak donkey but the tanner, and he only wants to kill Small One to make leather out of his hide. After failing to find another buyer, the boy and his donkey return to the tanner's shop. The boy weeps, and Small One, accepting his fate under the tanner's knife, tenderly consoles the boy.
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