The Castle, the Dragon, and the Very Unusual Queen

Rumer Godden's The Dragon of Og

Rumer Godden (1907 - 1998) was a prolific British writer of both adult and children's books with a career spanning nearly sixty years. The bulk of her childhood was spent in India, in a huge mansion on the riverbank in the town of Narayangunj, now Bangladesh.  Several of her adult books were made into films, the most notable being Black Narcissus (1938).

Rumer Godden Literary Trust website

Pauline Baynes (1922 - 2008), the British illustrator of The Dragon of Og, also grew up in India, where her father was in the Indian Civil Service.  She began illustrating children's books in 1948, and is best known for her work with Tolkien, the Narnia books of C.S. Lewis, and her 600 illustrations for Grant Uden's A Dictionary of Chivalry (1968), for which she won the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Pauline Baynes website

Book #4:  The Dragon of Og (1981) by Rumer Godden, ill. by Pauline Baynes.  60 pages.

This delightful little book is based on, but not a retelling of, an old legend of Tundergarth and Corrie in Scotland.

Angus Og is a Scottish chieftain with a small estate - a demesne - just over the border from England in the Scottish lowlands.  The last Lord of Tundergarth had died without heir.  As a result, his nephew from the far North, Angus Og, inherited the castle and lands.  After battling other chieftains for his inheritance, the bellicose Angus Og moved in, along with his new young wife, Matilda.

For hundreds of years, the people of Tundergarth had lived at peace with the solitary dragon that lived in the pool of the Waters of Milk.  A fat bullock every few weeks was all the dragon required, and the people and rulers were more than happy to concede.  Matilda also thought this fair.  The queen, who had instituted a series of improvements to the castle and the people, had befriended the lonely dragon, and visited him frequently.

But Angus Og was a greedy and ambitious man, and not given to listening to the advice of others.  Angus Og decreed that the dragon should not have a single one of his bullocks, and that was when the trouble began.  Angus Og's actions cause the dragon to starve, making the dragon so angry that for the first time in his life, he shoots flame from his nostrils.  Eventually, despite the entreaties of his advisors and the pleas of Matilda, Angus Og hires a knight to kill the dragon.  The knight does so, but then Angus Og refuses to pay him the promised fee.  The knight retaliates by reuniting the dragon's severed head to his body, bringing the dragon back to life.  Angus Og still refuses to allow the dragon any of his bullocks -  the man is the epitome of a slow study - but after a few clever actions by the queen, sees the error of his ways and capitulates to a happily ever after ending.

Godden and Baynes both applied a great deal of research to this book, but never to the detraction of the story. The Scottish mythology of dragons is in full display, and life in medieval times is accurately portrayed, from the wooden castle to the cotter's children. Scottish terms abound, their definitions seamlessly woven into the tale being told.  Baynes intricate illustrations, both color and black-and-white, support the text perfectly.  A wonderful read and read-aloud.

The Dragon of Og cover art at Amazon

Question #4:

A young girl lives with her widowed mother in a small town.  The mother takes in sewing to make a living.  The girl wins a pumpkin and the mother bakes some pies with it.  A prize is involved.  Maybe 1960s?

Anyone recognize this one?

It's A Golden Coach for Callie Rose by Martha Gwinn Kiser, illustrated by Gloria Gaulke, originally published in 1964.

Bill Brittain and the Coven Tree series

Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders

Last week's lost story is still unidentified, but many thanks to Jinx, another children's librarian, for the mention of The Man Who Didn't Wash his Dishes by Phyllis Krasilovsky.  The author passed away in 2014 at the age of 87.  Dishes was illustrated by Barbara Cooney.  Krasilovsky worked with a number of illustrators, including Peter Spier on her most popular book, The Cow Who Fell into The Canal.

The Man Who Didn't Wash His Dishes image @Amazon

I will always try to provide links to a book's cover art in my posts. I don't upload the images myself because I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to copyrights.  

Children's Book #2:  Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders by Bill Brittain.  Illustrator Andrew Glass. 179 pages.

Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders, published in 1987, was the third in the four book Coven Tree series, set in the fictional New England village of Coven Tree in the not so distant past.  Brittain was a prolific author of both children's and adult literature. The second book of the Coven Tree series, The Wish Giver: three tales of Coven Tree published in 1983, was a Newbery Honor book.

Dr. Dredd's is a familiar plot.  A stranger comes to town bearing gifts, but the gifts come at a very high price.  Think The Pied Piper of Hamelin, or, to be more contemporary, Stephen King's adult novel Needful Things.  In the case of Coven Tree, the stranger is the tall, gaunt, Dr. Dredd, and in his wagon of wonders lie the seeds to the town's self-destruction.

As narrated by the town's lone shopkeeper, Stewart Meade, known as Stew Meat, it was a sorry day when Dr. Dredd rolled into Coven Tree, a town named after a huge oak tree- the Coven Tree - where in days gone by witches would gather to perform their mystic rites.  Only one witch remains, Old Magda, by her own reckoning some three hundred years old and possessing only a hint of her former abilities.  The town and surrounding farms are suffering from a severe drought, and rain is on everyone's mind.  Enter Dr. Dredd, who, after offering the town a free preview of his wares, including the wrestler Antaeus and the young boy Bufu, the Rainmaker.  

Dr. Dredd strikes a deal with the mayor and other town leaders.  Bufu will provide the needed rain, and in return, Dr. Dredd will receive a small recompense, but not in the form of money.  The mayor agrees to the deal despite Dr. Dredd's evasion on the nature of his payment.

But Bufu, who is really a runaway named Calvin Huckabee taken captive by Dredd, knows only too well the nature of Dredd's payment. He escapes from Dredd, and is taken in and hidden by young Ellen McCabe and her mother.  Dredd, claims Calvin, is in league with the Devil himself, and he will destroy the town of Coven Tree the same way he's destroyed others.  He does so by infecting the population with overwhelming greed.  Instead of thinking about their town and neighbors, their only thought will be  I…Want…More.  Bickering and fighting will follow, and the town will self-destruct.

But Dredd can't do any of this until Calvin delivers the rain, and the townspeople, after a few setbacks, protect Calvin from Dredd's wrath.  They are the first town to do so, and by doing so, they destroy Dredd, who is reduced to ash, along with his wagon of wonders. 

The book pulls heavily from the New England traditions of witchcraft and the townspeople's accents and actions reflect the different personalities of the isolated rural village.  Antaeus is taken straight from Greek mythology, and his fight with Sven the village blacksmith parallels Antaeus' fight with Hercules.  Most of the items in the wagon are also from legend and myth, and it's interesting to see how many younger readers might recognize. Probably more than a few, thanks to Rowling and Riordan.

Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders @Amazon

Question #2:  

A young boy loses his sight in an accident with a fire cracker.  He has a hard time adjusting until he gets a seeing-eye dog.  His name might be Johnny, and he has a little sister.  Mid-sixties, maybe.

Anyone recognize this one?

The answer is Follow My Leader by James Garfield, published 1957, identified by the fantastic school librarians on ISLMANET-I