You are familiar, no doubt, with the awkwardly sweet pieces of fiction that are his Father Christmas Letters. They were handwritten and illustrated between 1920 and 1943, and told the many adventures of Father Christmas in the North Pole, alongside his trusted assistant the Polar Bear. It’s hard to pick one, as lots of them […]
I have had the occasion of bringing you some stories, recently, that came from my love for legends and myths, sure, but mostly from my love for the Danish artist and illustrator Kay Nielsen. He was an absolute genius and I started talking about him here. Kay Nielsen isn’t the only artist I love to […]
Well, I already mentioned this tale a couple of times, talking about three-headed trolls, and now’s the time to feature it. These Sunday tales have been entertaining a lot of people and I’m really glad, considering that most of you come to my blog looking for entirely different things. So, let’s get to it. It […]
Well, you didn’t think I would leave you hanging in the snow with Mole and Rat, did you? As usual, I wanted to do just one article and this got out of hand. I won’t definitely be doing all chapters, but – as I said – Mr. Badger is my favorite character. And right now […]
This is my absolute favourite piece and it often gets skipped in antologies and renditions because there’s no Toad in it (which is fine with me, as I’m not overly fond of the character): it’s where we venture with Mole into the perilous Wild Woods to meet my favorite character, Badger (though we actually do […]
The second tale in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows takes up from where we left our two favourite characters: Rat, in his river-house, and Mole who ended up living with him. Illustration by Robert Ingpen Specifically, the story opens with Rat doing one of the things he does best: sitting by the river and […]
Today is January, 3rd and it’s also Sunday. I’ve been bringing you stories each Sunday for a while, now, but today is a special day, so I’ve decided to drift a bit from Norse tradition, as I’m sure you’ve had your fill with triplets of princesses, am I right? Maybe we’ll have a series on […]
In this adventure story, a beggar woman and her son discover a magic Blue Belt. In possession of this talisman, the boy has superhuman strenght, and outsmarts his attackers again and again. In the process, he becomes engaged to the daughter of the King of Arabia. Brave and unrelenting in this fantastical world full of […]
Well, the North Wind is a cool guy, in Norse mythology. He has a crucial role in untangling the lovers’ troubles in East of the Sun and West of the Moon, as we have seen last time I got the chance to write about Norse mythology and about the illustrated book I have desired for […]
Yesterday I found myself writing quite an extensive piece about Kay Nielsen, che extraordinary Danish illustrator who prompted me to buy at last this long-wanted book. It is worth mentioning that, as a fan and amateur scholar of J.R.R. Tolkien in my younger years, the beauty of Nielsen’s work is not the only reason I […]