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- - - - - - - - - - T A B L E++T A L K What's in a name? Readers share favorite baby names and their meanings inthe Mothers area of TableTalk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Baby on board Bring in 'da noise, bring in 'da rat killers Kiddie pants or kiddie porn? Lost in the supermarket Why I didn't report my rape BROWSE THE WILD THINGS ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - Mamafesto - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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---------------------[ W I L D T H I N G S ]
BY POLLY SHULMAN | Kilts, bagpipes, freckles, leprechauns, beans on toast, Neolithicmonuments, whiskey, second sight, endless unpronounceable names full ofl's and gh's: Kick your way through the stereotypes of Celtic culture,and you'll find a rich mythological heritage. Few cultures have made agreater contribution to children's literature in the English languagethan those of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Their traditions put apremium on storytelling, offering a warm welcome to the irreverent anduncanny. No wonder children's book authors can't get enough of theirstories. "In Celtic societies, womenwere given fairly equal status with their men. Some became rulers oftribes and even fought in battle," writes Robert Byrd in the afterwordto "Finn MacCoul and his Fearless Wife: A Giant of a Tale from Ireland,"one of a pair of newly published picture booksthat celebrates Ireland's mythological heroines.Byrd draws on several sources, including Yeats, for his story of Oonagh,the wife of the timorous, goofy giant Finn, who outsmarts Cucullin, abig -- and I mean BIG -- bully from Scotland. Finn attracts Cucullin'sattention by building the Giant's Causeway, a stone bridge betweenIreland and Scotland. (Geologists call it a basalt formation, butstorytellers know better.) When Cucullin comes looking for him, Finnruns home to Oonagh. Thinking fast, she hides him in a cradle, thenpasses him off to Cucullin as Finn's own infant. Finn and Oonagh pull thecheese trick, a folktale staple: She challenges the great Scot to crusha stone in his hand; when he can't, she gives Finn a look-alike cheese,which he shatters easily. If Finn's baby son is capable of such feats,thinks Cucullin, what must the father be like? He doesn't stick aroundto find out. Byrd's detailed pen-and-wash drawings -- with plenty of plaid and Kellygreen -- bring out the humor of his story. As Oonagh so usefully observes,Finn really is a big baby; his sheepish, frightened and triumphantexpressions will be abundantly familiar to anyone who's spent timearound a toddler. Tiny cows, pigs and chickens -- and tinierfairies -- scurry around underfoot, rewarding the observant reader. Robert D. San Souci's "Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure" handles asimilarly feminist theme in a more heroic style. It's a classicprince-rescues-the-maiden fairy tale in reverse: here, the maidenrescues the prince. When the son of the King of the East shows up at theheroine's farm in County Donegal and wants to buy provisions for hisship, Margaret talks him into taking her on his voyage ofdiscovery. Along the way, she overcomes a sea serpent, matches wits withan enchantress and rides off to slay a giant who's gotten her beau intohis clutches. Sally Wern Comport's bold pastel drawings emphasize thelurching angles of wind, wave and flame. It's a perfect book for makinglittle girls feel like courageous adventurers. Across the Giant's Causeway in Scotland, they've long known how to turnhistory into a brave romance. Think of Sir Walter Scott or Robert LouisStevenson. Mollie Hunter continues the tradition in "The King's SwiftRider," the most recent of her 20-some novels for children. As thestory opens, 16-year-old Martin Crawford is watching Englishsoldiers hunting a man across the moor with horns and hounds. On animpulse, he lays a false trail for the dogs, dragging the hares he'scaught for his family dinner across the man's track. The rescued manturns out to be Robert the Bruce, 14th century King of Scots, fightingfor his country's independence. Martin joins him as a courier.Eventually his courage and cunning win Martin the job of chief ofespionage. It's an old-fashioned adventure story, full of dangerousescapes, battles won at great odds and unshadowed heroes. Another Scottish tale, Berlie Doherty's "Daughter of the Sea," showsCeltic storytelling at its most mournfully supernatural. Munroe, afisherman, finds a baby in the ocean and brings her home to hischildless wife, Jannet. Unfortunately, as readers slowly realize, littleGioga is a selkie -- one of a race of seals who can take human form bystepping out of their skins. When a tall stranger clad in a long graycloak comes to claim Gioga, Jannet tries everything she can think of tokeep her beloved daughter. She arouses the fury of the ocean and almostdestroys her community in the process. Like Hans Christian Anderson's"Little Mermaid," this beautifully written story of love and loss isalmost too heartbreaking for its intended audience of middle readers. Scotland may be the spot for historical adventure, Ireland for talltales -- but for sustained fantasies, there's nothing like Welsh mythology. Itwon Lloyd Alexander two Newbery honors in the '60s for his "PrydainChronicles"; a decade later, it won Susan Cooper a Newbery as well for her"Dark isRising" sequence. Although they share roots, the two series have verydifferent atmospheres. Alexander draws on the comic yet heroic folktaletradition, setting his books in an imaginary country somewhere betweengeneric fairy-tale territory and pre-Christian Wales. His hero, Taran,holds the lofty title of assistant pig-keeper; his charge is a magicalsow. Princess Eilonwy, Taran's talkative, red-headed beloved, has a dayjob as kitchen maid. Along with assorted bards, dwarfs, warriors,horses and Fair Folk, they do battle with Arawn, the Horned Hunter ofdarkness, as well as other, lesser evils. In "The Black Cauldron," themiddle volume (and my favorite), Taran, Eilonwy and friends must findand destroy Arawn's most horrible tool: a cauldron from which deadbodies emerge alive, enslaved, unbeatable. A battle of wits with a trioof ogresses and a satisfying climax in which a traitor finds redemptionadd interest to what is essentially a light questing series for10-year-olds. Cooper's books, on the other hand, are masterful, tightly pacedsupernatural thrillers. She understands the secret of good fantasy: Inher hands, characters and objects borrowed from myth take on realsymbolic significance. The books have a contemporary setting, 1970sBritain. In each of the four volumes, ordinary children arrive in aWelsh town for holidays, only to find themselves slowly caught up in agrand battle against the forces of evil. Each book turns on a lostobject -- a grail, a harp -- that must be recovered and put to use. Crypticrhymes guide the children in their quests. In "The Grey King," the heromust waken six sleeping warriors with the help of a white dog withsilver eyes. In "Greenwitch," local women toss a figure made of branchesinto the sea for luck in an annual ceremony; this year, they awakenforces beyond their power to control. In "Silver on the Tree," a cozyChristmas celebration complete with holly and mistletoe retreats deeperand deeper into its dark, druidical origins. These gripping novels willmake readers forget their surroundings and read for dear life; they'llemerge trembling and renewed. One of my favorite children's books of all time, Diana Wynne Jones's"Dogsbody," is of the same vintage as Cooper's "The Dark is Rising"sequence. Jones draws on some of the same Celtic mythology as Cooper andAlexander -- the Horned Hunter and his wild-eyed hounds lope through thestory. She also draws on current Irish history, like many other writersfor young adults, who find compelling lessons in tragic bombings. "Dogsbody" begins when Sirius, the dog star, is thrown out of theheavenly council for losing his temper and hurling a Zoi (whatever thatis) at another star. He's given a mortal sentence -- he must go to theplanet where the Zoi landed, take on the body of one of its ordinaryinhabitants and search for the Zoi. If he finds it before he dies, hegets a second chance as a star; otherwise, he'll die with his body. The planet, of course, is Earth. And naturally, being the dog star, heenters not a boy's body, but a puppy's. Kathleen, the young heroine,rescues him from drowning. She knows what it feels like to be helplessand lonely -- her father, an Irish rebel, is in jail, and she's gone tolive with her singularly unloving cousins. A deep, romantic love growsbetween dog and mistress, and they need all the help the Master of theHunt can give them to rescue each other. It's a long way fromleprechauns. But any lover of dogs, magic and stories should be happyto find this book next to the St. Patrick's Day breakfast plate, alongwith (or instead of) the bowl of Irish oats and the green carnation.
FINN MCCOUL AND HIS FEARLESS WIFE: A GIANT OF A TALE FROM IRELAND | BYROBERT BYRD | DUTTON, 34 PAGES BRAVE MARGARET: AN IRISH ADVENTURE | BY ROBERT D. SAN SOUCI | ILLUSTRATEDBY SALLY WERN COMPORT | SIMON & SCHUSTER, 36 PAGES THE KING'S SWIFT RIDER: A NOVEL ON ROBERT THE BRUCE | BY MOLLIE HUNTER | HARPERCOLLINS, 241 PAGES DAUGHTER OF THE SEA | BY BERLIE DOHERTY | ILLUSTRATED BY SIAN BAILEY | DKINK, 115 PAGES THE PRYDAIN CHRONICLES: THE BLACK CAULDRON | BY LLOYD ALEXANDER | ORIGINALLYPUBLISHED IN 1965, 229 PAGES | A REPRINT EDITION OF ALL FIVE BOOKS IN THESERIES, INCLUDING THE BOOK OF THREE, THE CASTLE OF LLYR, TARAN WANDERER, ANTHE HIGH KING, IS FORTHCOMING FROM HENRY HOLT & COMPANY IN MAY THE DARK IS RISING SEQUENCE BY SUSAN COOPER: | THE DARK IS RISING, 1973;GREENWITCH, 1974, 131 PAGES | THE GREY KING, 1975, 165 PAGES | OVER SEA, UNDERSTONE, 1977, 256 PAGES | SILVER ON THE TREE, 1977, 274 PAGES | ALL FIVE BOOKS INTHE SERIES WERE LAST REPRINTED AS A BOXED SET BY ALADDIN PAPERBACKS, 1993 DOGSBODY | BY DIANA WYNNE JONES | GREENWILLOW, 1975, REPRINTED 1990, 242 PAGES SALON | March 17, 1999 |
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