|
|
Folly in Fairyland: Tales inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland
By Carolyn Wells
New edition, 2016. Illustrations by Wallace Morgan. Portlaoise: Evertype. ISBN 978-1-78201-148-4 (paperback), price: €12.95, £10.95, $15.95. Click on the book cover on the right to order this book from Amazon.co.uk! Or if you are in North America, order the book from Amazon.com!
|
Folly, whose real name is Florinda, travels to Fairyland to discover how the fairies live there, what their houses are like, and how they amuse themselves. There, travelling with her guide Puss in Boots, she meets Aladdin, Cinderella, and the Queen of Hearts in their castles, as well as the Three Bears in their woodland home, and the Old Woman who lived in a Shoe. Folly encounters Scheherezade and the Popular Popinjays, and pays an interesting visit to Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, where she experiences the strange sensation of wandering through a palace where everybody was asleep. And what happened there-well, it was just what one might expect! Carolyn Wells was known for her poetry, humour, and children's books, and Folly in Fairyland, one of her earlier works, is a splendid example of her crisp and original story-telling, the tale enhanced by her rhythmical, jingly rhymes. |
|
|
|
|
Folly stared in amazement as they spread out a real, regular Fairy costume. Airy, spangled skirts, shiny, sparkling wings, a gold crown and a long gilt wand.
|
|
|
“Are these for me?” she asked in delight.
|
|
|
|
“Yes. Can you dress yourself if we help with the buttons?”
|
|
|
|
“Oh, yes,” and Folly’s little red plaid frock was soon discarded and she was arrayed in the new garments.
|
|
|
|
“Now you are a beautiful fairy,” said the Babes; “now we’ll go.”
|
|
|
|
Folly felt herself going—right through the ceiling. She went up and up, through mama’s room, through her ceiling, through the attic, through the roof, and then she floated along through the air above the tops of the tallest trees. The twins were at her side, followed by their robins.
|
|
|
|
“This is Fairyland,” they said suddenly, and they all floated down to the ground and stood at the entrance of a thick, dark wood.
|
|
|
|
|