The last of my current batch of "Clever Princess"- type stories, Brave Margaret is yet another one based on old folktales.
Margaret is a "red woman" with fiery hair, milky skin, cheeks that glow like embers, and eyes blue like hot fire. She works on her farm until the day a young king comes by looking for kine to supply his ship full of adventurers.
Adventurers, you say? Margaret gladly grants the cows, but only if she can come with. Despite initial protestations, King Simon agrees, and she works as hard and as long as the sailors and adventurers do.
Until the sea serpent attacks. After that, the duo is separated, and Margaret ends up in a hovel with a weird old crone who's a bit tiched in the head. There's a sword and ring hanging over the fire, waiting for a champion to take them up and defeat a great evil.
We all know how this is going to go, right? But, before that, we get to see Simon taught a hard lesson (and perhaps an unfair one) and Margaret learns that she doesn't have to sit on her ass and wait for someone else to be the hero.
Stunning illustrations - all deceptively loose and "primitive" in places, but full of details and strength in colors and lines. The story flows neatly and straightforwardly, which is a blessing to old Irish folktales which can often wander and get lost in side alleys. The episodes aren't always explained (why did the sea serpent want Margaret?) (why didn't the not-really-an-old-crone just get off her ass and kick the evil's butt herself?) but they're thrilling adventures and reasons aren't a strong point in fairy tales anyway.
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