Soonie and the Dragon, Shirley Rosseau Murphy

Soonie and the Dragon
Shirley Rosseau Murphy
Published 1979
Hardcover "Weekly Reader" book
ISBN: 978-0689307201

Goodwill find!

This is a sweet collection of three tales featuring the intrepid Soonie, orphaned and left all alone at the start with a broken-down cart, and old hound, and an even older mare.  Despite only knowing how to sing and dance and tell stories, she manages to fix and paint the cart in a day, (saving enough time to sing for her supper, of course) and then she's off to adventures!

In the first installment (which I imagine would be what most people remember) Soonie travels to the big city, and tries to sing for her supper, but she's rudely told to stop it, and informed that singing is outlawed, because the Princess of the city was taken and eaten by a dragon.  On to the next city then!  There, she tries dancing, but the reception is similarly chilly for a similar reason.  Onwards again, to a city square where telling tales is verboten; you guessed it - their Princess is gone too.

Thinking about how to avoid being eaten by this apparently talent-seeking dragon, Soonie soon succumbs to curiousity (and the knowledge of the hundreds of gold coins, head of cattle, herds of horses, and acreage of land that comprise the reward) and follows the sounds of singing, dancing, and tale-telling to the dragon's cave, where she rescues the princesses with perfect trickster form.

Rewards acquired, she's onward again to her next adventure.  An ancient crone warns her of the dangers of menfolk to come (and isn't that an allegory in a fairy-tale book for young girls there) and sure enough, the first is an ogre in disguise wishing to eat her, the second a phouka wishing to drown her in the sea, and the third an ancient and cruel Fae king who wishes her to become his bride and loose her immortal soul for eternal life with him.  This one was actually a bit creepy, as the Fae don't play fair, and Soonie is quite obviously out of her depth.  The crone returns, the Fae are vanquished satisfyingly, and Soonie again sets out.

Final adventure has Soonie administering some tough love to a 5-headed griffon and the useless sons of the nearby village alike.  The griffon complains too much, and the sons don't give their parents the respect and help they should.  A mysterious figure with curious changeable animals makes an appearance, and Soonie finds herself a man after her own heart. 

Not bad for a quarter!  :)