ISBN: 0803717644
Read Oct 2, 2013
No
signs of No, David! here. Nicholas Pipe has some strange trousers, but
that's the only unrealistic element in illustrations that deal with
land-loving mermen, homicidal merwomen, and a daughter who loves the one
man her dad can't stand. Isn't that always the way it goes?
Margaret and her father Marius disagree on Nicholas,
but they're eye to eye on everything else. Nicholas is known to be a
merman by the whole town, but he warns them of high tides and storms,
and so is tolerated - until Margaret falls in love. Unable to bear it,
Marius heads to the king to announce the arrival of a rarity, an oddity,
a strange sea-man. Soldiers fetch the poor merman in chains, but
Nicholas doesn't bother to tell them his limitations - if he doesn't
touch the sea once per day, he's dead.
Margaret alone knows his secret, and she's off to
the rescue with skins of salt-water. She can't quite manage it alone,
but Marius comes to his senses before too late, and makes amends as best
as he's able.
The original courtly love story had a tragic ending
(of course) but here everything works out in the end a la Beauty and the
Beast, although there is no transformation necessary.
Interesting fairy-tale look at the power of love to overcome differences and obstacles.
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