The Iron Wolf and Other Stories by Richard Adams
I'm sure that most people on hearing the name Richard Adams would think of his first novel, Watership Down, which was published in 1972 and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award in 1973. Adams wrote other novels including Shardik, The Plague Dogs and The Girl on a Swing as well as picture books for children including Tyger Voyage and The Ship's Cat. The Iron Wolf and Other Stories by Richard Adams is neither a novel nor a picture book but a collection of nineteen folk tales from all over the world. They are set in countries as far afield as China and Alaska as well as much closer to home in the Isle of Man and Wales. Some, such as The Nightingale, a tale of why the nightingale sings so beautifully, could be set anywhere. The book is illustrated with full colour plates by Yvonne Gilbert and black and white drawings by Jennifer Campbell. All are exquisite and, I think, help to bring the folk tales to life.
An interesting twist, which I had not encountered before, is that each tale is narrated by someone to a third party. This varies with each story, once it's a mother to her children on a long car journey, in another it's a pub landlord to his customers - perhaps it would be easier to explain if I gave an example. In the tale of The Blind Boy And His Dog the first few paragraphs are set in a restaurant. A mother is trying to distract her child from crawling around under the tables in the restaurant so she asks him to help her by passing the ingredients to her whilst she is cooking in the kitchen. She tells him he needs to behave so that they can attract customers to the family restaurant and make enough money for them all to return to Hong Kong.
She then tells him the tale of Lo-Sun, a blind beggar boy whose life started badly but improved because of his thoughtfulness and kind deeds. As a reader I became wrapped up in Lo-Sun's tale, thinking - what a lovely story and how glad I was that it had a happy ending. Suddenly in the final paragraphs I find myself back in the restaurant again, I'd totally forgotten about the mother and child! It's an unusual concept but I think it works very well and I liked it.
I particularly enjoyed 'The Woodpecker', a folk tale about an old woman who was always poking her nose into other people's business, eavesdropping and generally making mischief between neighbours. One day a neighbour decided to visit a magician on the other side of town to see if he could do something to help. The next day the magician, disguised as a delivery man and carrying a parcel, followed the busybody to her husband's allotment. He asked her if she would mind looking after the parcel for the chap who had the adjoining allotment. Being nosey she asked him what the parcel contained but the delivery man said he didn't know, other than it was marked 'With Care'. The old woman agreed to sign for the parcel as she was desperate to know what was inside. She took the parcel into the shed wondering how she could open it, have a peak inside and reseal it without the intended recipient finding out.
She carefully took off the brown paper cover, memorizing the knots as she went so that she could retie them exactly. Gently she lifted off the lid and - suddenly - thousands and thousands of insects swarmed out of the box! The old woman frantically waved her arms in the air as the insects engulfed her, crawling into her hair and clothing. Hearing someone approaching she shouted for help. When the door opened there stood the magician. He scolded her for opening the box and told her that she must recapture all the insects! Of course she had absolutely no chance of doing this, but, ashamed and embarrassed at being found out, she made frantic, futile, attempts to catch the swarming, crawling creatures. The magician told her that he would help her - by turning her into a woodpecker! And that's exactly what he did - her nose turned into a long strong beak and her green coat and red hat turned into the woodpecker's distinctive plumage. To this day she continues to fly around, poking her beak into trees trying to catch the insects in the hope that, if she succeeds, the magician will turn her back to her former self (and hopefully she will have learnt her lesson!).
If you've ever wondered why cats are afraid of water, why robins have redbreasts or why humans live longer than most animals, this book may provide the answers!
Contributed by Lorna Evans
(Published on 9th Dec 2014 )
