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Once On A Time by A. A. Milne
| Once On A Time
By A. A. Milne Release Date:
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War is declared after the King of Barodia interrupts the King of Euralia’s breakfast by walking over the place in his new seven-league boots, and the King of Euralia retaliates by shooting an arrow shot that damages the other king’s prized mustache. To comfort the King of Barodia in this time of need are his daughter, Hyacinth, and the Countess Belvane, who would like very much to become the new queen to the lonely king. All the men are soon off to war, leaving Princess Hyacinth to rule the kingdom in the care of the Countess Belvane. When Prince Udo is summoned to help Princess Hyacinth with the overbearing Countess, he suddenly finds himself turned into a mixture of a rabbit, lion, and lamb, after the Countess wishes that something humorous should happen to him on his journey. Once his humorous appearance is returned to normal, Hyacinth finds him utterly useless as he too falls for the Countess’s charms.
Back on the war front, the two kings meet in a duel to finish the war, but as they are both using equally powerful magic swords, the duel comes to a standstill. That night, the King of Euralia sneaks into the enemy camp and cuts off the other king’s prized mustache, thus ending the war when Euralia forfeits, and their king fakes his own death, ashamed to be seen without the mustache that Euralian royality are known for.
In Euralia, Prince Udo’s aid comes to check on him, and finds himself falling in love with the princess instead. Hyacinth and the aid, Coronel, devise a way to trick the Countess into marrying Prince Udo, thus getting her out of the kingdom, but when Hyacinth realizes how upset her father is when he returns home to find the Countess engaged to another, she decides that the Countess isn’t really that bad, and might make a lovely queen. In the end, everyone has their Happily Ever After (except for Prince Udon, who goes back to his own kingdom, brideless).
A charming tale from the author of Winnie-the-Pooh , this is certainly one of the early books in the “rewritten fairytale” genre. The book was written in 1917, and it shows its age to some degree. While Princess Hyacinth is certainly more involved in her fate that the passive women of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, she is still more passive than the heroines we are used to today. The language of the book also feels old, but it was easier to read than other older books (okay, I admit, by older books, I tend to mean anything written before 1985). My edition was printed in 1962, and it seems that the most recent addition was in 1988, so this is definitely one you’ll have to find online or at the used bookstore.
Something that Milne did that I enjoyed was that he focused on many of the little things. He might focus on the side character who shot the arrow at the King of Barodia for a few pages, and then switch to giving us lines of Belvane’s poetry. When Prince Udo is in his humorous new body, they discuss what kind of food might be best for his new digestive system, and Milne acknowledges the fact that Prince Udo is now part animal, and treats him as such. There is a great attention to detail in this book, and I really appreciated that.
The characters in the book are all interesting, and no one is portrayed as really “good” or “evil.” In the end, everyone gets what they deserve, and it ends “Happily Ever After.” According to Milne, he wrote this book for his wife and himself, and it was written with grown-ups in mind. I think it delivers exactly what he intended.
Another great element is the illustrations by Susan Perl. They are cartoons that fit the mood of the book perfectly. Like Coraline , the illustrations are very important to the book.
Action 3 – Action was rather average, there was a bit, with the war and duels going on.
Romance 3 ½ – It was cute and satisfactory by the end. There wasn’t a large amount of build-up, but there was a bit more than in a Grimm’s Fairy Tale. I liked how the pairings ended up.
Characters 4 – The characters were all fun and interesting, caricatures to an extent, yet still people. Even the narration had a definite character about it. As none of the characters were portrayed as “bad,” I was rooting for everyone to have a happy ending.
Overall 4 – This was a fun read, and certainly one of the few older books I would read again in the future. My grandparents used to own a used book mail-order business, and this was one of the many books that they gave me. Unfortunately, it took me this long to read it. I rather wish I’d read it when I was younger.
Extras:
First, you might be interested in reading some of A. A. Milne’s other works. His best known pieces are of course the Winnie-the-Pooh books, a set of characters that are well known to most children who’ve grown up in the last century. Winnie-The-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928) have been adapted many times to screen, and the characters are a large part of the Disney franchise these days. It’s hard to go to a baby shower without seeing something bearing a character from the series. Even the Soviet Union has Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons.
Three books that Milne mentions in his introduction, as he is discussing what is a “children’s book,” are Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, and The Wind in the Willows. All three are books that we might read as children and enjoy, and then read again as adults and take away a whole new meaning.
Some of the most classic fairytales are those of the Brother’s Grimm. They collected folktales around 1807. It’s interesting to read the collection of stories and see how differently many of the tales we thought we knew were originally told, or more specifically, how expanded they have become. Most of their tales last only two or three pages, and many of the fairytales we recognize are a mixture of more than one story. I have a rather nice copy of their tales, and I used to like to read through it before bed, as I could read a few different stories in only twenty pages. As a writer, fairytales are a great source of inspiration and ideas. These tales are classics because they will always resonate with the reader.
10+ Mostly the rating is for the language, because I think it might be hard for a younger reader to follow. It’s not as hard as reading Shakespeare, but sometimes I had to think for a moment exactly what was meant.
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