Product Description

When Dan and Una stage a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in a fairy ring, they are astonished by the appearance of Puck in person. He explains that he is the last of the People of the Hills, who started as gods before descending into this world. Puck leads the two children in a series of extraordinary historical adventures in which they meet, Romans and Crusaders, Saxons and Vikings. Kipling's charming songs and verses, including the famous Smuggler's Song are placed between each thrilling story. The book is beautifully illustrated by H.R. Millar.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132822 in Books
• Published on: 1994-07-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Pure magic
I still read this book at the age of fifty-four with as much delight as when I was given it aged about 9 or 10 by my dancing teacher. Puck is not the gossamer-winged soppy type of fairy (in fact, he reprimands Dan & Una roundly for using the word!) He is 'the oldest "Old Thing" left in Britain, and by means of Oak, Ash & Thorn he transports the children to meet various characters who, like Puck, have left their mark on the country.
It must be the most painless way ever to learn history and enjoy tales told as only a master can tell them.
Buy the book - in fact, buy two copies, one for the ten-year-old & one for yourself!

Face to face with English gods, ghosts and history
Kipling's prose has a very special quality - quintissentially English, proud and very robust.

I asked a scholar of English and a Buddhist meditation teacher to recommend a good book for me and she thought briefly before mentioning this.

The poems in it are sometimes dated - the one about queen and country but this is a warm and pleasant read containing many important and esoteric aspects that few care to appreciate.

Ideal to communicate something about being a whole human being and this earthy realm with some of its hidden and ancient forces.

Wonderful style.
The book is a slightly strange collection of tales linked interestingly by a common theme. It deals with two children and their education in England's history and, for want of a better word, her soul. Kipling does this sort of thing perfectly. His love for his subject seems to be visible on each page as he creates wonderful scenes and places. The thing is that it's very hard to tell how much he knows. Here a pastoral and infinitely peaceful country is shown to be built from struggle and war, indeed even the war is shown as an almost friendly affair. One has to wonder what he actually believed, whether the whole thing is a joke and who it might be on. The book is fascinating from one side and immensly peaceful from the other. Kipling's style is almost perfect as always and this is a book with much to offer.