Merry-Go-Round

Abstract

Three fables appear: BC, retold by Jacobs (82); Rabbit's Mistake (88, about the end of the world), also retold by Jacobs; and The Donkey and the Dog, here simply attributed to Aesop (92). The art work for BC, as for much else in the book, seems to me to be Scarry's work. The text makes excellent use of repetition of short sentences. Here and throughout, colored pages alternate with those that add one color to black. The rabbit thinks not that the sky is falling but that the earth is cracking. Here an owl (not a lion) goes back to the spot with the timid rabbit and clarifies the situation. The final fable is unusually gentle. The farmer patted him and said: You are not a lap dog, but you are a good donkey. Do you want me to like you? Then be yourself. There is a one-inch tear on 92.