The Golden Blackbird Story Book: A Treasury of Sunshine Stories for Children

Abstract

Here is a lovely little 95 page book with a pasted-on picture on its blue cloth cover. There are many fables late in the book. The Monkey and the Crocodile (64) turns around not the heart but the skin of the monkey, which has allegedly been left back at home. I find this story harder to believe than the traditional version. This story is followed by six fables. The Wise Tortoise (71) is TT but with an excellent interchange that leads to the tortoise's open mouth and subsequent death. Someone on the ground asks who was wise enough to think of the trick of riding on a stick carried by two ducks. The proud tortoise cannot resist answering. There is a good illustration for TT on 73. It may have been used elsewhere. New to me is Why the Dog Is an Enemy of the Cat (81). The stories after the announced fables include The Lion and the Mosquitoes (91), also new to me. The lion refuses to give up his claim to drink from the well in which the mosquitoes have lived all their lives. The lion jumps into the well to attack them. TMCM is presented as a drama (93). The verso of the title-page mentions another copyright in 1917.