What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lord Fish
An idle but kind-hearted boy, John Cobbler undertakes a perilous quest to release a beautiful fish-girl from her cruel enchantment, in this magical, classic fairy tale.
- GenresChildrens
128 pages, Hardcover
Published October 6, 1997
31 people want to read
About the author
Walter de la Mare
524 books173 followersWalter John de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fiction, including "Seaton's Aunt" and "All Hallows". In 1921, his novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, and his post-war Collected Stories for Children won the 1947 Carnegie Medal for British children's books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 5, 2016
Cute, quick read. The writing style was kind of distancing between the reader and the action happening in the story I felt. I didn't quite understand why because John saved the fish lady that she married him afterwards. I guess gratitude is as good a reason as any to get married. It just felt a little rushed. Nice pictures, but I would have liked some more. They helped set the gentle tone of the story. A few bits that might be kind of scary or brutal to a younger reader, but nothing overly horrible or graphic. 3.5 stars, rounded down because it felt kind of rushed.
March 16, 2017
...also on Open Library to borrow...
Benson's art is a good fit for the story. I kinda feel that the young man should have married the girl that actually saved his life, but it honors the traditional fairy tale theme of rescuing the fair bewitched maiden. Some funny bits, some scary bits. Not hard to read, given that's it's old. Short for young fantasy readers, long for little fairy tale listeners.
I will continue to read poetry and stories by the wonderful de la Mare.
Benson's art is a good fit for the story. I kinda feel that the young man should have married the girl that actually saved his life, but it honors the traditional fairy tale theme of rescuing the fair bewitched maiden. Some funny bits, some scary bits. Not hard to read, given that's it's old. Short for young fantasy readers, long for little fairy tale listeners.
I will continue to read poetry and stories by the wonderful de la Mare.
September 8, 2020
Rex Whistler's lively pen and ink drawings (which pay homage to that French master of romantic Italian ruins, Hubert Robert) cannot make up for the lurking horrors within this book of short stories.
De la Mare, when he's on his game, writes excellent fables and fairy tales, but this collection contains two that fall into the "oh, shit!" category: in one, an African monkey becomes "almost" human when he is sold to an English sailor and then on to a theatrical impresario; and in another, a young black servant, Sambo, dips himself in whitewash and for the rest of his life, passes as white. Oh, shit indeed.
De la Mare, when he's on his game, writes excellent fables and fairy tales, but this collection contains two that fall into the "oh, shit!" category: in one, an African monkey becomes "almost" human when he is sold to an English sailor and then on to a theatrical impresario; and in another, a young black servant, Sambo, dips himself in whitewash and for the rest of his life, passes as white. Oh, shit indeed.
October 13, 2016
Children's book. Fisherman, mermaid, really pretty illustrations.
March 16, 2021
I read the full collection of short stories as opposed to just The Lord Fish. The title story and indeed, the further 4 were great and de la Mare shows a great imagination and descriptive prowess.
However, when coming to the 2 final stories, his inbuilt racism appears. The first I could live with. It was actually a sweet story of an African monkey brought to Britain and (after being kidnapped) was taught to speak and perform on the music hall stage, before being reunited by his beloved owner and returned to Africa. However, you couldn't help but notice the barely hidden prejudice, with the intelligence the author offered to the monkey. I probably would have enjoyed it more and wouldn't have looked that deeply into it if it hadn't been for the final story. The final story I found very offensive. Initially as the black title character was called Sambo, looking at the authors age and period he was writing he would have known the context of this name, but then the very nature of the character wanting and being bullied into being white and ultimately being guilt tripped into painting himself white and remaining that way for the rest of his life and found to be pleasant because of this.
It ruined the book in its entirety for me. All I can say is that had it been the second story, I would never have completed the book. I nearly gave it a 3, but just ultimately felt frustrated at its ending, so 2. Not sure I'll be reading anymore de la Mare, even though he writes well.
However, when coming to the 2 final stories, his inbuilt racism appears. The first I could live with. It was actually a sweet story of an African monkey brought to Britain and (after being kidnapped) was taught to speak and perform on the music hall stage, before being reunited by his beloved owner and returned to Africa. However, you couldn't help but notice the barely hidden prejudice, with the intelligence the author offered to the monkey. I probably would have enjoyed it more and wouldn't have looked that deeply into it if it hadn't been for the final story. The final story I found very offensive. Initially as the black title character was called Sambo, looking at the authors age and period he was writing he would have known the context of this name, but then the very nature of the character wanting and being bullied into being white and ultimately being guilt tripped into painting himself white and remaining that way for the rest of his life and found to be pleasant because of this.
It ruined the book in its entirety for me. All I can say is that had it been the second story, I would never have completed the book. I nearly gave it a 3, but just ultimately felt frustrated at its ending, so 2. Not sure I'll be reading anymore de la Mare, even though he writes well.
July 19, 2025
An eclectic mix of stories. One rather suspects that if they had been written by a nobody they never would have succeeded in being published, but the authorship probably made them seem marketable. That's not to say they are bad, but neither is there anything particularly outstanding about any of them either. They're all engaging and charming in their way, but I'm not sure that I would hanker to read any of them again. The Old Lion is perhaps my favourite, and perhaps that is chiefly because it reminds me so much of a Doctor Dolittle story, or P.L. Travers' My Friend Monkey. If I'd grown up with these stories from childhood perhaps I would feel more warmly towards them. They have a bedtime story feel about them, and yet they are all too long to be told at one sitting. Only time will tell whether I venture to read it again. I enjoyed it, but there will probably always be other books I would rather revisit first before coming back to this one. Sambo and the Snow Mountains is a rather interesting story with its anti-racist moral - or the message that black people should be proud of their skin, that it is not what's on the outside that matters but what a person is like inside.
August 18, 2024
¡Que bonito!!
Creo que es la palabra perfecta, es bonito. Es apacible, es fresco y es gracioso. Es un clásico, un cuento además bellamente ilustrado que nos permite conocer a Juan Remendón -que ya es un plus por el nombre, ¿no es genial?- y su irrefrenable instinto, pasión y gusto por pescar, por los peces, por tumbarse en el pasto y sentir el campo.
Empieza con una historia más tranquila y vamos viendo el devenir de sus días hasta que decide adentrarse en un lugar misterioso en busca de una pesca mejor, y aquí comienzan a suceder algunas cosas mágicas, fantásticas...
El final por poner un pero, me ha resultado un poco rápido, como arrebatado. Pero en general me ha gustado mucho. Destaco la presencia de las descripciones sencillas y frescas que me han teletransportado a un verano idílico y fresco en medio de una charca y completamente apacible. Ya solo por esto.. chapó.
Creo que es la palabra perfecta, es bonito. Es apacible, es fresco y es gracioso. Es un clásico, un cuento además bellamente ilustrado que nos permite conocer a Juan Remendón -que ya es un plus por el nombre, ¿no es genial?- y su irrefrenable instinto, pasión y gusto por pescar, por los peces, por tumbarse en el pasto y sentir el campo.
Empieza con una historia más tranquila y vamos viendo el devenir de sus días hasta que decide adentrarse en un lugar misterioso en busca de una pesca mejor, y aquí comienzan a suceder algunas cosas mágicas, fantásticas...
El final por poner un pero, me ha resultado un poco rápido, como arrebatado. Pero en general me ha gustado mucho. Destaco la presencia de las descripciones sencillas y frescas que me han teletransportado a un verano idílico y fresco en medio de una charca y completamente apacible. Ya solo por esto.. chapó.
February 26, 2022
A delightful little tale of fishing, sacrifice, and transformation.
November 22, 2024
I was given this as a gift for my 12th birthday and every year I read it. It is so nostalgic for me,one of my most treasured belongings.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews