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Вълшебната кост
„Вълшебната кост“ е забавна история от английския писател Чарлз Дикенс. Запознайте се с кралското семейство: крал, който ходи всеки ден на работа, кралица, чийто баща е селски лекар, и техните очарователни деветнадесет дечица. Най-голямото - принцеса Алисия - е на седем годинки, а неговата кръстница е добрата фея Синеморка. Алисия получава от кръстницата си вълшебна кост, чиято тайна тя споделя само с най-добрата си приятелка - изисканата херцогиня, която всички мислят за най-обикновена кукла. А каква била тайната, ще разберете в края на приказката.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1867
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688 people want to read
About the author
Charles Dickens
12.6k books31.2k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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June 10, 2024
The Magic Fishbone is an enchanting fairy tale by Charles Dickens. This review is for the 1922 edition, with illustrations by F.D. Bedford.
Charles Dickens loved fairy tales as a child. He loved to read them, and he loved to play with his toy theatre. The tales from the Arabian Nights were a great favourite, and when he was nine he wrote a play called “Misnar, the Sultan of India” based on the “Tales of the Genii”. His father enjoyed theatre and recitation, so the young Charles went to popular plays and took part in family recitations and theatricals. These happy childhood experiences never left him.
As an adult, he performed as a magician, calling himself “The Unparalleled Necromancer, Rhia Rhama Roos”. One of the tricks he did was the “Pudding Wonder” where he borrowed someone’s hat and magically made a pudding in it, slices of which were then distributed to all the children. This was around the time he wrote “A Christmas Carol”, in which the Cratchit family all had a “wonderful pudding”. Charles Dickens’s memories of childhood pervaded all his writing—not only in “David Copperfield”. His childhood nostalgia for fantastical fairytale characters never left him. In his novels he often referred to someone as “the fairy” or “the goblin”.
Nearing the end of his life Charles Dickens still thought back to those early childhood years. In January 1867 he went on a four month tour of Britain. As soon as he returned in May, Charles Dickens’s manager George Dolby suggested that his popularity in the States could make him a fortune. Although his friend John Forster advised against another American tour, Charles Dickens ignored him, and planned a second gruelling tour of the United States. He was now 55, and his health was declining. He travelled all over for six months, reading selections from the perennially popular “A Christmas Carol” and “The Pickwick Papers”: over 400 readings, each lasting 2 hours. The audience loved him; they laughed, and they cried. But he had to use a cane, because his left leg and foot troubled him. It was a freezing cold snowy winter, and Charles Dickens suffered enormously. He had colds, flu and breathing problems, but Charles Dickens never let his audiences down, even though he lost his voice.
Then came another opportunity for this driven man, old and tired before his time, to once more indulge his whimsical dreams.
He loved to talk to the children whom he met, and an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts commissioned Charles Dickens to write some light-hearted children’s pieces. Charles Dickens set to with enthusiasm, writing to his friend John Forster that what he had written was:
“droll, and very child-like, though the joke is a grown-up one besides”. John Forster loved them, calling the four stories:
“the quaintest, wisest, most charming, most comical, in all ways most delightful, things I have ever read.”
They were duly published in “Ticknor and Field”’s children’s monthly, “Our Young Folks”, between January and May 1868, and illustrated by John Gilbert. Later that year he published them in his own magazine,“All Year Round”, in England. Thus four stories by Charles Dickens, entitled “Holiday Romance”, were originally published in the United States before England, although each has been published separately many times since.
The “grown-up joke” was that he did not use his own name for the stories. Tongue firmly in his cheek, he used a pseudonym, “Alice Rainbird” (although he did share the credit with “Alice Rainbird” on the title page). The Magic Fishbone is the second of these stories, and has the subtitle “A Holiday Romance from the Pen of Miss Alice Rainbird, Aged Seven”.
A children’s story written by Charles Dickens is bound to be a treat. When he additionally writes it not only for children, but uses the literary conceit of it being a child’s invention, the result is whimsical, quirky, and utterly charming. In the original edition there is a preamble, with Alice Rainbird talking to her friends:
“Let us throw out thoughts into something educational for the grown-up people, hinting to them how things ought to be. Let us veil our meaning under a mask of romance.”
And this, in a nutshell, is the genius of the story. Charles Dickens is getting away with a fun tale, under the respectable guise of “improvement”. Traditionally class distinctions in Britain had been rigidly observed, and this influenced the children’s literature of the nineteenth century. Fortunately Charles Dickens’s own parents did not care too much about this, and John Dickens had his own collection of adventure stories which his son avidly lapped up. But reading skills were becoming more widespread, and the upper classes realised that they had a vested interest in restricting the selection of children’s literature to their offspring.
As a result, fairy tales were firmly discouraged. Such stories often depicted social mobility from the lower to the middle classes—and even to the aristocracy. “Approved” stories must reinforce class distinctions and depict upper-class people working altruistically to improve the lot of the “deserving” poor. It was important to know one’s place, and the poor should be suitably appreciative of such charity, and always shown as as humble and ennobled by their suffering.
So Charles Dickens cannily wrote an “improving” story—which was also a fairy story—and as another back-up he made the central character a sensible, kind child, the Princess Alicia. Miss Alice Rainbird therefore kept her promise to the adults, to write an improving tale for them, and Mr. Charles Dickens could freely indulge his love of fairy tales! It is a kind of double bluff.
Princess Alicia is the kind-hearted eldest child of “King Watkins the First”, a harassed government clerk. There are 19 children, and her parents “were always having more”. So the King is in constant pecuniary difficulties, reminiscently of Mr. Micawber in “David Copperfield”—or the original for Mr. Micawber, Charles Dickens’s own father, John Dickens. Yes, the king is yet another affectionate portrait of his own feckless father.
The story begins in timeless fashion:
“There was once a King, and he had a Queen; and he was the manliest of his sex, and she was the loveliest of hers. The King was, in his private profession, Under Government. The Queen’s father had been a medical man out of town.”
Princess Alicia takes care of all the Princes and Princesses, and they all take care of the 7 month old baby. One day on his way home from the office, the King stops at Mr. Pickles the fishmonger’s, to buy some salmon. There he meets the Good Fairy Grandmarina. He knows instantly that she is a Fairy, because she knows all about his beautiful daughter Princess Alicia. The Fairy Grandmarina tells the King that Alicia will find there is a fishbone left on her plate after the salmon is eaten. He is to tell her that it is a present from the Fairy Grandmarina, and that she must polish it until it shines like mother-of-pearl.
It is a magic fishbone. If Alicia saves the fishbone until just the right moment, and then makes a wish, her wish will be granted. But she can only use it once, and she must use it at the right time.
Alicia duly saves and polishes the fishbone, and keeps it in her pocket all the time. The next day, “the Royal Momma” faints and falls ill. Princess Alicia tries to bring her round with the smelling salts, and calls for help from the Lord Chamberlain (who is called Peggy). But sadly the Queen stays ill for a very long time, and Princess Alicia is “as busy busy busy, as busy could be”. There are not many servants at the Palace, as the King is short of money. He never seemed to get a pay rise in his office, and was not paid once a week, nor even once a month, but only once a quarter. “Quarter day was so far off that it looked almost as far off and as little as one of the stars”.
So the Princess Alicia now has even more to do, looking after all her siblings and keeping house. But she does have one special friend to tell her secrets to:
“a most particularly confidential friend of hers, who was a Duchess. People did suppose her to be a Doll; but she was really a Duchess, though nobody knew it except the Princess.”
Princess Alicia often thinks about using the magic fishbone, but always decides against it. When the King asks what she has been doing, she says:
“Snipping stitching cutting and contriving, Papa.”
“Where is the magic fish-bone?”
“In my pocket, Papa.”
“I thought you had lost it?”
“O, no, Papa.”
“Or forgotten it?”
“No, indeed, Papa.”
And she shares the secret with the Duchess, who laughs and laughs.
There are all sorts of calamities. The “dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door” frightens one of the young Princes so badly that he puts his hand through a pane of glass, and “bled bled bled”, upon hearing which all the others scream and cry. But Princess Alicia stops the bleeding and makes him a bandage out of some old rags. The King’s cook runs away with “a very tall but very tipsy soldier”, so Princess Alicia steps in to do the cooking. The baby falls under the grate while she is peeling turnips for their soup, the children keep falling down the stairs … But whatever happens, sensible Princess Alicia sorts it out, and keeps everyone happy and lighthearted—without needing to use the precious magic fishbone.
Alicia has the children making “cook’s caps” out of old newspapers and, once they finish eating, she has them all entertaining the baby with “the dance of eighteen cooks”. But her father looks on glumly, and when she asks him what is wrong, he says that he is very poor.
She asks if there is any way of getting more money, but he gloomily says that there is not. Now Princess Alicia wisely says:
“’When we have done our very, very best, papa, and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others.’ This was the very secret connected with the magic fish-bone, which she had found out for herself from the good fairy Grandmarina’s words, and which she had so often whispered to her beautiful and fashionable friend the Duchess.”
It is easy to believe that The Magic Fishbone comes from the imagination of a seven year old girl. Basic facts are missing, and some things are immensely out of proportion (especially the part about having eighteen girls and seventeen boys). This is the source of the humour; the concerns and world view of a little child are not the concerns of an adult. When the Fairy Grandmarina exclaims to the king:
“The reason for this and the reason for that, indeed! You are always wanting the reason. No reason. There! Hoity toity me! I am sick of your grown-up reasons.”
any child will find it irresistible, that even the King can be told off by the Fairy Grandmarina. She even tells him not ask questions, but to “be good” and do as he is told. Alice Rainbird perceptively sees that the Queen organises him, telling him to stop at the fishmonger’s to buy some salmon on his way to work. All the King seems to do is sit and brood, because it is a long time until he receives his salary.
The King continues to be helpless and hopeless all the way through the story. Alicia sorts out all the problems without using the magic fishbone, but the king would doubtless have used it at the first setback. He asks her several times if she has lost it or forgotten about it.
The addition of Alicia’s secret confidante, the Duchess, her doll who only Alicia knows is actually alive, is perfect. The Duchess becomes more and more real, each time Alicia confides in her. This shows the power of imagination in fairy tales. Every time the King looks perplexed about the magic fishbone, Alicia tells her about it and the little doll nods and smiles, which develops into the duchess being able to wink, laugh and toss her hair, and eventually even carry on a conversation.
Adults immediately catch the meaning behind the story: that we can usually solve the problems that face us, and only need to call in special help when we have truly done all we can on our own. Her decision to use the magic fishbone is not a selfish one, and everyone is amply rewarded.
We also recognise this is a retelling of Cinderella, complete with Fairy Godmother, and peacocks instead of white mice. There is a magic talisman, and magic wishes. It is a classic rags-to-riches fairy story of which the middle to upper class Victorians disapproved so much, but Charles Dickens cleverly gets away with it by making the royal family the impoverished ones, in the first place.
It is a treasure!
Charles Dickens loved fairy tales as a child. He loved to read them, and he loved to play with his toy theatre. The tales from the Arabian Nights were a great favourite, and when he was nine he wrote a play called “Misnar, the Sultan of India” based on the “Tales of the Genii”. His father enjoyed theatre and recitation, so the young Charles went to popular plays and took part in family recitations and theatricals. These happy childhood experiences never left him.
As an adult, he performed as a magician, calling himself “The Unparalleled Necromancer, Rhia Rhama Roos”. One of the tricks he did was the “Pudding Wonder” where he borrowed someone’s hat and magically made a pudding in it, slices of which were then distributed to all the children. This was around the time he wrote “A Christmas Carol”, in which the Cratchit family all had a “wonderful pudding”. Charles Dickens’s memories of childhood pervaded all his writing—not only in “David Copperfield”. His childhood nostalgia for fantastical fairytale characters never left him. In his novels he often referred to someone as “the fairy” or “the goblin”.
Nearing the end of his life Charles Dickens still thought back to those early childhood years. In January 1867 he went on a four month tour of Britain. As soon as he returned in May, Charles Dickens’s manager George Dolby suggested that his popularity in the States could make him a fortune. Although his friend John Forster advised against another American tour, Charles Dickens ignored him, and planned a second gruelling tour of the United States. He was now 55, and his health was declining. He travelled all over for six months, reading selections from the perennially popular “A Christmas Carol” and “The Pickwick Papers”: over 400 readings, each lasting 2 hours. The audience loved him; they laughed, and they cried. But he had to use a cane, because his left leg and foot troubled him. It was a freezing cold snowy winter, and Charles Dickens suffered enormously. He had colds, flu and breathing problems, but Charles Dickens never let his audiences down, even though he lost his voice.
Then came another opportunity for this driven man, old and tired before his time, to once more indulge his whimsical dreams.
He loved to talk to the children whom he met, and an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts commissioned Charles Dickens to write some light-hearted children’s pieces. Charles Dickens set to with enthusiasm, writing to his friend John Forster that what he had written was:
“droll, and very child-like, though the joke is a grown-up one besides”. John Forster loved them, calling the four stories:
“the quaintest, wisest, most charming, most comical, in all ways most delightful, things I have ever read.”
They were duly published in “Ticknor and Field”’s children’s monthly, “Our Young Folks”, between January and May 1868, and illustrated by John Gilbert. Later that year he published them in his own magazine,“All Year Round”, in England. Thus four stories by Charles Dickens, entitled “Holiday Romance”, were originally published in the United States before England, although each has been published separately many times since.
The “grown-up joke” was that he did not use his own name for the stories. Tongue firmly in his cheek, he used a pseudonym, “Alice Rainbird” (although he did share the credit with “Alice Rainbird” on the title page). The Magic Fishbone is the second of these stories, and has the subtitle “A Holiday Romance from the Pen of Miss Alice Rainbird, Aged Seven”.
A children’s story written by Charles Dickens is bound to be a treat. When he additionally writes it not only for children, but uses the literary conceit of it being a child’s invention, the result is whimsical, quirky, and utterly charming. In the original edition there is a preamble, with Alice Rainbird talking to her friends:
“Let us throw out thoughts into something educational for the grown-up people, hinting to them how things ought to be. Let us veil our meaning under a mask of romance.”
And this, in a nutshell, is the genius of the story. Charles Dickens is getting away with a fun tale, under the respectable guise of “improvement”. Traditionally class distinctions in Britain had been rigidly observed, and this influenced the children’s literature of the nineteenth century. Fortunately Charles Dickens’s own parents did not care too much about this, and John Dickens had his own collection of adventure stories which his son avidly lapped up. But reading skills were becoming more widespread, and the upper classes realised that they had a vested interest in restricting the selection of children’s literature to their offspring.
As a result, fairy tales were firmly discouraged. Such stories often depicted social mobility from the lower to the middle classes—and even to the aristocracy. “Approved” stories must reinforce class distinctions and depict upper-class people working altruistically to improve the lot of the “deserving” poor. It was important to know one’s place, and the poor should be suitably appreciative of such charity, and always shown as as humble and ennobled by their suffering.
So Charles Dickens cannily wrote an “improving” story—which was also a fairy story—and as another back-up he made the central character a sensible, kind child, the Princess Alicia. Miss Alice Rainbird therefore kept her promise to the adults, to write an improving tale for them, and Mr. Charles Dickens could freely indulge his love of fairy tales! It is a kind of double bluff.
Princess Alicia is the kind-hearted eldest child of “King Watkins the First”, a harassed government clerk. There are 19 children, and her parents “were always having more”. So the King is in constant pecuniary difficulties, reminiscently of Mr. Micawber in “David Copperfield”—or the original for Mr. Micawber, Charles Dickens’s own father, John Dickens. Yes, the king is yet another affectionate portrait of his own feckless father.
The story begins in timeless fashion:
“There was once a King, and he had a Queen; and he was the manliest of his sex, and she was the loveliest of hers. The King was, in his private profession, Under Government. The Queen’s father had been a medical man out of town.”
Princess Alicia takes care of all the Princes and Princesses, and they all take care of the 7 month old baby. One day on his way home from the office, the King stops at Mr. Pickles the fishmonger’s, to buy some salmon. There he meets the Good Fairy Grandmarina. He knows instantly that she is a Fairy, because she knows all about his beautiful daughter Princess Alicia. The Fairy Grandmarina tells the King that Alicia will find there is a fishbone left on her plate after the salmon is eaten. He is to tell her that it is a present from the Fairy Grandmarina, and that she must polish it until it shines like mother-of-pearl.
It is a magic fishbone. If Alicia saves the fishbone until just the right moment, and then makes a wish, her wish will be granted. But she can only use it once, and she must use it at the right time.
Alicia duly saves and polishes the fishbone, and keeps it in her pocket all the time. The next day, “the Royal Momma” faints and falls ill. Princess Alicia tries to bring her round with the smelling salts, and calls for help from the Lord Chamberlain (who is called Peggy). But sadly the Queen stays ill for a very long time, and Princess Alicia is “as busy busy busy, as busy could be”. There are not many servants at the Palace, as the King is short of money. He never seemed to get a pay rise in his office, and was not paid once a week, nor even once a month, but only once a quarter. “Quarter day was so far off that it looked almost as far off and as little as one of the stars”.
So the Princess Alicia now has even more to do, looking after all her siblings and keeping house. But she does have one special friend to tell her secrets to:
“a most particularly confidential friend of hers, who was a Duchess. People did suppose her to be a Doll; but she was really a Duchess, though nobody knew it except the Princess.”
Princess Alicia often thinks about using the magic fishbone, but always decides against it. When the King asks what she has been doing, she says:
“Snipping stitching cutting and contriving, Papa.”
“Where is the magic fish-bone?”
“In my pocket, Papa.”
“I thought you had lost it?”
“O, no, Papa.”
“Or forgotten it?”
“No, indeed, Papa.”
And she shares the secret with the Duchess, who laughs and laughs.
There are all sorts of calamities. The “dreadful little snapping pug-dog next door” frightens one of the young Princes so badly that he puts his hand through a pane of glass, and “bled bled bled”, upon hearing which all the others scream and cry. But Princess Alicia stops the bleeding and makes him a bandage out of some old rags. The King’s cook runs away with “a very tall but very tipsy soldier”, so Princess Alicia steps in to do the cooking. The baby falls under the grate while she is peeling turnips for their soup, the children keep falling down the stairs … But whatever happens, sensible Princess Alicia sorts it out, and keeps everyone happy and lighthearted—without needing to use the precious magic fishbone.
Alicia has the children making “cook’s caps” out of old newspapers and, once they finish eating, she has them all entertaining the baby with “the dance of eighteen cooks”. But her father looks on glumly, and when she asks him what is wrong, he says that he is very poor.
She asks if there is any way of getting more money, but he gloomily says that there is not. Now Princess Alicia wisely says:
“’When we have done our very, very best, papa, and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others.’ This was the very secret connected with the magic fish-bone, which she had found out for herself from the good fairy Grandmarina’s words, and which she had so often whispered to her beautiful and fashionable friend the Duchess.”
It is easy to believe that The Magic Fishbone comes from the imagination of a seven year old girl. Basic facts are missing, and some things are immensely out of proportion (especially the part about having eighteen girls and seventeen boys). This is the source of the humour; the concerns and world view of a little child are not the concerns of an adult. When the Fairy Grandmarina exclaims to the king:
“The reason for this and the reason for that, indeed! You are always wanting the reason. No reason. There! Hoity toity me! I am sick of your grown-up reasons.”
any child will find it irresistible, that even the King can be told off by the Fairy Grandmarina. She even tells him not ask questions, but to “be good” and do as he is told. Alice Rainbird perceptively sees that the Queen organises him, telling him to stop at the fishmonger’s to buy some salmon on his way to work. All the King seems to do is sit and brood, because it is a long time until he receives his salary.
The King continues to be helpless and hopeless all the way through the story. Alicia sorts out all the problems without using the magic fishbone, but the king would doubtless have used it at the first setback. He asks her several times if she has lost it or forgotten about it.
The addition of Alicia’s secret confidante, the Duchess, her doll who only Alicia knows is actually alive, is perfect. The Duchess becomes more and more real, each time Alicia confides in her. This shows the power of imagination in fairy tales. Every time the King looks perplexed about the magic fishbone, Alicia tells her about it and the little doll nods and smiles, which develops into the duchess being able to wink, laugh and toss her hair, and eventually even carry on a conversation.
Adults immediately catch the meaning behind the story: that we can usually solve the problems that face us, and only need to call in special help when we have truly done all we can on our own. Her decision to use the magic fishbone is not a selfish one, and everyone is amply rewarded.
We also recognise this is a retelling of Cinderella, complete with Fairy Godmother, and peacocks instead of white mice. There is a magic talisman, and magic wishes. It is a classic rags-to-riches fairy story of which the middle to upper class Victorians disapproved so much, but Charles Dickens cleverly gets away with it by making the royal family the impoverished ones, in the first place.
It is a treasure!
May 27, 2024
Не сподобалась фея та її побажання тридцяти п'яти дітей, ні може для них це і нормально, але вона навіть не запитувала її.
December 1, 2017
While the rest of you were no doubt hunting up your beloved, time-worn copy of A Christmas Carol, in preparation for the coming Yuletide, I decided to revisit this story which I first encountered years ago in a university course on children's literature. This edition of Dickens' delightfully odd little tale is ornamented with whimsical drawings by Louis Slobodkin, an American illustrator of children's books.
The text is typical Dickens. I can see motifs that he borrowed from children's stories, and perhaps even his own life and oeuvre, to make what we would call today a fractured fairy-tale.
The King and Queen, their royal status notwithstanding, are not ensconced in the lap of luxury. Watkins the First, being "Under Government," goes to an office where he "writes" all day long, not unlike Bob Cratchit. The Queen, albeit "the loveliest of her sex" is the daughter of "a medical man out of town." Which just goes to show that the British royals' predilection for "commoners" is more common than you may have realized.
Not unlike the Dickenses themselves, Their Majesties have a large brood of begats, and "are always having more." In fact, they are so prolific that the children are crammed between the ages of 7 years to 7 months; although this isn't mentioned, there must have been a few multiple births in there. Today Watkins and wife would no doubt have had their own reality TV show, but this not being the case, the eldest daughter, the dutiful Princess Alicia, must oversee the household and take care of any mishaps that ensue. And with an ailing, bedridden Mamma, ineffectual and absentee servants, and 18 younger siblings, ensue they do!
On one momentous day, this middle-class monarch, en route to his humdrum clerical job, stops at the fishmonger's to take care of the grocery list which his consort has given him; it consists of "a pound and a half of salmon not too near the tail." (But how, pray tell, Mr. Dickens, is one to nourish 19 growing cherubs on a pound and a half of seafood? Perhaps it's best not to inquire too deeply into details.) Alerted by a keen-eyed shop boy, Watkins I encounters not a Christmas turkey but the Fairy Grandmarina; unusually, she wields not a wand but a magic fan. (J.K. Rowling might have had lots of fun with this, don't you think?) This kindhearted but quick-tempered fairy turns out to be a sort of Betsey Trotwood with wings; in short order she reduces Watkins I to a quivering mass of insecurity. Between reprimands, she tells His Royal Nibs of the imminent uncovering of the magic fishbone, which is to be entrusted to the care of the responsible Princess Alicia.
Said juvenile Royal In Training bounces from one domestic disaster to the next. With only a less than loquacious doll-duchess for a confidante, she has a surprising amount of equanimity for one so young. But, as Mr. Dickens shows us, it's important to have friends to whom you can tell your troubles and secrets. As the story progresses, the bemused reader starts to wonder what use the fishbone can possibly be, and whether the ever resourceful young Princess needs it at all.
To find out, set aside the adventures of old Uncle Ebenezer for a few moments and try this. You'll be glad you did.
The text is typical Dickens. I can see motifs that he borrowed from children's stories, and perhaps even his own life and oeuvre, to make what we would call today a fractured fairy-tale.
The King and Queen, their royal status notwithstanding, are not ensconced in the lap of luxury. Watkins the First, being "Under Government," goes to an office where he "writes" all day long, not unlike Bob Cratchit. The Queen, albeit "the loveliest of her sex" is the daughter of "a medical man out of town." Which just goes to show that the British royals' predilection for "commoners" is more common than you may have realized.
Not unlike the Dickenses themselves, Their Majesties have a large brood of begats, and "are always having more." In fact, they are so prolific that the children are crammed between the ages of 7 years to 7 months; although this isn't mentioned, there must have been a few multiple births in there. Today Watkins and wife would no doubt have had their own reality TV show, but this not being the case, the eldest daughter, the dutiful Princess Alicia, must oversee the household and take care of any mishaps that ensue. And with an ailing, bedridden Mamma, ineffectual and absentee servants, and 18 younger siblings, ensue they do!
On one momentous day, this middle-class monarch, en route to his humdrum clerical job, stops at the fishmonger's to take care of the grocery list which his consort has given him; it consists of "a pound and a half of salmon not too near the tail." (But how, pray tell, Mr. Dickens, is one to nourish 19 growing cherubs on a pound and a half of seafood? Perhaps it's best not to inquire too deeply into details.) Alerted by a keen-eyed shop boy, Watkins I encounters not a Christmas turkey but the Fairy Grandmarina; unusually, she wields not a wand but a magic fan. (J.K. Rowling might have had lots of fun with this, don't you think?) This kindhearted but quick-tempered fairy turns out to be a sort of Betsey Trotwood with wings; in short order she reduces Watkins I to a quivering mass of insecurity. Between reprimands, she tells His Royal Nibs of the imminent uncovering of the magic fishbone, which is to be entrusted to the care of the responsible Princess Alicia.
Said juvenile Royal In Training bounces from one domestic disaster to the next. With only a less than loquacious doll-duchess for a confidante, she has a surprising amount of equanimity for one so young. But, as Mr. Dickens shows us, it's important to have friends to whom you can tell your troubles and secrets. As the story progresses, the bemused reader starts to wonder what use the fishbone can possibly be, and whether the ever resourceful young Princess needs it at all.
To find out, set aside the adventures of old Uncle Ebenezer for a few moments and try this. You'll be glad you did.
August 1, 2022
For Children!
January 17, 2021
"When we have done our very best, Papa, and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others."
In 1867 Charles Dickens wrote "The Magic Fishbone" as if a young girl had written a fairy tale. My copy of the book has lovely illustrations by S. Beatrice Pearse, and is available online at Project Gutenberg.
Seven-year-old Princess Alicia, the oldest of 19 children (!!!), lives with her parents who are the King and Queen. The King is a working man whose pay is not enough to support his large family. The Fairy Grandmarina told the King to have Alicia save the fishbone in her piece of salmon, and to polish it until it shines. If she makes a wish just at the right moment, her wish will be granted.
One day the Queen was feeling faint and had to stay in bed. Alicia was helpful and kind as she cared for the other children. Every time something challenging happened, she consulted with her doll, the Dutchess. Alicia bandaged up her brother's hand injury, made soup, and soothed the baby after he hit his head. The King came home feeling sad because payday was far away, and he had no money. Alicia made her wish then--at the right moment. Eventually, Princess Alicia and Prince Certainpersonio got married and had thirty-five children.
The book does introduce a child to the concept of poverty which can occur even when a parent is working hard. (Dickens' father was in debtor's prison when Dickens was a child.) It also shows how to be helpful since everyone probably did have to help out in a 19th Century family. The story also has some fairy tale silliness and exaggeration.
It's difficult to know how today's children and parents would react to the story. From a 21th Century view, leaving a seven-year-old in charge of a bunch of younger children while she cooked and bandaged them up would get you arrested! Having a daughter marry young to have thirty-five children is not a 21st Century dream! But "The Magic Fishbone" might be fun to read in conjunction with children visiting a historic house, or cooking over a fire pit to learn how children lived in the 19th Century. We also might want to skip the last sentence of the story so the young ones don't get upset.
In 1867 Charles Dickens wrote "The Magic Fishbone" as if a young girl had written a fairy tale. My copy of the book has lovely illustrations by S. Beatrice Pearse, and is available online at Project Gutenberg.
Seven-year-old Princess Alicia, the oldest of 19 children (!!!), lives with her parents who are the King and Queen. The King is a working man whose pay is not enough to support his large family. The Fairy Grandmarina told the King to have Alicia save the fishbone in her piece of salmon, and to polish it until it shines. If she makes a wish just at the right moment, her wish will be granted.
One day the Queen was feeling faint and had to stay in bed. Alicia was helpful and kind as she cared for the other children. Every time something challenging happened, she consulted with her doll, the Dutchess. Alicia bandaged up her brother's hand injury, made soup, and soothed the baby after he hit his head. The King came home feeling sad because payday was far away, and he had no money. Alicia made her wish then--at the right moment. Eventually, Princess Alicia and Prince Certainpersonio got married and had thirty-five children.
The book does introduce a child to the concept of poverty which can occur even when a parent is working hard. (Dickens' father was in debtor's prison when Dickens was a child.) It also shows how to be helpful since everyone probably did have to help out in a 19th Century family. The story also has some fairy tale silliness and exaggeration.
It's difficult to know how today's children and parents would react to the story. From a 21th Century view, leaving a seven-year-old in charge of a bunch of younger children while she cooked and bandaged them up would get you arrested! Having a daughter marry young to have thirty-five children is not a 21st Century dream! But "The Magic Fishbone" might be fun to read in conjunction with children visiting a historic house, or cooking over a fire pit to learn how children lived in the 19th Century. We also might want to skip the last sentence of the story so the young ones don't get upset.
October 23, 2023
Possibly actual children would not enjoy this nearly as much as I did. It is rather more wordy than most picture books with rather adult sorts of jokes. But then Dickens is unusually good at appealing to all ages, and the good fairy is rather hot-tempered, and the king and queen are quite like any Victorian couple with a great many children, and Alicia is a most deserving princess.
Florczak's art is charming but not cloying and suits the story well. The peacocks are lovely colors and the inclusion of dogs and cats in addition to the very many children is appreciated. Truly, I couldn't enjoy it more if it had Muppets. ...
Library copy
Florczak's art is charming but not cloying and suits the story well. The peacocks are lovely colors and the inclusion of dogs and cats in addition to the very many children is appreciated. Truly, I couldn't enjoy it more if it had Muppets. ...
Library copy
May 20, 2021
A silly little story that still has a moral. It has its funny moments but isn't quite like the Dickens work we know. A one time read. Nothing exceptional, but not bad too.
If interested in the audiobook, it is available on the stories.audible.com site for free.
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If interested in the audiobook, it is available on the stories.audible.com site for free.
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Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
Follow me on Instagram: RoshReviews
January 24, 2021
This was a fun and entertaining fairy tale written by Dickens with all of the elements one would look for in this type of story and more: a magical object, a fairy godmother, a greedy/impatient individual, a lesson to be learned.
In this story, we have a very "ordinary" princess with a very unordinary family who is given a magic fish-bone to wish for whatever she wants, but she must make sure that she wishes at the right time. Princess Alicia is the oldest of 19 (yes, that's right!) children between the ages of 7 months and 7 years. Her parents are King Watkins the First and his wife the Queen. Alicia must sort through the series of misfortunes, illnesses and accidents that occur in order to determine when to use her magic fish-bone.
It is a truly delightful tale for children and adults alike.
In this story, we have a very "ordinary" princess with a very unordinary family who is given a magic fish-bone to wish for whatever she wants, but she must make sure that she wishes at the right time. Princess Alicia is the oldest of 19 (yes, that's right!) children between the ages of 7 months and 7 years. Her parents are King Watkins the First and his wife the Queen. Alicia must sort through the series of misfortunes, illnesses and accidents that occur in order to determine when to use her magic fish-bone.
It is a truly delightful tale for children and adults alike.
May 31, 2016
Read this for some kids at the library. It fell flat. First problem were how many kids they had. THen how royalty was living ordinary lives. Then is was why is a 7 year old getting married...So many issues with this. SO it was too fake for the children. It wasn't fairy tale enough to dismiss reality and the reality of this story did not work for them. I couldn't get through a single page hardly without one of them objecting to a point in the story. And the ending had 4 of the 9 children crying.
The lesson for me, read this book to myself before doing a cold read out loud!
The art was lovely and of the girls especially loved the Peacock carriage.
The lesson for me, read this book to myself before doing a cold read out loud!
The art was lovely and of the girls especially loved the Peacock carriage.
February 23, 2020
Un cuento corto, realmente corto, escrito por el clásico por antonomasia Charles Dickens, con un estilo surrealista y cómico que nos saca de lo habitual en este tipo de lecturas.
Es de fácil lectura. Aunque la trama no es gran cosa, el surrealismo de la situación hace que la lectura resulte al menos entretenida.
Es de fácil lectura. Aunque la trama no es gran cosa, el surrealismo de la situación hace que la lectura resulte al menos entretenida.
January 25, 2021
Such a delightful, fanciful story and the illustrations by S. Beatrice Pearce from a 1911 reprint of the story are wonderful. The edition I read was illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. I think Dickens has put into a humorous, fanciful story some lessons to be heeded in real life and agree they reflect some of his own biography. Dickens 's themes include the hardships of impoverishment, responsibility, resourcefulness, patience, problem solving, the wisdom of children, and good judgment and hard work will be rewarded. The whimsical style of writing makes these rather serious concerns humorous but also that they can be overcome. I liked the repetition of words, phrases and conversations throughout the story that made the writing almost poetical. The repetitions also added to the anticipation of when would be the right time to invoke the magical fish bones. Knowing how Dickens loved his dogs, I was surprised at the pug's demise! - but perhaps a just reward for frightening the children and causing an injury. The fairy godmother was more like a Betsy Trotwood from David Copperfield with her gruff manner, at least at first.
This is definitely an odd tale and reality must be suspended to enjoy this story. Most would think a King and Queen, being of royalty, would have all the luxuries and servants to do the menial work (Dickens does have the maid running off with a drunken suitor); and the King works at a tedious, poorly paying clerical job! And what seven year old girl gets married as does Princess Alice?? But one aspect of the fantasy I can relate to is how Princess Alice confides in her "doll duchess" - I always talked things over with my dolls as a child! How wonderful is the imagination!!
I read the e-book Dover edition (2017), a republication of the Vanguard Press 1953 edition that was illustrated by Louis Slobodkin.
This is definitely an odd tale and reality must be suspended to enjoy this story. Most would think a King and Queen, being of royalty, would have all the luxuries and servants to do the menial work (Dickens does have the maid running off with a drunken suitor); and the King works at a tedious, poorly paying clerical job! And what seven year old girl gets married as does Princess Alice?? But one aspect of the fantasy I can relate to is how Princess Alice confides in her "doll duchess" - I always talked things over with my dolls as a child! How wonderful is the imagination!!
I read the e-book Dover edition (2017), a republication of the Vanguard Press 1953 edition that was illustrated by Louis Slobodkin.
August 12, 2021
A very different type of story for Dickens it seems to me but I did enjoy it. But some of it just didn't fit for me and I am wondering would it fit for my grandchildren. I had so many questions along the way and think they would also. But, it was interesting to read something written by Dickens for children in that day and age.
October 19, 2020
Extremely odd story... too many oddities to count. The gist is a princess, with a working class King as her father, is given a magic wishbone by her fairy godmother. She only has one wish and therefore should use it wisely. The moral of the story is “When we have done our very very best... and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others.”
February 18, 2018
One in a set of 4 stories that Dickens' describes as authored by a 7-year old girl.
The golden motto :
“When we have done our very very best... and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others.”
Rating it between 3-4 stars, for these reasons:
a) The king has an office job... though possibly how a 7-year old may perceive a working Dad.
b) The Fairy Godmother is quite mean.
c) The murdered dog is unsettling
.
The golden motto :
“When we have done our very very best... and that is not enough, then I think the right time must have come for asking help of others.”
Rating it between 3-4 stars, for these reasons:
a) The king has an office job... though possibly how a 7-year old may perceive a working Dad.
b) The Fairy Godmother is quite mean.
c) The murdered dog is unsettling
.
November 18, 2020
cuento ligerito y lindo. la importancia de lo que es no codiciar las cosas y saber el valor de dar y pedir ayuda, lección que la niña protagonista entendió bien.
pena que no fuera más largo, estoy más acostumbrado a las novelas porque no hay mucho que pueda uno comentar sin spoilear jaja.
pena que no fuera más largo, estoy más acostumbrado a las novelas porque no hay mucho que pueda uno comentar sin spoilear jaja.
Want to read
October 30, 2017(i actually want to find/read the dover edition with the pictures by Slobodkin).
September 27, 2024
The last line of the story is worth 2 of the 4 stars alone because it was so funny.
October 8, 2012
Odd but cute. The Fairy Godmother as a type rather than a bland cypher is always clever; making her a character rather than deus ex machina is fun and Dicken's sassy fairy godmother definitely steals the show. The only other passages in the book - and they are short - where Dicken's shines is when he writes of the Duchess, Princess Alicia's doll. The entire story is sweetly mocking fairy tales and childhood stories, with a brush of snark - but the Duchess if pure sentimentality (she inhabits the same world as Raggedy Anne and the Velveteen Rabbit). Definitely pair this with Barbara McClintock's loving tribute to this tale, Molly and the Magic Wishbone; reading this incredibly illustrated version is what made me search out the original in the first place.
May 11, 2016
Delightful story, I had a record as a child with this story and I liked it very much, even without any illustrations except one (not very well drawn) on the cover of the record.
These illustrations are wonderful, the artist is S. Beatrice Pearse. The edition I have is from 1911.
Why I like this story: Princess Alicia worked very very hard without whining, and knew she couldn't have an easy life just by wishing for it. Like King Bud in Queen Zixi of Ix, Alicia knew that she wanted to save her wish until she could make the wisest wish possible.
What I didn't like: all those kids!!! Horrible! No wonder they were broke. When I read this to my future grandkids, I am going to tell them that 17 of the children were adopted orphans from other kingdoms.
These illustrations are wonderful, the artist is S. Beatrice Pearse. The edition I have is from 1911.
Why I like this story: Princess Alicia worked very very hard without whining, and knew she couldn't have an easy life just by wishing for it. Like King Bud in Queen Zixi of Ix, Alicia knew that she wanted to save her wish until she could make the wisest wish possible.
What I didn't like: all those kids!!! Horrible! No wonder they were broke. When I read this to my future grandkids, I am going to tell them that 17 of the children were adopted orphans from other kingdoms.
January 3, 2024
Audible sale (#5 of 40) 26 min. Narrated by Cathy Dobson (A)
Don't procrastinate! Read this rollicking, jolly fairy tale written by the master of wit Mr. Dickens, himself! Just as C.S. Lewis predicted; I've reached the age when I can enjoy fairy tales again. This delightful tale was new for me. I'm sure that Dickens quite enjoyed reading this tale to his own children and guests every bit as much as he had had writing it. And he probably "wished" he'd had his own magic fish bone or at least that "quarter days" would have come oftener.
Don't procrastinate! Read this rollicking, jolly fairy tale written by the master of wit Mr. Dickens, himself! Just as C.S. Lewis predicted; I've reached the age when I can enjoy fairy tales again. This delightful tale was new for me. I'm sure that Dickens quite enjoyed reading this tale to his own children and guests every bit as much as he had had writing it. And he probably "wished" he'd had his own magic fish bone or at least that "quarter days" would have come oftener.
August 14, 2025
3,5/5
Entretenido relato sobre un rey que tiene que trabajar para alimentar a su familia, y una raspa mágica que un hada madrina le concede a su hija mayor, todo ello, de la magnífica mano de Dickens en apenas 50 páginas y bellamente ilustrado por Francis D. Bedford.
Entretenido relato sobre un rey que tiene que trabajar para alimentar a su familia, y una raspa mágica que un hada madrina le concede a su hija mayor, todo ello, de la magnífica mano de Dickens en apenas 50 páginas y bellamente ilustrado por Francis D. Bedford.
January 3, 2011
A funny little story. Apparently, marriage at seven years and a multitude of children was every girl's fantasy.
April 9, 2020
Divertido cuento de hadas en el que tenemos un rey que es funcionario y tiene que hacer esfuerzos para que le llegue el dinero del sueldo a fin de mes.
Read
October 10, 2017I had a copy of this as a child, but no longer remember it clearly... beyond the fact that my grandmother read it to me. Would love to re-read it!
March 15, 2023
A cute children’s short story.
Read
July 25, 2018Wowsers that's a lot of kids.
January 30, 2020
What. The. Heck.
January 14, 2020
I was quite enjoying it until the end!
December 25, 2020
En realidad es un pequeño cuento. No se puede valorar sin pensar en él como uno de los primeros cuentos que empezaron a formar parte de las colecciones de lectura de los niños de finales del XIX. Un cuento muy típico de la época victoriana con hada incluida y final dudoso.
Para mi es una bonita lectura para cualquier niño. De cualquier época. Sobre todo con aquellas ilustraciones que ya de por si merecían a veces mas que las palabras del libro. Además un cuento como tal que cualquier niño leía en unos pocos días, y eso si no sabia leer muy bien.
Una curiosa lectura que me ha descubierto un Dickens desconocido.
Para mi es una bonita lectura para cualquier niño. De cualquier época. Sobre todo con aquellas ilustraciones que ya de por si merecían a veces mas que las palabras del libro. Además un cuento como tal que cualquier niño leía en unos pocos días, y eso si no sabia leer muy bien.
Una curiosa lectura que me ha descubierto un Dickens desconocido.
April 23, 2014
Marvelous fairy tale of the victorian days. Represents the typical function of the literature magic tale. by V. Propp we see different typical functions in the text. magic gift, problems and their solving, wedding. no fairy tale can be without it.
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