The Wizard King: & Other Spellbinding Tales

by John Matthews, Caitlín Matthews, Jenny Press (Illustrator)

Book by Matthews, John

Genres: Fiction

79 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998

About the author

John Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

None of the specifics of this collection (prose, illustration, plots) really wowed me, but I was pleased overall with getting an assortment of varied and less familiar stories.

A few felt like they were edited down from longer versions, which might have made more sense, but I don't know for sure. There are end notes, but they are very brief. Still, better than no notes!

Eg, note for the title story: this story preserves the age-old rivalry between the fairy people, who inherit their magic, and the wizards, who learn theirs as apprentices. I first read it in one of the great collections of fairy tales compiled by Andrew Lang in the nineteenth century. Lang gives his source as the Cabinet de Fees.

Stories in this volume:
The Wizard King
The Partridge Spirit (collected by Charles Leland)
The Magician's Horse (modern Greece)
Witch of Rollright (about the Rollright Stones)
Ivan and the Wizard (Russian)
The Boy Magician (Hopi)
The Wizard Who Got Sick (Armenia--this wizard does good deeds)
Pome and Peel (Umbria)
The story of Merlin from Geoffrey of Monmouth

[Ann Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I love hearing about stories from other lands.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why is that it's only on reading fairy stories as an adult, that you really notice the casual animal abuse, murder, burglary and fraud ;) I did enjoy this short journey through other culture's folk stories, but can see how they would appeal much more to a younger audience. I can't say I had a favourite as such, although the one with the magic horse probably appealed more.