James Thurber. The 13 Clocks (1950) A strange and wonderful little fairy tale, packaged as a children’s book, but I think more than satisfying for adults. Prince Zorn, disguised as Xingu, a wandering minstrel, must find a thousand jewels and restart the 13 clocks that have frozen at 5 minutes to 2, else he will die at the hands of the Duke, which is bad enough, and lose the fair hand of the Princess Saralinda, which is worse. With the help of a Golux he accomplishes his task, but not before a string of outrageous puns and sly allusions to other fairy tales threaten to derail the plot. But the plot is craftily plotted, and Zorn and Saralinda ride off on two white horses, while the Duke suffers a well-deserved and ignominious end. Another book to try out on Bria. *** (2005)
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