The W Heath Robinson Story Book (book)

     Anonymous. The W Heath Robinson Story Book (1979) A compilation of stories first published in Playbox Annual (1916-25), republished to show off Robinson’s drawings. They are in the same graphic style as Beardsley's flowing curlicued lines and large black areas. Very nice to look at. Robinson of course had a less louche sensibility than Beardsley, but both were fascinated by the bizarre and the fantastic. Robinson introduces all kinds of odd and endearing details: for example, when the frogs answer the Frog King’s summons, they bring their families - tadpoles, of course! The illustrations suit the stories very well: they provide a lovely dream-like, funny but also edgy quality to the book.
     The stories themselves are told in a clear, straightforward style, well adapted to young readers, who mostly want to know what happens next. Most of the tales are quests, in which the hero (often a younger, foolish brother) encounters a variety of magical helpers, and has the wit to both accept and use them. If there is a message in them, it’s that you should listen to whatever advice  you get, no matter how weird it sounds. Names and other details indicate that the stories are adapted from folk-lore  collections (at the time folk lore was major academic industry).  The number of magical, black-box-like devices that assist the heroes is astonishing, as is the general mundaneness of the rewards: the Princess, of course, but mostly jewellery and food. I suppose these witness to the hard and dreary life of the original tellers of these tales. A good read, and worth looking at carefully. ***

Too Good to be True (book)

 Jan Brunvand Too Good to be True (1999) A compendium of the urban legends that Brunvand has collected. For each type he offers a few examples, with annotations. He tries to keep the tone light, but inevitably some of his jokes are laboured. Since many of the stories fit into several categories, he adds helpful cross references. This is an odd book to read through. The stories are bite-sized, like potato chips, and you read on expecting the next to be better. Sometimes, unlike potato chips, they are.
     I think it’s worth keeping as a reference book, although its role has to a large extent been superseded by the web: see Snopes, for example. My reactions to the stories varied from mild distaste to ecstatic hilarity. One effect of reading so many legends at once is a heightened awareness of urban legends: but I can’t tell yet how long that sensitivity will last.
     A random sample (not verbatim, but “improved”): An upwardly mobile couple moved into an expensive suburb. Their neighbours were quiet people, apparently retired, but rumoured to have connections to the Mafia. One evening the couple came home from a weekend trip to find their house had been burgled. They asked their neighbours if they’d noticed anything, but the thieves must have been experts, for nobody saw them. It was late at night by this time, and the neighbours suggested they wait till next morning before calling the police. Next morning, the couple found all the stolen goods piled neatly on their front porch.
     I found this book at Value Village.Unlike many of my used book finds, this one’s a keeper. ***