The Sly Cormorant and the Fishes

Title

en_US The Sly Cormorant and the Fishes

en_US Kestrel Books

Description

en_US This is a hardbound book (hard cover)

en_US This book has a dust jacket (book cover)

en_US First edition

en_US Brian Patten

Creator

en_US Le Cain, Errol See all items with this value

Contributor

en_US Cain, Errol Le

Date

2016-01-25T16:07:41Z

en_US 1994-04

en_US 1977

Date Available

2016-01-25T16:07:41Z

Date Issued

en_US 1977

Abstract

en_US How nice to find another recent adaptation of Aesop! Thirty-nine fables with lively illustrations in color and in black-and-white. Some of the fables are invented, some reconstructed, some turned on their heads. The view of the fables allows Patten to adopt original perspectives and resolutions as he plays with the tradition. In the first fable, the fly says to the spider (7): I insist you are quite unable/To throw me out of an Aesop fable! An egg too big to fit into the hole of the rats who steal it turns out, when they return it, to be the bait of the fox, who eats them and then waits for more rats (11). Some fables change, like that of the fox who waits for the child to be thrown out of the window (18) and FK, where the first king given the frogs is a bullfrog. In the final story, which gives the book its title, the sly old cormorant does take the fish to a new pool, a nice shallow one where catching fish is easy for him (62). Some fables are new to me, like The Cock and the Horse (22). The Rat and the Elephant may typify what happens to fables here: the rat visited the zoo and woke up a cat with its squealing, and the latter gobbled up the egocentric rat (24). The hare wins the race in TH (35), especially after he reads a fable book along the way! Among the best illustrations are those of the weasel before and after eating (26 and 27) and of the cat who has hanged itself (38). Both covers present imaginative composites of several fables' illustrations. There are similar illustrations of FS on 52 and 64; I wonder why. I find the rhyming and the rhythms of the verse weak. Notice the price difference ($45 and $5) between the two copies, both in excellent condition, which I have found!

Identifier

en_US 722653603

en_US 1813 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/77379

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Kestrel Books

en_US Harmondsworth

Subject

en_US PR6066.A86 S58 1977 See all items with this value

en_US Aesop See all items with this value

en_US Title Page Scanned See all items with this value

Type

en_US Book, Whole