If you (as I did) had a shelf of Andrew Lang's rainbow fairy tale books, this is one that belongs with them. Beston - best known and cherished as the author of The Outermost House, an exquisitely written chronicle of a year living alone (sort of) on Cape Cod - wrote this little collection of thirteen original fairy tales for children, and it is charming. He is faithful to the classic tropes of kings and queens, simple-minded younger brothers who turn out to be cleverer than anyone thought, the rewards of kindness, beautiful princesses, dragons, ogres and elves. To these he adds couragous girls and staunch women, intelligent animals, and beautiful, witty writing. The man who is seeking his lost reputation describes it as "very dignified, and wore tortoiseshell glasses." In the lovely and imaginative "Shepherd of the Clouds," shepherd Giles sees "the icy caverns in which the hailstones lie piled in monstrous bags, the lightning bolts in the their crystal jars," and sometimes "he was even allowed to prepare a small storm." Each morning he opens great gates and "the clouds rose and lifted their golden heads...and one by one escaped through them to the sunlit spaces of the morning sky."

Published in 1919, with a foreword by Teddy Roosevelt (Beston was good friends with Roosevelt's son), this is a wonderful find for anyone who admires Beston's gorgeous writing and keen eye for nature and weather and humor and honor. Enjoy. ( )