The Rose and the King

The Rose and the Ring

W.H. Thackeray 1901

This was Thackeray's only children's book and it's absolutely hilarious.  Our copy even includes his own illustrations.  Madeleine found it when we were visiting a used bookshop in Lambertville, NJ one afternoon and she wanted to bring it home.  

Over the course of a few weeks Madeleine read this out loud to us (we're still a family that reads aloud to each other).  The characters Thackeray created are so funny and reading all the ridiculous names out loud is the best!  There's Prince Bulbo, and Prince Giglio, poor mistreated Betsinda and the ridiculous governess Gruffanuff (her full name is Barbara Griselda Countess Gruffanuff).  Thackeray's story has it all- the kingdom Paflagonia seized by greedy relatives, attempted murder, mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers, and a mischievous fairy who is good-hearted all along.  In the end you know it will all turn out right, but Thackeray has a fun time zigzagging his way there.

Here's an example of his sense of humor:

"...and stepping well forward onto the balcony, the royal youth, without preparation, delivered a speech so magnificent, that no report can do justice to it.  It was all in blank verse (in which, from this time, he invariably spoke, as more becoming his majestic station).  It lasted for three days and three nights, during which not a single person who heard him was tired, or remarked the difference between daylight and dark.  The soldiers only cheering tremendously, when occasionally, once in nine hours, the Prince paused to suck an orange, which Jones took out of the bag."

And Thackeray's description of Gruffanuff to match his illustration!

"Would you not fancy, from this picture, that Gruffanuff must have been a person of the highest birth?  She looks so haughty that I should have thought her a princess at the very least with a pedigree reaching as far back as the deluge."

The top of each page also has a fun rhyming sentence about the chapter.