Maiden Mona the Mermaid: A Fairy Play for Fairy People

A shimmering Victorian fairy play that plunges into an undersea kingdom where Maiden Mona, a curious mermaid, embarks on a quest for treasure and true love. Written in charming verse and dialogue, the work unfolds through a series of enchanted encounters with magical beings: mischievous sprites, wise old fish, and rival mermaid maidens all vying for happiness in the deep. The play pulses with the breathless optimism of late 19th-century children's literature, where adventures are perilous but never truly dangerous, and love conquers all. Dixon's whimsical world-building renders the ocean floor as a place of wonder and whimsy, populated by characters whose foibles and virtues play out in rhymed exchanges that young readers or listeners would have delighted in performing. This is gentle, innocent fantasy the way it once was written: for children to believe in, not to question.