Once on a Time

When the King of Barodia receives seven-league boots for his birthday, his morning habit of striding over the King of Euralia's castle during breakfast spirals into all-out war. But the real battle unfolds inside Euralia's walls, where Princess Hyacinth, left to rule in her father's absence, must outmaneuver the scheming Countess Belvane who has seized power while the king is away. Written in 1917 as a sharp rejoinder to saccharine fairy tales, A.A. Milne crafted this 'odd book' to prove that princes need not be brave and princesses need not be damsels in distress. The narrative poses as a serious historical work by the fictitious Roger Scurvilegs, lending mock-pedantic weight to a story that gently deflates every fantasy convention. What emerges is a tale about the absurdity of royal conflicts, the competence of women in power, and the way history erases the messy humanity of its subjects. It is Milne before Pooh, Milne the satirist, Milne who found fairy tales could be both beloved and foolish.