The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris (best ereader for textbooks .txt) đź“•
Description
The Water of the Wondrous Isles is a landmark in fantasy fiction. First published a year after Morris’s death in 1897 by Kelmscott Press—Morris’s own printing company—the novel follows Birdalone, a young girl who is stolen as a baby by a witch who takes her to serve in the woods of Evilshaw.
After she encounters a wood fairy that helps her escape the witch’s clutches, Birdalone embarks on a series of adventures across the titular Wondrous Isles. These isles are used by Morris both as parables for contemporary Britain and as vehicles for investigating his radical socialist beliefs. As Birdalone travels through the isles she slowly evolves into the embodiment of the Victorian “new woman,” embracing hard physical labor, healthy exercise, higher education, socialist values, and financial freedom, while rejecting sexual exploitation, physical abuse of both women and children, and the restrictive sexual mores of the era. This makes her unique in the fantasy fiction of the era as one of the genre’s first examples of a strong female hero.
This socialist-feminist allegory is presented in an Arthurian-style fantasy world complete with magic, witches, fairies, knights both chivalrous and evil, and castles (indeed, anyone doubting the allegorical nature of the work only needs to look at the name of the tale’s main redoubt: “The Castle of the Quest”). The language is purposefully archaic, reveling in vocabulary drawn from the language’s Anglo roots; and the prose is lent a hypnotic quality by its lack of quotation marks to offset dialog, and its short chapters characterized by a fairy-tale-narrative voice.
Read free book «The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: William Morris
Read book online «The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕». Author - William Morris
By William Morris.
Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint The First Part: Of the House of Captivity I: Catch at Utterhay II: Now Shall Be Told of the House by the Waterside III: Of Skin-Changing IV: Of the Waxing of the Stolen Child V: Of Birdalone, and How She Is Grown Into Maidenhood VI: Herein Is Told of Birdalone’s Raiment VII: Birdalone Hath an Adventure in the Wood VIII: Of Birdalone and the Witch-Wife IX: Of Birdalone’s Swimming X: Birdalone Comes on New Tidings XI: Of Birdalone’s Guilt and the Chastisement Thereof XII: The Words of the Witch-Wife to Birdalone XIII: Birdalone Meeteth the Wood-Woman Again XIV: Of Birdalone’s Fishing XV: Birdalone Weareth Her Serpent-Ring XVI: Birdalone Meeteth Habundia Again; and Learneth Her First Wisdom of Her XVII: The Passing of the Year Into Winter XVIII: Of Spring-Tide and the Mind of Birdalone XIX: They Bid Farewell, Birdalone and the Wood-Mother XX: Of Birdalone and the Sending Boat The Second Part: Of the Wondrous Isles I: The First Isle II: Birdalone Falleth in with New Friends III: Birdalone Is Brought Before the Witch-Wife’s Sister IV: Of the Witch’s Prison in the Wailing-Tower V: They Feast in the Witch’s Prison VI: Atra Tells of How They Three Came Unto the Isle of Increase Unsought VII: The Three Damsels Take Birdalone Out of the Witch’s Prison VIII: In What Wise Birdalone Was Clad, and How She Went Her Ways from the Isle of Increase Unsought IX: How Birdalone Came to the Isle of the Young and the Old X: Birdalone Comes to the Isle of the Queens XI: And Now She Comes to the Isle of the Kings XII: Of Birdalone, How She Came Unto the Isle of Nothing The Third Part: Of the Castle of the Quest I: Birdalone Comes to the Castle of the Quest II: Of Birdalone, and How She Rested the Night Through in a Bower Without the Castle of the Quest III: How Birdalone Dight Her for Meeting the Champions of the Quest IV: And Now She Meets the Champions V: Birdalone Has True Tokens from the Champions of the Quest VI: How the Champions Would Do Birdalone to Be Clad Anew in the Castle of the Quest VII: Of Birdalone, How She Told the Champions All Her Tale VIII: In the Meanwhile of the Departing of the Champions, They Would Pleasure Birdalone with Feats of Arms and Games of Prowess IX: Birdalone Cometh Before the Champions in Her New Array X: The Champions Go Their Ways in the Sending Boat The Fourth Part: Of the Days of Abiding I: Of Birdalone’s Grief; and of Leonard the Chaplain II: Birdalone Learneth Lore of the Priest. Ten Days of Waiting Wear III: Now Would Birdalone Ride Abroad IV: Of Birdalone’s Faring Abroad V: Sir Aymeris Showeth Birdalone the Mountains Afar Off VI: Birdalone Heareth Tell Tales of the Black Valley of the Greywethers VII: Birdalone Beguileth the Priest to Help Her to Outgoing VIII: Birdalone Fares on Her Adventure IX: Birdalone Comes to the Black Valley X: How Birdalone Fell in with a Man in the Black Valley of the Greywethers XI: Birdalone Is Led Up the Black Valley XII: How Those Twain Get Them from Out of the Black Valley of the Greywethers XIII: Now They Rest for the Night in the Strait Pass XIV: The Black Knight Tells the Truth of Himself XV: The Black Knight Brings Birdalone to the Bower in the Dale XVI: Yet a Day and a Night They Tarry in the Dale The Fifth Part: The Tale of the Quest’s Ending I: Of Sir Leonard’s Trouble and the Coming of the Quest II: Now Ask They of Birdalone, and Sir Leonard Speaks III: How They Follow the Slot of Birdalone and the Black Knight IV: Of the Slaying of Friend and Foe V: They Come Home to the Castle of the Quest VI: Of the Talk Betwixt Birdalone and Viridis VII: Birdalone Telleth the Tale of Her Wandering Up the Valley of the Greywethers VIII: Atra and Birdalone Talk Together While the Lords Sit at the Murder-Council IX: Hugh Tells the Story of the Quest’s Ending X: How It Fared with the Three Ladies After the Escape of Birdalone XI: Birdalone and the Black Squire Talk Together in the Hall of the Castle XII: The Knights and Their Fellows Betake Them to the Assaulting of the Red Hold XIII: Birdalone Bethinks Her to Fulfil the Promise Made Unto Atra XIV: Birdalone Leaves the Castle of the Quest The Sixth Part: The Days of Absence I: Birdalone Rides to Greenford and There Takes Leave of Arnold and His Men II: Of Birdalone and Her Fellowship, Their Faring Over the Downland III: They Come to the City of the Five Crafts, and Birdalone Meets with the Poor-Wife IV: Of the Love of Gerard’s Sons and of Jacobus for Birdalone V: Of the Death of Audrey, Mother to Birdalone. She Is Warned in a Dream to Seek the Black Squire, and Is Minded to Depart the City of the Five Crafts, and Seek Again the Castle of the Quest VI: Of the Sundering of Birdalone from Gerard and His Sons VII: Birdalone Cometh to Greenford, and Hears of the Wasting of the Castle of the Quest VIII: Birdalone Cometh to the Castle of the Quest, Heareth the Tale Thereof from Leonard, and Departeth Thence by the Sending Boat IX: Birdalone
Comments (0)