Phantastes's narrator turns twenty one. Part of his inheritance is his father's desk, with a hidden compartment containing a fairy who tells him he shall find the way into fairy land. The way starts in his room, and he meets is a girl who tells him "Trust the Oak. Trust the Oak, and the Elm, and the great Beech. Take care of the Birch, for though she is honest, she is too young not to be changeable. But shun the Ash and the Alder; for the Ash is an ogre, -- you will know him by his thick fingers; and the Alder will smother you with her web of hair, if you let her near you at night." This is wise advice.

The story centers on the character Anodos ("pathless", or "ascent" in Greek) and takes its inspiration from German Romanticism, particularly Novalis.

Author: George MacDonald
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Aegypan
Published: 04/01/2007
Pages: 164
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781603128193
Audience: Baby-Preschool

About the Author
MacDonald, George: - "George MacDonald (1824 - 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his master: Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later, said Lewis, I knew that I had crossed a great frontier. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had made a difference to my whole existence."