Yew and Me (original) (raw)

The Enchanted Island of Yew, by L. Frank Baum – This year is the 120th anniversary of this book, and I guess I first read it around thirty years ago. I have the edition Chris Dulabone published, a paperback with only black and white versions of Fanny Y. Cory’s pictures, and Chris’s own drawing of King Terribus on the cover. It also has the title seemingly randomly printed at the ends of some chapters. I thought maybe I also had the Books of Wonder edition, which has new illustrations, but it doesn’t look like I do. It’s a Baum fantasy that isn’t directly related to Oz, although it does have some ties to The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, including the presence of Knooks and Ryls. It takes place on an island divided into four main parts and a smaller one in the middle, which is familiar. The story concerns a fairy who wants to become temporarily mortal so she can have adventures, but is unable to give herself that form, so she asks for help from a local baron’s daughter. With the girl’s assistance, she turns into a human boy, so there’s a similarity to Ozma’s gender change.

Under the name of Prince Marvel, he travels all over the island, although the main countries aren’t explored in all that much detail. Indeed, the southern land of Plenta merits only a brief visit. Much of the story is set in the central Kingdom of Spor, and in the hidden country of Twi. He still seems to have access to his fairy powers, which he can use to get out of most situations without too much trouble, so there’s not a whole lot of suspense. But it is noteworthy that he generally aims for peaceful solutions that help the places he visits. He forces a robber king and his band to reform while allowing them to keep the money they’ve already stolen, changes the ugly form of King Terribus of Spor to a more pleasant one, and uses a spell to convince the High Ki of Twi not to have intruders executed. You could even say he went a little too easy on some of these villains, as they’re said to have done some horrific things in the past. The character Kwytoffle bears some similarity to the Wizard of Oz in that he becomes ruler of a country due to people believing he can do magic when he really can’t, but he never even has to do the tricks the Wizard does, instead just relying on threats. He’s also treated far less sympathetically, although Marvel refuses to have him killed. In exposing him, the Prince doesn’t even have to do any magic, just call his bluff. The final villain, the Red Rogue, is intriguing in that he ends up trapped in a mirror for a hundred years, and then finds himself on an island that’s changed quite a bit. It’s episodic, but characters do reappear in later parts. Prince Marvel is accompanied in all these adventures by Nerle, a boy who had such a pampered life that he’s desperate to experience pain and hardship, with his masochism being treated in a generally light-hearted manner.

What kind of bothered me is that Marvel says early on that he’ll eventually tell Nerle who he really is, but the book never says whether he actually does this. It’s a fun and inventive tale, with a good amount of humor. There are some of Baum’s signature reversals of expectations: we learn that a mortal can enchant a fairy, the monstrous Terribus has a soft voice, a terrible dragon turns out to be quite ineffective, and the Red Rogue is gigantic but physically weak.

And if you try to puzzle out exactly how Twi works, it will probably give you a double headache. I also appreciate how he makes the Gray Men of Spor seem threatening without really saying too much about them.

James E. Haff and Dick Martin’s map of the countries surrounding Oz bring in Yew, and there have been some Oz books that incorporated elements from it. But I don’t think we’ve ever found out whether the fairy who became Prince Marvel ever discussed her gender change with Ozma.

This entry was posted in Art, Book Reviews, Characters, Chris Dulabone, Dick Martin, Gender, Humor, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Oz, Oz Authors, Places and tagged dragons, fairies, gray men, high ki of twi, james e. haff, king terribus of spor, knooks, kwytoffle, nerle, ozma, prince marvel, red rogue of dawna, ryls, the enchanted island of yew, the life and adventures of santa claus, twi, wizard of oz. Bookmark the permalink.