A pleasingly complicated story about two near-brothers--one born to a mistress and the other to her maid after a wizard gives the mistress an apple, which the maid then shares by eating the peel. The action involves Peel's courageous foiling of the curse on the father of the girl whom both he and Pome love, even as the girl becomes Pome's bride. Gal's elegantly mannered illustrations use the amber and rust tones of old paintings to evoke the Renaissance setting An unusual, entertaining story of brotherly loyalty and love, attractively set in its handsome format.