MUSICIAN FROM THE DARKNESS

Before mankind began to speak,"" a man ""with sky-blue eyes"" who is uneasy with the killing of the hunt fashions a reed flute, making a music that enables him ""to overcome [his] fear of the dark."" Clement, whose other books (e.g., The Voice of the Wood, 1989) have intrigued readers with their haunting symbolism, tells his story with poetic grace; Howe's misty paintings are elegantly lovely. Unfortunately, though, the book has a major flaw: the other men, all dark--hair, skin, and eyes--are depicted as brutish and unintelligent, while the musician is fair (except in one illustration where he is back-lit at dawn). It's hard to imagine an anthropological justification for this deplorable message.