THE REWARD WORTH HAVING

Jay Williams' synthetic folktales work best when he gives them a clever turn, as in The Practical Princess (1969) or Petronella (1973); this sappy imitation fable has all the traditional elements but the conviction, yet he plays it straight. It concerns three soldiers--Piet, Dirk, and Felix--who, on Felix's urging, do a good turn for an old man. In return each is given the bird of his choice: Dirk's coin-dispensing golden one later gets him the job of King's treasurer, Piet's iron one puts him at the head of the army, but it is Felix's little gray live one that cures the ailing princess and wins her hand. These bare events are overstressed throughout by Mayer's bulging eyes and heavy black lines, which connote dire deeds that fail to materialize and a per-petual astonishment that readers won't share.