SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR

This is one of the Ringmaster's small fairy tales about the Feast of the Good Children and the Great Cake which is served, all icing outside and a star inside. The boy who swallows the star grows up to be the Smith of Wootton Major and the star which appears on his forehead from time to time protects him when he wanders off into the land of Faery, returns from there with a Living Flower, to grow old and to make a choice. He must give up his Star--but to whom? The star is a trinket, and so, virtually is this, spangled with a little sweetness and a little sadness and a faint moral discipline.