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THE SHELL WOMAN AND THE KING by Laurence Yep

THE SHELL WOMAN AND THE KING

A Chinese Folktale

adapted by Laurence Yep & illustrated by Yang Ming-Yi

Pub Date: Sept. 1st, 1993
ISBN: 978-0-8037-1394-9
Publisher: Dial Books

A beautiful woman with the power to transform herself into a seashell outwits the evil king who commands her to abandon her husband and marry him instead.

When Shell refuses, the king imprisons her husband and demands that Shell obtain for him three wonders as ransom, including luck by the bushel. Fortunately, he neglects to specify what sort of luck; and when Shell brings him a large, fire-eating dog, the king and his magnificent palace are destroyed. Thus evil is unequivocally punished, but—in contrast to most Western fairy tales—the heroine reaps no extraordinary reward for her courage and conjugal loyalty; presumably, defying a rapacious monarch and surviving are enough. Yang's watercolor-and- ink paintings capture the tale's beauty and violence in tones ranging from misty gray-blue and shell pink to fiery coral, crimson, and jade.

An unusual touch is the subtle, gray damask patterning providing a textured background for the type.

(Folklore/Picture book. 5-9)