THE BITTER GREEN OF THE WILLOW: Four Fairy Tales

The couple who lose their little Darling are called Dear and Dearest and the Little Loved One dwells' in The Lonely House (in the city of Hum Drum) and Barney Loon's benefactor is the Well-Left Widow Woman and after you've nodded George MacDonald (and slipped in Barrie and maybe Maeterlinck) and checked to make sure the copyright is Current (which it is) suddenly you are caught up in March Cost's elegant style and the pathos, rear pathos (a phrase we picked up from last issue's Mouse and Child) of the third story, the significant one of the collection. The satisfaction that the Little Loved One takes in setting out her two cups and saucers each afternoon for the young Lord Mayor's visit, her surprise and his increasing distrust as they. are regularly Joined by the Third cup and Saucer and the Third Chair, her sorrow at his betrayal build to a dramatic and satisfying climax and her recognition that ""the bitter green of the willows is proof against all disenchantment."" Each of the other stories has its affecting moments and all are fluently written but the book looks as resurrected as much as it sounds and we doubt that one story is worth the effort to sell it.