THE FAIR

This is what might have been an attractive adventure-fantasy, set in the period just after King, Arthur's death. Two children (one an Irish princess), their nurse, their teacher and a boy-squire escape when Saxons attack their castle and they ride cross-country to safety. Robert Nathan knows this period and is colorful when he chooses to be so. Unfortunately, he seems to waver between telling a story, and making fun of it. He has also thrown in a black guardian angel (who raises questions of race relations and religion among priests), Romans, a Greek, some Africans, and an old Druid woman. There are some grating anachronisms, and the tone is faintly condescending. A pity, for there are occasional points of pleasure.