A BOOK OF KINGS AND QUEENS

For variety, the queen in Manning-Sanders' entertaining choice from Greece is a snake who rewards a young flute player with a tree that bears oranges and apples on alternate days; in the Irish tale she's a fairy, as described by the midwife called to her bed; and in one of the three Russian stories, the king is an eagle who befriends the human hero. As for the human kings and queens, many are not of royal birth but acquire their kingdoms through rascality, lucky marriages, or right choices. Manning-Sanders tells their traditional stories with her usual grace, balancing some good-natured folk humor from Sicily and a pious tale from Czechoslovakia with more elaborate, romantic stories of feats and transformations.