Small Knight and George

Small Knight loves life at the castle but is none too sure about having to prove what a brave knight he’s growing up to be by going out and fighting a fierce dragon. When he sets out in his first suit of armour with sword, shield and suitably adorned horse, he doesn’t even know what he’s looking for. He meets people who recount their experience of fierce dragons and question his judgement in wanting to fight one but, as he explains to them, that is what brave knights do. He spends all day looking for a fierce dragon to fight and is on his way home when he hears someone crying behind a bush – a little creature which has been frightened out of its home by… a fierce dragon. So Small Knight takes his new friend, George, home but everyone goes running and screaming that there’s a dragon about. Where? asks Small Knight, at which point his new friend enlightens him: he’s the dragon. But he’s the small, friendly kind and he’s just as afraid of the fierce kind as everyone else. As it happens he turns out to be very helpful all round…

This is a well-told tale with some good repetitive elements driving the narrative. The illustrative style may not appeal to all – the soft pencil line and wash require some scrutiny to pick out detail in a crowded scene for instance – but it’s grown on me because some of the detail is quite wittily expressed.