Publisher's Synopsis
In "Puck of Pook's Hill," Mr. Rudyard Kipling has given us of his best. Designed mainly for young folk whose tastes have not been wholly materialised by picaresque fiction of the cheap and foul order, it will more probably be even better appreciated by the "grownups." When Dan and Una conceived the pretty idea of acting on Midsummer Eve a scene from "Midsummer Night's Dream" in their father's meadow, they little thought they would evoke Puck, and, through his agency, be brought face to face with scenes from the long buried past. Neither perhaps would this have been the case, had they not chosen for their stage a large old Fairy Ring of darkened grass. Each of the ten tales is heralded and closed by a song. The Marching Song of the legionaries, which is to be found "On the Great Wall," beginning with:
"When I left Rome for Lalage's sake
By the Legion's Road to Rimini,"
is too long for quotation in full here, but for its swinging lilt, deserves to be set to music. Imagination, humor, and patriotism fervent and intense are the chief characteristics of this golden book for boys and girls.
The book is handsomely illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
--The Westminster Review, Volume 167
