The Bear and the Kingbird: a Tale from the Brothers Grimm

I've had a soft sport for Chris Conover since first encountering her work in the charming picture book The Lion's Share, about a young lion who learns to love books. So when I saw that this fairy-tale from the Brothers Grimm was not only illustrated by the talented Ms. Conover, but had been

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translated by Lore Segal - whose work in this vein can probably be best appreciated by perusing her marvelous collection, The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm, which she translated together with Randall Jarrell, and which was illustrated by Maurice Sendak - I was eager to examine it.

The story of a war between the birds and the beasts, The Bear and the Kingbird - Der Zaunkönig und der Bär in the original German, it has also been translated as: The Willow-Wren and the Bear, The Wren and the Bear, and The Bear and the Bird King - it follows a less-than clever bear, who carelessly insults the children of the Bird King, thus precipitating a crisis. This is another tale I don't seem to recall reading, despite a childhood spent poring over the Complete Grimm. I was struck by two things: first, that this legend of a battle between the birds and beasts seems to be one found in many cultures; and second, that the ending here was far less grim than is usually the case in the Grimms.

Conover's artwork does not disappoint: her trademark borders are gorgeous, and her animal characters simply adorable! Segal's narrative flows well, although I don't think this is the strongest entry in the Grimms' repertoire. All in all, a worthy addition to any fairy-tale collection, although the visuals are probably the superior component.

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