Dragon's Feathers
December 20, 2007 11:31 PM   Subscribe

Les plumes du dragon. A storybook in French by Andrej and Olga Dugin. [Via MONSTER BRAINS.]
posted by homunculus (11 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Once upon a time, we discussed posting links in foreign languages and seemed to be cool with it. I'm assuming enough people here can read French to make this worthwhile.
posted by homunculus at 11:34 PM on December 20, 2007


The illustrations are remarkable. Can you give a condensed version of the story?
posted by maryh at 12:37 AM on December 21, 2007


Seems like the text of the book was written by Arnica Esterl, with the Dugins providing the (very lovely) illustrations. There's an English edition too: The Dragon's Feathers—I just ordered a copy.

maryh—there’s a very brief synopsis here: the story of the poor wood-cutter’s son, who has to pull out three golden feathers from the dragon in the big forest before he is allowed to ask for the had of the pretty landlord’s daughter.
posted by misteraitch at 2:08 AM on December 21, 2007


Presumably that should read hand rather than had; and landlord's pretty daughter rather than pretty landlord's daughter.
posted by misteraitch at 2:11 AM on December 21, 2007


Not Landlordist.
posted by adamvasco at 2:56 AM on December 21, 2007


There is another series of excellent Dugin illustrations from a Russian edition of 'The Adventures of Abi' (2004) also in the kidpix vaults (and also via Monster Brains from a year ago)
posted by peacay at 3:01 AM on December 21, 2007


Dragons, is there anything they can't do? Wonderfully creepy stuff, thanks.
posted by greytape at 3:54 AM on December 21, 2007


That was beautiful. There's apparently an English translation available at Amazon marketplace but the price is a bit steep.

Aside from the illustrations, the story is fascinating. The title page says it's based on a traditional tale, and the whole thing has a familiar feel. I'm particularly intrigued, though, by the presence/absence of Christianity. First, there's the bit about the fixing of the golden apple tree--all they have to do is get rid of its infesting snake, with seems reasonably grounded in biblical traditions. On the other hand, curing the old man's daughter involves removing the consecrated host from under her bed, which seems to fall on the other side of that coin. And I don't really know what to make of the ferryman.
posted by matematichica at 9:52 AM on December 21, 2007


Those illustrations remind me of the work of Peter Cross in "Trouble for Trumpets." Only nowhere near as good - the illustrations in Trouble for Trumpets and are truly breathtaking, amongst the best children's book illustrations of all time. Criminal that his work isn't available online (the books are long out of print.)
posted by fire&wings at 9:55 AM on December 21, 2007


How to Kill a Dragon.
posted by homunculus at 1:09 PM on December 21, 2007


Thanks, homunculus, I'm putting that on my library list.
posted by matematichica at 7:38 PM on December 21, 2007


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