GUDGEKIN, THE THISTLE GIRL, AND OTHER TALES

Gardner's second quartet of stories for children licks the sparkle of last year's Dragon, Dragon but suffers from the same coyness. "Who will rid me of this damnable griffin?" wails the King in story number two, which ends with a muddle-headed philosopher getting credit for the deed, though actually the bothersome monster had merely decided to withdraw. Elsewhere three would-be heroes are indifferently beheaded along with the shape-shifters they're hunting for another king; a third king's broken bargain with an ogre, then a witch, ends with his sons turning to gulls to escape them but his daughter winning out by choosing to face the danger; and the title story, about an abused thistle-gatherer who feels sorry only for the miseries of others, parallels Cinderella—but the happy ending comes only after a period of self pity, ending with "pity for all of us in this miserable world." Once more Gardner is playing games with the morals and stereotypes of fairy tales, but his switches aren't pointed enough to be either telling or funny—or imaginative enough to engage. Disappointing.