A WEAVE OF WORDS

From San Souci (Nicholas Pipe, 1997, etc.), a blending of a handful of Armenian folktales into one story that can be filed under plain old good advice, ornately illustrated by Col¢n. In days of yore, there was a prince by the name of Vachagan, a good but uneducated man, both rich and powerful. Out hunting one day, he happens across Anait, daughter of a weaver, possessed of a quick wit, ready laugh, good sense, great beauty, and magic in her fingers when at the loom. The prince proposes, Anait demurs; she will not marry a man who cannot read nor write, nor earn a living with his hands: ``Times change,'' she notes. ``A king may become a servant.'' Vachagan gets down to the task, learns to read and write, and learns a craft: weaving. The two are wed and become king and queen, living happily until Vachagan goes to investigate trouble in the eastern provinces of their kingdom and falls into the hands of a horrific three-headed dev. Col¢n's etched watercolors, shadowy and talismanic, ably support this tale of love and sapience and derring-do, which San Souci tells with perfect pacing and alluring imagery. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9)