Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 18 -- Picture Books
CHAPTER 18
PICTURE BOOKS
Our underground river journey now passes through several chapters dealing with juvenile
literature. The first such chapter is about illustrated works for young children in which the story is
told more through pictures than through words. We'll not, however, include comic books and
graphic novels, which while likewise are mostly pictures, are written for those who shouldn't need
the drawings.
When the Root Children Wake Up (1906) by Sibylle von
Olfers has been re-issued with various illustrators. The
root children who have been sleeping all winter awake to
become flower children and experience the new life, the
color, and the joys of spring. To the right, a German edition
chosen for its underground river depiction.
The Firelight Fairy Book (1919) by Henry Beston is a collection of
tales, one being "The Queen of Lantern Land."
Once upon a time the youngest son of a king became filled with
the desire to go abroad and see the world. He got his father's
permission to depart, kissed his parents good-bye, mounted his
black horse, and galloped away down the high road. Soon the
gray towers of the old castle in which he was born hid themselves
behind him...
And soon he was following an underground river.
The Prince made his way toward the light, along a narrow beach of white sand lying between
the wall of the cavern and the racing waters of the mysterious river, and found that the glow
came from a magnificent lantern studded with emeralds, topazes, amethysts, and rubies, which
hung by a chain from the roof of the grotto. Directly under this lantern, drawn up on the sand,
lay a little boat with a lantern fastened to the bow. The Prince pushed the boat into the river,
and got into it, and the swift current seized him and hurried him away.
At first the cavern grew higher and wider; then it shrank again, and the boat, borne along with
incredible speed, shot down a rocky passageway into the very heart of the earth. The
passageway broadened once more, and the boat rode gently through monstrous caves whose
roofs were upheld by twisted columns taller than the tallest tree. There were times when all
was so still that the Prince could easily have imagined himself back in the solitude of the
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