The King's Stilts

First edition. Early Printing (1939). Copyright page cites only the first two books by this author: "Mullberry Street" and "The Five Hundred Hats." Near fine in a very good plus dust jacket, wonderful condition for it's age. Binding tight with pages bright and unmarked. Small school stamp on front red board and lib card on rear, with no other markings. Yellow cloth-covered boards with dark-red lettering to front in near fine condition. The rare dustjacket is more than very good, overall, with edge and spine chipping commensurate with age, a four inch closed tear on front cover that is hardly visible, and moderate sine wear and chipping. A wonderful copy thus.

The King's Stilts tells the story of King Birtram of Binn, who dedicates himself to safeguarding his kingdom, which exists in a precarious state. It is surrounded by water, which is held back from flooding the land by a ring of dike trees, which are in turn subject to attack from flocks of nizzards. To protect the kingdom, a legion of Patrol Cats is organized to keep the nizzards at bay, and King Birtram sees to their care personally. When not attending to his royal duties, the King enjoys himself with a rigorous cavorting on his personal red stilts, which distresses his minister Lord Droon. When Droon manipulates the King's page boy Eric to steal and hide the stilts, the King grows depressed and begins to neglect his duties. As a result, the Patrol Cats become less vigilant, and soon the nizzards eat away the dike trees. Seeing the results of his actions, Eric resolves to return the stilts to the King and succeeds in doing so despite Lord Droon's efforts to stop him. King Birtram then summons the energy to mobilize the Patrol Cats to fight off the nizzards and save the kingdom. Lord Droon is imprisoned and forced to eat nizzard every day while Eric is rewarded with his own pair of red stilts, joining the King on his outings. The King's Stilts serves as a morality tale teaching the benefits of what we would now call "the work-life balance."