Just finished reading "The Ordinary Princess" by M. M. Kaye, and thought it
was really good. Also, it reminded me terribly of a play that I read years
ago and loved. So I had to go look it up (of course). The play is called
The Ugly Duckling, by A. A. Milne. It's rather short, but very funny. The
similarities between the two works are so striking that I wonder if Kaye
ever read the play, because the play was written in 1941, before Ordinary
Princess (at least judging by copyright dates). Brief synopsis. King and
Queen have baby princess. Due to christening day mishap, princess is plain
rather than beautiful. King and Queen discover the difficulties of marrying
off a plain daughter. Followed by wacky marriage plot complete with
mistaken identities. And someone even climbs out of the castle by means of
a tree overhanging the moat (wisteria vines). And the christening gift was
even delivered in the form of a short rhyme (lavender's blue...) I've only
seen this play in an old HBJ high-school literature anthology, so I wonder
has anyone else read it?
-Sarah2 <who's sorry for being so dreadfully off topic and hopes for
forgiveness>
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Received on Wed Aug 11 19:22:25 1999
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