Cross Purposes and The Shadows

Bored by her orderly court, the Queen of Fairyland decides to bring two mortals into her realm. In Cross Purposes, Peaseblossom leads Alice, a village squire's daughter, through a landscape where a bed becomes a hillside and flowers glow beneath clear water. Richard, a poor widow's son saving for his mother's umbrella, follows a stranger whose wares turn into geese. Ordinary wishes open onto places governed by playful, unsettling rules.

George MacDonald pairs this fairy tale with The Shadows, whose king is carried north across Britain and the sea to Iceland by shifting shadow figures. Jewels supply warmth and light, while living faces stir his thoughts during the passage. These two short tales offer richly described scenes, comic transformations and the feeling of dreams unfolding according to their own logic. Readers interested in children's fantasy can find pleasure in the changing shapes of everyday objects and the stories' strange treatment of light, distance and perception.