The Well at the End of the World

by Robert D. San Souci, Rebecca Walsh (Illustrator)

Princess Rosamond isn't your typical princess. She prefers good books to good looks and keeps both the royal accounts and the castle drawbridge in working order. When her greedy stepmother and stepsister scheme to spend the royal treasury and her father, the king, falls ill, Rosamond must set out in search of the one thing that can cure him -- the healing waters found in the magical well at the end of the world.

In the spirit of The Talking Eggs, award-winning author Robert San Souci has once again created a feisty heroine whose generosity and courage save the day combined with Rebecca Walsh's vibrant paintings. This is an adventure story that readers will turn to again and again.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Royalty, Folk Tales

44 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Robert Daniel San Souci (October 10, 1946 – December 19, 2014) was a multiple award-winning children's book author, who resided in San Francisco, California. He often worked with his brother, Daniel San Souci, a children's book illustrator. He was a consultant to Disney Studios and was instrumental in the production of the film Mulan, for which he wrote the story. He studied folklore in graduate school. He died after suffering a head injury while falling from a high height in San Francisco in December 2014. He was only 68 years old.

Reviews

[Carol]

A variation of Cinderella; only Cinderella isn't pretty. She is definitely smart though and kind; things that are definitely worthy of a princess. The King marries a woman with two awful daughters who poison the king and spend the money from the treasury. His daughter, who helped him run the kingdom, goes to the well at the end of the world to get the medicine to help him. She is helped along the way by kindness and care for others; something one of her stepsisters does not have or get.

Fantastic story with "karmic" and golden rule overtones; Beautifully illustrated. My girls LOVED it and so did I!!

[Karen]

My five-year-old son picked this book out from the library last week. He loved the unicorn on the cover, and he thought that Princess Rosamond was beautiful, but not pretty.

Princess Rosamond is beautiful: She dearly loves her father and she helps in any way she can; she is kind to strangers and to animals; and she doesn't neglect her mind. Looks can fade (or float away), but a beautiful soul will last forever.

The story is delightfully told, and the illustrations are lovely and are infused with so much energy and expression.

[Cami]

I have always liked the fairy tales that show the goodness and virtue of one character who is then richly blessed by some magical being and then offers the contrasting character who seeks to receive the same blessings, only this character makes none of the same choices that the virtuous character would make and thereby receives no gift.
This is one of those tales.
I like it for younger readers, the subject has been treated a bit more lightly here. My younger kids liked it a lot.

[Molly Darr]

This is a great folktale. The Well at the End of the World is a play off of Cinderella where the princess in this story takes books over looks.

[Liesl]

Robert D. San Souci’s The Well at the End of the World begins with a note explaining that the story is based on a traditional British tale called “The King of Colchester’s Daughters” with roots back further than a version printed in 1595 as well as other stories from Norway and Scotland. The King of Colchester is lovely, but not much of a bureaucrat; he leaves the the day-to-day running of the kingdom to his daughter, Princess Rosamond. She is practical and forward thinking: “I may not be pretty, but my father’s treasury is in order, the drawbridge works, and I’ve almost saved up enough for a new set of royal dishes!” (San Souci, 2004, unpaged). When the king remarries, Rosamond’s new stepmother and stepsister drive her away and spend the entire treasury on fripperies. The depressed king falls ill and into a coma. Rosamond returns and a washerwoman tells her the cure can be found in the well at the end of the world.

On her way to the well, Rosamund bowls over and charms the uncle of the prince of Farnaway. She walks for days and meets a little man who wants some of her bread and cheese. She happily shares with him, and he gives her a magic wand in return. The wand helps her through a briar patch, where she saves a starving horse, which turns into a unicorn that takes her to the well at the end of the world. In the well, she finds three heads floating, and they ask her to bring them into the sunshine. When she does, they give her gifts: treasures will fall from her hair, she will find her soulmate, and the water will cure her father.

When Rosamond returns, her stepmother won’t let her see her father, but sends her stepsister to get the gifts Rosamond does. The stepsister, however, is nasty to everyone she meets on the path, and is turned as ugly as her soul. While she is gone, Rosamond cures her father and is invited to marry the Farnaway’s prince. Her stepmother tries to trick the prince into marrying the now-disgusting stepsister, but the unicorn helps Rosamond stop the wedding. With time, she and the prince fall in love, and later marry and become excellent rulers together.

Rebecca Walsh’s illustrations are lush and full of bright colors. The expressions are amazing, and even the set of Rosamond’s chin is perfect. I love that this story shows a woman who is more concerned with helping others than being beautiful, and that the happily-ever-after shows them reading books to each other by the fire. I would recommend this book for kids from five to ten years old.

[Meghan Hardy]

A story of a princess with a kind heart and her only wish is to save her father. She travels to the end of the world to get healing water from a well. She meets a man and a horse along the way that helps her on her journey. At the well, she shows kindness and is blessed with beauty and riches. She goes back and save her father and find true love along the way.

I really enjoyed this fairytale book. It reminded me of Cinderella. I thought the illustrations were fun and lively. It was a great story that teaches that what is in the heart is what truly matters.

I think the girls in my class would especially enjoy this book and I think it would be great for them to discuss which attributes are best to have, like being kind and generous. It could be used a lit circle where the kids can choose what book they want to read and this book could be an option.

[Molly Cluff (Library!)]

Folktales are funny in that if there's a story element that doesn't make sense, it's probably not the authors' decision and is just some characteristic piece of the story that has endured over the years. And that story element for me here is the golden heads in the well. Eegs! Why are they heads??! It's just a little creepy, haha. Otherwise I liked the story. A smart, plain, ordinary princess journeys to a magical well at the end of the world for a cure for her father's sickness. Along the way she encounters various people and creatures in need of help and assists them. When her mean stepsister attemps to make the same journey, she mistreats everyone along the way and gets turned into a troll instead. Lots of good story elements here that make this great for retelling. I liked the "stop the wedding!" drama at the end.

[Rolf]

I liked a lot of elements of this twist on the fairy tale--the strong heroine who prioritizes good sense and kindness--but there are some which don't age well, especially the use of looks to reflect "goodness" or "badness" (with the wicked stepsister turning ugly to reflect her soul, and the heroine increasingly being described as beautiful as her kindness is revealed), and the normalization of inept-but-kind good guys (like her dad and her future husband) who have wives to clean up their messes.

[Cris]

I really liked the moral to this story. Rosamond isn't pretty or unbelievably virtuous. She likes to read and is practical, kind, willing to work and loves her father. And while she's 'rewarded' in fairytale fashion she's rewarded with practical things. I like this story much better than Cinderella.

[Kora Kaos]

I love a good fairy tale.. its basically a comparable story than cinderella and the like, but its nicely written and cute illustrated, so definitely recommendable!

[Amphitrite]

I just remembered this. It's one of my favorite children's book but vastly underrated. I must have read it a dozen or so times as a child and then every now and then when I see it in the library.

[Stephanie Jackson]

Wonderful fairy tale that doesn't reward her kindness and wisdom with beauty. She's still herself and when she does eventually marry the promised Prince, they read books to each other every evening.

[Alyssa Durant]

I LOVE THIS BOOK. It was a really cute princess/prince story that was not cheesy, and made you feel good about yourself. Princess Rosamond starts out in the story as being a not so pretty princess, but she literally has no care in the world about what she looks like and even says "prefer good books to good looks". After her father marries a horrid woman with an equally as evil daughter and becomes very sick, she goes on an adventure to find a magical well with some water that will heal him. On this journey, she is so kind to everyone she meets along the way that the well even gives her the gift of growing jewels and gold out of her hair, and he also makes her pretty. Even when she is pretty, she still does not let looks control what she thinks. A handsome prince wants to marry her, and she says she would rather get to know him first, and she does and finds out that they both love books, and they fall in love.
I just think this is a book that would be really good at building self-esteem. I can't think of anytime I would read it to my students unless we just had extra time to read, and we picked this book. I will most definitely be keeping this book on my shelf though.

[Miri]

Fantastic. The one small snag was that Princess Rosamond "helps" her father and husband rule... It'd be nice if she could be the actual authority and not just the neck turning the head, as My Big Fat Greek Wedding would describe it. But everything else is great, especially the love story, and the fact that the princess goes on a quest to save her father. Part Cinderella, part Sleeping Beauty in reverse, plus other general goodness. Definitely an independent princess worthy of A Mighty Girl's list (which is where I found it).

[Amanda]

This book is one of my favorite folklore books i've read yet. This book is a spin off of Cinderella. The reason I like this book so much is beacause it focuses on personality rather than looks. I think this book will have a positive affect on children that hear or read the book because it shows that if you are nice to everyone you will be well liked. Really like this book!

[Miri]

First, GORGEOUS illustrations.

Second, a great story, Cinderella-esque, Sick king, evil stepmother and stepsister who spend all the money and try and ensnare the handsome prince. But kindness wins in the end. A good story morally and really fun too.

[Kaylee Warzecha]

This is a book filled with adventure and the meaning of true beauty. Princess Rosamond works hard to provide for her family and her kingdom , and because of her kindness things go well for her and she prevails over evil. Has many good lessons within the story. (picture)

[Julie]

Outstanding illustrations.

[Anna]

Totally loved it! This story is by the guy who wrote The Talking Eggs. If you like folk and fairy tales you will enjoy this too. (The text is a little longer at points but very easy to read.)

[Kristen]

Kevin bought me this book for me a few years ago when I was in bed sick. He brought it home and read it to me doing different voices for each character. So now it's one of my favorites. :)

[Andrew Neuendorf]

Very Hero's Journey-ish, but for young girls. A lot of words for a children's book, but really not many compared to say, The Metamorphosis. (Kafka, not Ovid)

[Teri]

Now this is a princess story worth reading! What a find! My girls choose it every storytime and I love that princess Rosamond "prefers good books to good looks." :)

[Sara]

I really liked this story. It promotes the beauty within concept. The pictures also were pretty neat. The princess in this story does all of the rescuing which I liked as well.

[Cleo]

I just love the illustrations and the story in this book.

[Taneka]

What a great story with a warning about greed and inner beauty.

[Anajoy-rusticgirl]

Cute.

[Yuiko]

Such a cute lil story with a good moral to it!!!

[Martha]

My youngest girl loves this book, I think I should get it. She has had me read it so many times.

[Shiloah]

Excellent story that had my children captivated. Princesses aren't always glamorous and beautiful, and those that use their minds and hearts are the most valuable.