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El último dragón y otros cuentos
A handful of fairy tales involving dragons, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 7.
Content:
Last of the Dragons
Kind Little Edmund
The Deliverers of Their Country
The Book of Beasts
The Dragon Tamers
Content:
Last of the Dragons
Kind Little Edmund
The Deliverers of Their Country
The Book of Beasts
The Dragon Tamers
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1899
6 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
E. Nesbit
1,042 books1,003 followers
Edith Nesbit
(married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later connected to the Labour Party.
Edith Nesbit was born in Kennington, Surrey, the daughter of agricultural chemist and schoolmaster John Collis Nesbit. The death of her father when she was four and the continuing ill health of her sister meant that Nesbit had a transitory childhood, her family moving across Europe in search of healthy climates only to return to England for financial reasons. Nesbit therefore spent her childhood attaining an education from whatever sources were available—local grammars, the occasional boarding school but mainly through reading.
At 17 her family finally settled in London and aged 19, Nesbit met Hubert Bland, a political activist and writer. They became lovers and when Nesbit found she was pregnant they became engaged, marrying in April 1880. After this scandalous (for Victorian society) beginning, the marriage would be an unconventional one. Initially, the couple lived separately—Nesbit with her family and Bland with his mother and her live-in companion Maggie Doran.
Initially, Edith Nesbit books were novels meant for adults, including The Prophet's Mantle (1885) and The Marden Mystery (1896) about the early days of the socialist movement. Written under the pen name of her third child 'Fabian Bland', these books were not successful. Nesbit generated an income for the family by lecturing around the country on socialism and through her journalism (she was editor of the Fabian Society's journal, Today).
In 1899 she had published The Adventures of the Treasure Seekers to great acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 22, 2018
This is a lovely book of short stories about dragons. As expected from this author they are inventive, humouress and told with plenty of vocabulary stretching words. The illustrations by Erik Blegvad are beautiful. A must read for dragon lovers.
January 3, 2021
Loved this collection as a kid, and read it to my son. You can find the whole thing for free online here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23661...
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23661...
November 17, 2020
I purchased this book under the assumption it was, at the earliest, a mid-century book. Clearly, I had no idea who E. Nesbit was. Before I reached the first page of text, I fell in love with the illustrations and doubled-back to find specifics. Erik Blegvad illustrated this collection in the 1970s, but the stories? They were originally published in 1899. Damn.
I had heard that E. Nesbit's prose style was “witty and intelligent.” I agree with this assessment. Take my favorite back-and-forth from the first story The Last of the Dragons.
Gold. Love it.
But after this first (and best) story, I start to disagree with most reviewers out there who say that E. Nesbit didn’t write for children.
Yes, there is witty story-telling that most children won’t appreciate.
And yes, she often takes on a sensible British tone appropriate for a schoolmaster.
But the stories themselves could never, imho, be broadly enjoyed by adults on account of their often tedious simplicity. The dragons are, most of the time, one-dimensionally evil. That is all.
The specifics vary. Like, maybe in this story, the protagonist defeats the dragon with the help of a cockatrice. In another, perhaps it’s a pig-herder who happens to relay the right information. Maybe in this story, instead of the dragon changing size, it loses its wings, or grows tame, or both! But there’s nothing witty about the stories themselves. There’s an obvious ending, and the path there meanders a bit in a childlike way, but nothing feels particularly clever or well thought out.
Nesbit offsets this in a singular way: she makes the specifics as goofy as she can.
Animals are the opposite size of what they are here: mice so immense the world can only accommodate one, and elephants the size of cats. Instead of dogs, one character hunts with a pack of hippopotamuses. There’s a world where baked goods grow on trees but people must make their own vegetables and fruit. You get the picture. Just random, off-the-wall stuff.
I don’t find things that are absurd for no other reason than they’re not realistic funny–nor do most adults I know. But you know who does? Children.
Frankly, after the first (legitimately delightful) story, I read The Last of the Dragons and Some Others with very mild interest. But even so, I could imagine reading those same words to a five-year-old and them shrieking with delight. I could even imagine the inflection on my voice as I’d describe the dormouse big as a mountain with a snore that shook the waters or the snarling pack of hippopotamuses on a hunt.
I can’t fault E. Nesbit for this pairing of styles. She wrote children’s stories, and I have no reason to believe that young children wouldn’t like them.
One thing I can–and will–fault her for, however, is lying.
I wrote the above, but it could fit into one of her stories. She makes up facts like this regularly, then tells the reader that everyone will claim that she’s lying, but she isn’t. The rest of the world is lying. I'll welcome a book encouraging kids to think for themselves any day of the week. I can't get into a story that tells kids to believe their (silly) lies despite what anyone else says. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but the world has too many people happy to accept "alternate facts."
Alas, but were that the biggest thing I didn’t like from this book.
The Fiery Dragon begins as such:
If you’re instantly on edge due to the use of the word “white” in that paragraph … your radar is on point. Several pages later, we meet the Princess’s cousin:
So we’ve got an evil prince with leather-like skin, hearth-brush-like hair, who is awful in every single way, who also hunts with a pack of hippos rather than dogs.
... Yeah. That’s racist AF.
A quick google of “E. Nesbit racism” corroborates the undeniable racism of that story and highlights the racism and antisemitism that appears to be fairly common across her works.
I guess the one nice thing about the older children’s books like this is that their racism is somehow overt, limited, and easily delineated. They could be an excellent tool for beginning those more difficult conversations about racism with children.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
I had heard that E. Nesbit's prose style was “witty and intelligent.” I agree with this assessment. Take my favorite back-and-forth from the first story The Last of the Dragons.
I will kill the dragon,” said the Prince firmly, “or perish in the attempt.”
“It’s no use your perishing,” said the Princess.
“It’s the least I can do,” said the Prince.
“What I’m afraid of is that it’ll be the most you can do,” said the Princess.
Gold. Love it.
But after this first (and best) story, I start to disagree with most reviewers out there who say that E. Nesbit didn’t write for children.
Yes, there is witty story-telling that most children won’t appreciate.
And yes, she often takes on a sensible British tone appropriate for a schoolmaster.
But the stories themselves could never, imho, be broadly enjoyed by adults on account of their often tedious simplicity. The dragons are, most of the time, one-dimensionally evil. That is all.
The specifics vary. Like, maybe in this story, the protagonist defeats the dragon with the help of a cockatrice. In another, perhaps it’s a pig-herder who happens to relay the right information. Maybe in this story, instead of the dragon changing size, it loses its wings, or grows tame, or both! But there’s nothing witty about the stories themselves. There’s an obvious ending, and the path there meanders a bit in a childlike way, but nothing feels particularly clever or well thought out.
Nesbit offsets this in a singular way: she makes the specifics as goofy as she can.
Animals are the opposite size of what they are here: mice so immense the world can only accommodate one, and elephants the size of cats. Instead of dogs, one character hunts with a pack of hippopotamuses. There’s a world where baked goods grow on trees but people must make their own vegetables and fruit. You get the picture. Just random, off-the-wall stuff.
I don’t find things that are absurd for no other reason than they’re not realistic funny–nor do most adults I know. But you know who does? Children.
Frankly, after the first (legitimately delightful) story, I read The Last of the Dragons and Some Others with very mild interest. But even so, I could imagine reading those same words to a five-year-old and them shrieking with delight. I could even imagine the inflection on my voice as I’d describe the dormouse big as a mountain with a snore that shook the waters or the snarling pack of hippopotamuses on a hunt.
I can’t fault E. Nesbit for this pairing of styles. She wrote children’s stories, and I have no reason to believe that young children wouldn’t like them.
One thing I can–and will–fault her for, however, is lying.
Clouds are, of course, made up of meringue, with storm-clouds flavored with licorice or treacle or even cinnamon. Adults will say they’re made of evaporated water, of course, but adults are silly and never properly value sweets, so you can’t trust their opinion.
I wrote the above, but it could fit into one of her stories. She makes up facts like this regularly, then tells the reader that everyone will claim that she’s lying, but she isn’t. The rest of the world is lying. I'll welcome a book encouraging kids to think for themselves any day of the week. I can't get into a story that tells kids to believe their (silly) lies despite what anyone else says. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but the world has too many people happy to accept "alternate facts."
Alas, but were that the biggest thing I didn’t like from this book.
The Fiery Dragon begins as such:
The little white Princess always woke in her little white bed when the starlings began to chatter in the pearl-grey morning. As soon as the woods were awake, she used to run up the twisting turret-stairs with her little bare feet, and stand on the top of the tower in her white bed-gown, and kiss her hands to the sun […] and say “Good morning pretty world!”
If you’re instantly on edge due to the use of the word “white” in that paragraph … your radar is on point. Several pages later, we meet the Princess’s cousin:
“He was a false prince, with a skin like leather, and hair like hearth-brushes, and a heart like a stone.”
So we’ve got an evil prince with leather-like skin, hearth-brush-like hair, who is awful in every single way, who also hunts with a pack of hippos rather than dogs.
... Yeah. That’s racist AF.
A quick google of “E. Nesbit racism” corroborates the undeniable racism of that story and highlights the racism and antisemitism that appears to be fairly common across her works.
I guess the one nice thing about the older children’s books like this is that their racism is somehow overt, limited, and easily delineated. They could be an excellent tool for beginning those more difficult conversations about racism with children.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
December 6, 2019
Los dragones son los protagonistas de este pequeño recopilatorio de cuentos de Edith Nesbit. En total, El último dragón y otros cuentos está compuesto por cinco relatos de corte infantil, muy sencillos y con una ambientación muy fresca. A mí me ha parecido simplemente entretenido, aunque como viene ilustrado, al menos lo he disfrutado más por sus bonitos dibujos.
April 1, 2024
I'm impressed by these stories. I expected them to be on-par with CS Lewis, Carroll and Kipling, but they’re funnier and more beautiful. All of them flip or break open the traditions of dragon tales. All the princesses are smarter than the princes. None of the dragons are really cruel. Many animals are quite happy where they are, folded in the pages of a book, and grownups who tell children only moth *larvae* eat clothes will, when children aren't around, talk to other grownups as if the moths *themselves* do the eating.
Nesbit is instructive but respectful, upholding social manners and customs while criticising them (including schooling, clothiers, prime ministers and 'Bory Tories') like a Saki for younger readers. I note these are from 1899, but feel more recent. They coincided with Saki's first published story and far pre-date Narnia & The Hobbit.
Nesbit is instructive but respectful, upholding social manners and customs while criticising them (including schooling, clothiers, prime ministers and 'Bory Tories') like a Saki for younger readers. I note these are from 1899, but feel more recent. They coincided with Saki's first published story and far pre-date Narnia & The Hobbit.
April 18, 2017
I would seriously question just how much these fairy tales are written for children. Told in the most sensible British tone you can imagine, putting children from turn of the century England into fantastic situation - E. Nesbit charms and even sometimes teaches a lesson or two in these great little stories that feature dragons.
What I loved most was how the dragons were worked into the time period during which the story was written. Yes, there was the occasional more 'classic' fairy tale - but the the more modern ones were truly fun to read, for the glimpse of a life not really all that long ago, and for how the children and dragons interacted in these modern tales.
Definitely worth tracking down!
What I loved most was how the dragons were worked into the time period during which the story was written. Yes, there was the occasional more 'classic' fairy tale - but the the more modern ones were truly fun to read, for the glimpse of a life not really all that long ago, and for how the children and dragons interacted in these modern tales.
Definitely worth tracking down!
October 3, 2019
An excellent collection of whimsical and humorous short fairytales centered round dragons. Highly enjoyable.
August 4, 2018
Short stories about dragons - not sure I would have liked this even as a child. She’s written many other, much more interesting and engaging books.
April 10, 2022
These stories were charming.
June 30, 2013
I found Last of the Dragons in an anthology used in my Year 3 class as part of their scheme of work.
On her sixteenth birthday, a young princess is due to be tied up and rescued from a dragon by a prince who she will then marry. However, the princess decides that she would rather play a more active role in defeating the dragon, as it is the last of its kind.
She talks her prince into letting her help slay the dragon but at the last minute they decide that it would make more sense to tame the dragon than to kill it.
The book defies the conventions of a traditional tale and it makes a refreshing change to see a damsel, not in distress, but taking control of the situation. In this day and age, it seems to me a far more politically correct portrayal of a woman.
In the scheme of work that the anthology is intended for, the story is used as the basis for a series of lessons which see children predicting what will happen in the story and discussing the conventions of the genre. These are good ways in which the book could be used in English lessons but outside of this, I think that it could be used in a PSHE or history lesson higher up in the school. Children could discuss how the role of women has changed over time and whether or not they think traditional fairy tales are still relevant today.
On her sixteenth birthday, a young princess is due to be tied up and rescued from a dragon by a prince who she will then marry. However, the princess decides that she would rather play a more active role in defeating the dragon, as it is the last of its kind.
She talks her prince into letting her help slay the dragon but at the last minute they decide that it would make more sense to tame the dragon than to kill it.
The book defies the conventions of a traditional tale and it makes a refreshing change to see a damsel, not in distress, but taking control of the situation. In this day and age, it seems to me a far more politically correct portrayal of a woman.
In the scheme of work that the anthology is intended for, the story is used as the basis for a series of lessons which see children predicting what will happen in the story and discussing the conventions of the genre. These are good ways in which the book could be used in English lessons but outside of this, I think that it could be used in a PSHE or history lesson higher up in the school. Children could discuss how the role of women has changed over time and whether or not they think traditional fairy tales are still relevant today.
Read
December 5, 2012If you already have a copy of the author's Complete Book of Dragons, you may want to give this one a miss. Only the title story is different: the others are the same.
The title story reminded me of Patricia Wrede's Dragon books...but probably that should be reversed. The Princess and the Prince negotiate with the dragon. Why people who realize that the dragon is the very last hadn't decided long since that fighting dragons should not be their initiation ordeal is beyond me. The payoff is surprise: but I can't say it was one I found a good one.
As for the other stories, there wouldn't be much point in duplicating them, except that this version is rather better illustrated. I won't be rereading the stories, but I enjoyed flipping through and looking at the illustrations. The illustrator is Erik Blegvad.
The title story reminded me of Patricia Wrede's Dragon books...but probably that should be reversed. The Princess and the Prince negotiate with the dragon. Why people who realize that the dragon is the very last hadn't decided long since that fighting dragons should not be their initiation ordeal is beyond me. The payoff is surprise: but I can't say it was one I found a good one.
As for the other stories, there wouldn't be much point in duplicating them, except that this version is rather better illustrated. I won't be rereading the stories, but I enjoyed flipping through and looking at the illustrations. The illustrator is Erik Blegvad.
May 29, 2016
Witty, engaging, original. It’s hard to believe these tales were not written the other day — they read so easily and provide quite as much fun and entertainment today as they must have done when they were first published. Particularly enjoyable were those that twisted the conventional antagonism of the dragons, but even those which played with that convention broke others. ‘Last of the Dragons’ boasts wonderful feminist strength, something I’ve come to expect more in modern literature.
Bravo, Nesbit!
Bravo, Nesbit!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews