The Magic World is an influential collection of twelve short stories by E. Nesbit

E. Nesbit

Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published 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...

. It was first published in book form in 1912

1912 in literature

The year 1912 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Virginia Stephen marries Leonard Woolf.*Frieda von Richthofen meets D. H. Lawrence.-New books:*Mary Antin - The Promised Land*L...

 by Macmillan and Co. Ltd., with illustrations by H. R. Millar

H. R. Millar

Harold Robert Millar was a prominent and prolific Scottish graphic artist and illustrator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is best known for his illustrations of children's books and fantasy literature...

 and Gerald Spencer Pryse

Gerald Spencer Pryse

-Biography:Born at Ashton, he studied in London and Paris, and first won success at the Venice International Exhibition in 1907. In the same year, he joined the Fabian Society, and helped to found The Neolith, a periodical of literature and the fine arts; the journal was printed in lithography...

. The stories, previously printed in magazines (like Blackie's Children's Annual), are typical of Nesbit's arch, ironic, clever fantasies for children.

The twelve stories in the collection are:

• "The Cat-hood of Maurice" — a boy abuses the family cat, and learns to see things from the feline point of view.
• "The Mixed Mine" — two boys find a magic spyglass, and use it to make their fortunes.
• "Accidental Magic" — Quentin falls asleep on the altarstone at Stonehenge
  Stonehenge
  Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
  
  , and wakes in Atlantis
  Atlantis
  Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
  
  .
• "The Princess and the Hedge-pig" — King Ozymandias and Queen Eliza plan a secret christening for their Princess Ozyliza, to avoid a wicked fairy's curse. Things go awry.
• "Septimus Septimusson" — he is the seventh son of a seventh son, who can see fairies and hear the beasts speak; and he must seek his fortune.
• "The White Cat" — a boy finds a china ornament in the attic; it proves to be a magic talisman.
• "Belinda and Bellamant" — they are a princess and prince suffering curses; a talking bat helps resolve their problems.
• "Justnowland" — Elsie visits a magic land of giant crows, and a dragon.
• "The Related Muff" — a sensitive boy, dismissed as a "muff" by his cousins, proves himself a hero in a crisis.
• "The Aunt and Amabel" — a girl enters a magic world through a wardrobe.
• "Kenneth and the Carp" — unjustly accused, a boy transforms into a fish and redeems his honor.
• "The Magician's Heart" — an evil magician distributes curses at royal christenings. Complications ensue.

The story "The Aunt and Amabel" has received attention as a precursor of C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

's first Narnia novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. "Accidental Magic" has been seen as exerting an influence on J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

. Conversely, Nesbit's "Justnowland" displays the influence of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

's Alice in Wonderland.

Elisabeth Beresford

Elisabeth Beresford

Elisabeth 'Liza' Beresford, MBE was a British author of children's books, best known for creating The Wombles. Born into a family with many literary connections, she worked as a journalist but struggled for success until she created the Wombles in the 1960s...

's 1964 book Awkward Magic was published in the United States under the title The Magic World. Beresford has been identified as an imitator of Nesbit.

Nesbit's little girls tend to get in trouble over their efforts at gardening. Elsie in "Justnowland" uproots turnip plants she mistakes for weeds; Amabel cuts chrysanthemum blossoms from a greenhouse and tries to plant them in a flower bed. Stories in the collection feature talking animals and human/animal transformation, with implications regarding animal welfare and avoidance of mistreatment. The opening story is the most explicit in its message against cruelty to animals.

Selected quotes

• Dr Strongitharm's was a school for "backward and difficult boys." Need I say more? — "The Cat-hood of Maurice"

• There is no moral to this story, except...But no — there is no moral. — "The Mixed Mine"

• But it's no good. King's sons aren't what they used to be. A silly lot they are nowadays, all taken up with football and cricket and golf. — "Septimus Septimusson"

• And Sep and his dear Princess are as happy as they deserve to be. Some people say we are all as happy as we deserve to be — but I am not sure. — "Septimus Septimusson"

• There is nothing more luxurious than eating while you read — unless it be reading while you eat. Amabel did both: they are not the same thing, as you will see if you think the matter over. — "The Aunt and Amabel"

• We are The People who Understand. And now you are one of Us. — "The Aunt and Amabel"

• And the house was surrounded by a real deep moat, with clear water in it, and long weeds and water-lilies and fish — the gold and the silver and the everyday kinds. — "Kenneth and the Carp"

• And so the story ends with love and a wedding, and showers of white roses. — "The Magician's Heart"

External links

• Free audiobook from LibriVox