Another book for my Around the World project, The Letter for the King (De brief voor de Koning) was published in 1962 by the Dutch author Tonke Dragt. It won the Children’s Book of the Year award in the Netherlands and subsequently in 2004 was chosen as the best Dutch youth book of the latter half of the twentieth century. The book has been translated into over sixteen languages, most recently with an English translation by Laura Watkinson.
It reads like a translation from some other language or some other world, which helps rather than hinders the sense of an otherworldly quest in another time and place. The simplicity of language, sentence structure and plot all remind me of Malory’s Morte D’Arthur. The setting is also Arthurian, but in an imaginary world of three kingdoms, knights with different colored shields and horses, and just a touch of magic and wonder.
Tiuri, a young squire about to become a knight, is interrupted during his overnight vigil which precedes his knighting by a whispered call for help. Tiuri cannot resist the urge to go to the aid despite his promise to keep vigil without talking or leaving the chapel all night. And so Tiuri’s real vigil and real testing begin. The Black Knight with the White Shield who asks for Tiuri’s help gives him a letter to take to the king of a neighboring kingdom. Tiara must keep both the letter and his mission to deliver it secret.
The rest of the book chronicles Tiuri’s journey, both his journey to Unauwen, the kingdom where he is to deliver his secret and vital letter and his journey to manhood and knightly honor and valor. Tiuri learns to keep his word and stay the course, not in a one night vigil, but in many weeks of dangerous travel through treacherous terrain with enemies all about him. He learns to trust the trustworthy, to show kindness even to his enemies, and above all, to remain faithful to his quest.
Those children who enjoy the Arthurian stories as retold by Howard Pyle or Sidney Lanier or Roger Lancelyn Green should enjoy this tale of knights and adventures set in another medieval world similar to the Arthurian one in tone, culture, and values. The underlying moral code and understanding is Christian, with Christian symbols and artifacts such as chapels, a crucifix, monks, and prayers popping up all through the story, even if Christ and Christianity are never mentioned explicitly. Christian values are illustrated in Tiuri’s quest: mercy, faithfulness, love, and courage.
The Letter for the King is a more straightforward, less complicated journey story for fantasy lovers who want a big thick novel but are not quite ready for the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. As a follow-up or companion readalike to the tales of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, this book would be perfect. Ms. Dragt wrote a sequel to A Letter for the King, Geheimen van het Wilde Woud (Secrets of the Wild Woods) in which a grown-up Tiuri has more knightly adventures.