Résumé
Résumé de L’Eau des îles merveilleuses
Go deeper: the whole of L’Eau des îles merveilleuses
About 9 h 30 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who love old-fashioned quests, enchanted places, spirited heroines and medieval fellowship will find a rich world in Birdalone's road from captivity to love, with forest lore at every turn.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
A woman walks through a market with a gray donkey, and she is choosing a child. So begins The Water of the Wondrous Isles, a fantasy romance by William Morris, the English poet, designer and storyteller who died in 1896. Birdalone is stolen as a baby and raised as a servant by a witch between a great lake and a haunted forest. Her road leads through enchanted boats, hidden isles, loyal knights and a wise spirit of the woods, from a cruel household to a warm fellowship of friends.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A child is taken from UtterhayFree
- 2Growing up a servant by the lake
- 3Habundia, the boat and the flight
- 4Strange isles and a great errand
- 5The Castle of the Quest and its champions
- 6Waiting, longing and the Black Valley
- 7Loss, loyalty and a debt to Atra
- 8Home to the wood and its changed isles
- 9What the book is really about
Point clé 1 sur 9
A child is taken from Utterhay
The story opens in the walled market town of Utterhay, beside a vast wood called Evilshaw. Everyone fears that wood. They say devils, ghosts and faerie folk haunt it.
On market day a tall, dark woman with a hooked nose leads a gray donkey through the crowd, watching the children. She finds a starving widow with a two-year-old daughter and offers four gold nobles for a room and an hour of rest. The mother is too poor to refuse.
She sends the mother off to buy bread, meat and wine. The moment she is gone, the stranger lays the child in a donkey pannier and walks toward Evilshaw. Three men see her go, turn their faces away and do nothing. This quiet cruelty in daylight sets the debt the whole book must repay.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of L’Eau des îles merveilleuses
About 9 h 30 min to read.Questions about L’Eau des îles merveilleuses
What is The Water of the Wondrous Isles about?
It tells of Birdalone, a girl stolen as a baby and raised as a servant by a witch. She escapes by an enchanted boat, passes strange islands, joins a company of knights and ladies, and seeks the man she loves.
Who is Habundia in The Water of the Wondrous Isles?
Habundia is a spirit of the wildwood who is not of human race. She looks exactly like Birdalone, and she becomes her friend, teacher and helper, giving her gifts and rescuing her at key moments.
What is the Sending Boat?
The Sending Boat is the witch's enchanted gray ferry. It is woken by smearing blood on bow and stern and speaking a spell, and it then carries its rider across the lake to the wonder isles.
When was The Water of the Wondrous Isles written?
William Morris wrote it as one of his late prose romances, in the 1890s, shortly before his death in 1896. It is an invented tale in the style of medieval romances, not a true story.
Is The Water of the Wondrous Isles easy to read?
The story moves in clear scenes with lively dialogue, and each of its seven parts has a clear focus. The old-style names and settings add a pleasant storybook flavor.
Cite this edition
Morris, William. The Water of the Wondrous Isles. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-water-of-the-wondrous-isles.
Morris, W. (2026). The water of the Wondrous Isles. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-water-of-the-wondrous-isles (Original work published 1897)
Morris, William. The Water of the Wondrous Isles. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-water-of-the-wondrous-isles.
@book{morris2026water,
author = {Morris, William},
title = {The Water of the Wondrous Isles},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-water-of-the-wondrous-isles},
note = {First published 1897}
}