Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison

I have no idea how long this lovely little book has been sitting unregarded on a bookshelf in the hall. This book is a reprint ('87) and it has that lovely aged paper smell to it but nothing to indicate from whence it came. I might have scooped it up at a library book sale or elsewhere because of the cover. (I've always loved the Unicorn tapestries.) I haven't a clue of its provenance though. 

But how glad I am it fell off the shelf into my hand when I was looking for something else! And how glad I am to know about Mitchison, who lived to 101 and wrote over seventy books.

Travel Light is a kind of fairy tale -- the good kind that adults as well as young readers can enjoy. It's the story of Halla, a king's daughter cast out by her new stepmother. She is brought up by bears and later by dragons, from whom she learns a proper dislike of heroes -- handsome young men with swords who slay dragons. Then she meets the All-Father, Odin the Wanderer, who gives her a piece of his cloak, sets her on a unicorn, and bids her to travel light.

This is such a delightful story -- it reminds me of Neil Gaiman and I wonder if he's read Mitchison.  And I can't wait for Josie to read it when she's a bit older. Halla is the independent, hero-shunning, tough sort of princess I can admire. And hope that Josie will too.