The Little White Horse: Week 2

Thoughts and Illustrations for Serena, Robin, Marmaduke & Sir Wrolf in chapters 4-6

The colorful cover of the Knight Books edition of The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

““He was just the same, just as he had been in her dream the night before. He had not changed at all since those days when he had come to play with her in the Square garden…

'Robin!' she cried reproachfully. 'Why did you leave off coming to the Square garden?'

'We were getting too old for those children's games,' he said… ‘It was better to go away before you began to be bored. I knew you'd come to Moonacre. I knew I'd see you again. You won't be bored by what we have to do together here — my word, you won't! You'll be frightened, but you won't be bored.'

"What are we going to do together here?" demanded Maria.”

🌿 Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse, ch 4

As I reread The Little White Horse this month, I keep thinking that here we have a book that is a high-potency concentrate of Goudge’s most beloved themes and symbols. After the hard work of writing during the 1930’s and 40’s, after commercial success with Green Dolphin Street and sixteen other published works, Goudge was able to distill into The Little White Horse all that she held most dear to share with her readers, young and old.

Here we find contrasts between light and dark, cozy scenes of home and hearth, scrumptious food, and the love of animals and the natural world that fill all of her stories.

We also find her love for the church, a holy well, and her desire for her flawed characters to find love and peace through self-sacrifice.

In short, I have noticed many similar themes, symbols, and even character types in The Little White Horse that are also in Goudge’s adult fiction. In this book she clearly and concisely shares, with the heart of a child, the goodness and peace that is at the center of all of her writing. It is in coming to her tale as a child that we are really able to partake of this rich feast.

As it was observed by Madeleine L’Engle:

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Quotes & illustrations for chapters 3-6 by C Walter Hodges

Today we have a feast of illustrations, quotes and images to illustrate The Little White Horse. The drawings are taken from two different editions. First up is the Coward & McCann first edition of The Little White Horse, and next the paperback from Knight Books: