Puck

On Midsummer's Eve, Dan and Una enact A Midsummer Night's Dream three times over—right under Pook's Hill. That is how they meet Puck, “the oldest Old Thing in England,” and the last of the People of the Hills. Through Puck, they are introduced to the nearly forgotten pages of old England's history and to characters that can illuminate their own historical predicaments. The god Weland is freed from an unwanted heathen immortality by a novice monk, Hugh, who goes on to become a warrior and leader. The centurion, Parnesius, shows an insight that is absent from the higher echelons of the declining Roman Empire in cooperating with the Picts. Originally published in 1906, these ten stories and accompanying poems were intended for both adults and children.

Puck of Pook's Hill is an innocent and charming book that takes the listener on a journey through English history with a series of short, fantastical works. When two children happen across an ancient shrine, they unintentionally summon an impish sprite named Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow. To their wonderment, the fairy conjures up the past, taking them on ten magical adventures. They visit Roman Britain and the legion guarding Hadrian's Wall, the thirteenth-century court of King John and the Old England from the time of William the Conqueror. Here are stories of lost treasures, epic battles, mysterious cults and daring piracy. Interspersed with Kipling's lyrical poetry, Puck of Pook's Hill is a masterful and magical collection that will stir the imagination.

On Midsummer Eve in a Sussex meadow, Dan and Una act out their version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Suddenly, Puck, as old as Time itself, miraculously appears. The youngsters are swept into the past as Puck conjures up villages of long ago, filled with craftsmen, a Roman centurion, and a Norman knight. Rudyard Kipling's magical tale brings English history dramatically to life to captivate both the young and the young at heart.