Grabianski Is Magical 3.28.2009 Poem by Margaret Alice

Don’t be fooled when reading fairytales,
for every one there are a millions variations;
Meredith Press’ “Perrault’s Classic French
Fairy Tales” contain cold outline translations,
without flowery language

In “The Fairies” the nasty daughter who spit snakes
and frogs when she talked, died alone, yet she was
only driven from home to live alone in Len Strydom’s
Afrikaans translation based on Jane Carruth’s “The
Giant All-Colour Book of Fairy Tales”

Meredith Press has Red Riding Hood getting
eaten by the wolf, whereas Jane Carruth has
a handsome woodcutter save her; one should
shop around to find the version that suits your
palate most; but

While the Meredith illustrations by impressionist
Janusz Grabianski are magical, the drawings by
different artists in the Afrikaans version are
ever so boring….

Len Strydom “Die Groot Sprokie-Omnibus”
Human & Rousseau 1975