The Adventurous Elves: An Authoritative Fairy Story

This book is complete and unabridged and as per its original format. "The Adventurous Elves: An Authoritative Fairy Story" is a series of six short stories, following the adventures of the elves Chit, Chat, and Chut: the continuing characters of the elves tie the separate stories together. And now... the deep dive discovery about this lost childen's classic: Yansell's pen and ink illustrations for "The Adventurous Elves,:" clearly connect fairyland to the Australian bush. The elves and fairies appear overshadowed by the scale of the landscape, and are not the focal point of the images. This is seen in "Father Jack closed one eye" [Page 11], which depicts two kookaburras perched on the branch of a gumtree, with the three elves—Chit, Chat and Chut—standing at a tree trunk in the bottom left hand side of the image. Although featuring the mystical elves, Yansell did not choose to focus on them, or to exploit the curious characteristics of the kookaburras (who, in the story, can talk). Instead, the elves and kookaburras blend into the Australian landscape, suggesting that they are not out of place. Also drawing on Australian bush mythology, author May Lillian Paten's story features a lost five-year-old girl named Ariel who, being a child, can see the elves. "Ariel crossed the log bridge" [Page 23] brings to life the scene of Ariel coming across the elves in their outback hideaway. Here Waller emphasized the elves' connection to the landscape by depicting them camouflaged by the natural flora and fauna. In the image it is Ariel (dressed in the fashion of the 1920s), not the elves, who seems out of place. Yansell employed similar sweeping line work to create the elves' costumes as she does the grasses and plants. As in "Father Jack closed one eye", the inclusion of a gum tree and other native Australian plants firmly locates the scene in Australia.