PADRE PORKO: THE GENTLEMANLY PIG

By Robert Davis '03, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg, and published by Holiday House, 1939. $2.

From the dim mists of Spanish folklore Mr. Davis has brought to America a grand new character for children (or grownups for that matter) Padre Porko. "Once, long ago, the men knew less and the animals knew more. Everything that moved and breathed lived together as one family. The ruler of the man tribe was king. The ruler of the animals was Padre Porko. But both the king and the Padre Porko wanted all beings, from the biggest to the smallest, to feel like brothers toward one another. This was very long ago. The Padre came to Spain with the Irish, hundreds of years before the Romans and the Arabs, and such quarrelsome people. He loved our beautiful wide plains, the clear air of the hills, our swift river, our sunny valleys, our forests of oak and pine, the ocean that pounds its shore. And the good Padre has lived with us ever since, as the best friend of every Spaniard."

Mr. Davis heard the stories about this Celtic pig while acting as correspondent in Spain for the New York Herald Tribune in 1937-1939. and in this book he has set them down. Padre Porko, with kindliness and good sense, solves all difficulties with the help of his animal friends, Mrs. Furrynose, Judge Fork-Tongue, Widow Hedge-Hog, and all other members of the animal kingdom. He rights wrongs, spreads good deeds with the lavishness of a Don Quixote. In fact Padre Porko's manners and dress are those of an oldfashioned cavalier. In prose and verse Mr. Davis tells his charming tales, finely tipped with a moral, as are the fables of Aesop. An outstanding children's book.

Well designed, and cleverly and genially illustrated, this charming volume should have a wide sale. My five year old son reacted as favorably as I did.