…I use to read when I was a child. It’s been many years, but I think about this book from time to time, and it bugs me that I can’t remember the name. I’ll give the plot as best I can remember, and if anybody here knows what I’m talking about, please give me the title of the book. Thank you.
OK, there’s a king, who lost his kingdom (I don’t remember how), so he goes in search of finding a new one. Along the way he makes some friends on his search. One of them can turn into an elephant, one of them into fire, and two or three more who can turn into other things, but I forget what now. Anyway, they come to a kingdom and shown a huge room and is told that if he can eat all the food in the room, and drink all of the barrels of water, or maybe it was wine, anyway, if he could do that, he could Marry the princess. So he asks if his friends can help, then, when they’re shut in the room, the guy who can turn into an elephant, does so and drinks out of all of the barrels. The guy who can turn into fire disintegrates all of the food, even the bones. And there’s some other stuff with the other guys, but like I said, it’s been a long time and I don’t remember much. So anyway, of course, the king marries the princes, and everybody lives happily ever after.
Joel,
I have absolutely NO idea what book this is, but just wanted to tell you that you would probably have better luck asking something like this over in Cafe Society…I have seen some obscure stuff identified over there ever-so-quick. Good Luck!
bella
I don’t know the title of the book either but the plot sounds very much it came from a myth from Norse mythology.
In the myth, Thor and Loki as well as some other traveler they pick up along the way find themselves in the castle of one of the Frost giants. (There were a few adventures prior to this and I believe they took on the traveler because he broke the bone of one of the goats they had for dinner who was to be brought back to life later. ANYway…)
At the castle the visitors are given a number of challenges. Loki has an eating contest with one of the giants and loses. The boy runs a foot race with another and loses. Thor is asked to lift a cat off of the floor which he can’t. He is also asked to drink and empty a flask which he can barely make a dent in. He also unsuccessfully tries to wrestle an old hag.
Well, as you can guess, the giants had cast some sort of spell making the gods unaware of the true nature of their challenges.
Loki’s eating contest was against fire which consumed not only the food but the table on which it was sitting.
The boy was racing against thought (or something like that).
Thor was attempting to lift the world serpent and to drink from the sea which explains the difficulty he naturally faced. The crone he wrestled against was actually time.
I may have gotten some of the details wrong but I would suggest you find any anthology on Norse mythology and you can find the myth in its entirety.
No, I’m a big fan of Norse mythology and that story isn’t what I’m thinking of. The story I’m thinking of may have been inspired by it, but it is a different story.
Thank you for the suggestion.
Doesn’t ring a bell with me, Joel, but if you’d like I’ll pass it along to several of my work colleagues (librarians). If they don’t know they can post in on children’s and YA (young adult) lit listservs. Might take a while but in the wide world of avid readers somebody will recognize it.
Veb
P.S. I would NOT reference your screenname or the Dope in any way, just put the request under my name and pass along any results.
The young man with a heart of gold (sometimes a young prince) who picks up a variety of bizarre servants during his quest…one with amazing vision, one who never gets burned, one who can consume vast quantities of food and drink, etc…is a recurring motif in fairy tales around the world. They usually end up with the kid bedding the princess.
Some versions are nice enough to let us know that the new young king rewards his servants handsomely; most just let them slink back to the freak show.
Oscar Wilde used this plotline in one of his stories for children, as did Terry Gilliam in his film THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.
There’ve been dozens of picture books and other juvenile titles over the last couple decades which use this theme, most notably THE FOOL OF THE WORLD AND THE FLYING SHIP, first published around 1969-70 and still in print, quite an accomplishment for a picture book. THE SEVEN CHINESE BROTHERS goes back to the 1930s…while it’s not exactly the same plot, it also uses wacky superpowers in the story.
I just read a variant to my son the other night: a short story included in the old (1965) Helen Hoke anthology WITCHES, WITCHES, WITCHES. Kid picks up Glutton, Drinker, and Freezer. When I get back home I’ll check the source of that one for you.
Well, that’s ok. If there’s a lot of stories because there’s a lot of variations on the same theme then I won’t worry about it. Anyway, I didn’t realize that this was a recurring theme, I think that’s kind of interesting. Thanks for letting me know.