St. John's Eve
Katherine Burdekin's novel for children, published in the USA as The Children's Country, is a fantasy that some have labeled "non-sexist," but there has been little written about what that label means in relation to this work--until now.
The novel begins in Scotland in the present day--the 1930s, when the book was written. The main characters are Donald and Carol. Donald is blond and handsome and very much a boy despite his kilts--he is convinced of his male superiority and lords it a bit over Carol, who is an orphan adopted by Donald's parents. She is brown-haired and sturdy, and doesn't allow Donald to get too full of himself. The relationship of the two is that of a brother and sister, though Carol seems to feel somewhat maternal towards Donald.
The story begins as the two children are playing in a cave they have found and turned into a sort of hideout. It is St John's Eve--a magical time, one of the pre-Christian holy days later taken up by the Church. The children experience the intrusion of magic into their play when a mysterious force causes a pencil that Donald is attempting to write a poem with to suddenly write a message: if the children manage to reach a certain place on a nearby hilltop before sunset, they will have "An Adventure." They decide to go, and upon reaching the hilltop just at the instant the sun sets, they are transported to a very different world.
They have arrived in Fairyland. The first person they meet proves to be the goddess Ceres, but she is in her "winter dress" and appears to be an old woman at this first encounter, and she sets them tasks. Donald is to clean a room, and Carol to milk a cow. Donald objects that it is "girls' work." He manages to do the job properly, and Carol also milks the cow successfully, and both children are given clothes and presents: a comb for Carola and a sword for Donald. The clothes are tunics with sandals--Donald objects to wearing "a girl's dress" and Ceres teases him about the kilts that he was wearing before. The clothes are magical and will never wear out, and if they get dirty, all one has to do is jump into some water and they will be clean and like new again. The children are sent into a Garden by Ceres, who assumes her summer persona, growing into a tall, golden-haired woman with a newborn lamb in her arms, and the children depart from her with a feeling of awe. They meet their Guide, a child named Gillyflower, who informs them that he is neither a boy nor a girl, but a Child, and that the Children own this part of Fairyland. Children appear and disappear for no apparent reason--when they leave or arrive, they do so in secret, and no one ever sees a child who Goes On, just as no one sees a Child when it first comes. They seem to arrive at any age; one Child, named Ray of the Moon, is even a sort of baby-vendor, carrying around a sackful of Babies and offering them to whoever wants one. Babies do not last long; they Go On quite soon. Carol thinks privately that the Children in Fairyland are the souls of children who have died on earth, but this is only a speculation.
Their Guide, Gilly, takes them downriver on a boat (drawn by a River Serpent), when Donald and Carol tell him they want to see more of Fairyland than the Garden. They come to the sea and a city, where they learn that a Night Mare has been tormenting a young man, Corwin, who has committed a crime against the Children and sentenced to be banished from the Children's Country forever. If a Child will stay with him through the night he can be delivered from the Night Mare's visits, and Donald volunteers, though Gilly makes fun of him and Carol objects. During the night, the Goblin that has been the cause of Corwin's criminal behavior appears, and Donald kills it with Ceres' sword, freeing Corwin from his enchantment. This does not make any difference to the Children who rule the country and they insist that Corwin must be banished anyway. Corwin is a prince in his own country and he asks Donald and Carol to go with him, which they do, though Gilly doesn't understand why they want to visit a country full of boring grown-ups.
The Children stay with Corwin for a while and then go adventuring again. Gilly warns Carol about Witch-valleys, where Witches dwell and attempt to lure Children (and grownups) so that the Witches can feed on the life-energy of their victims. Witch-valleys are beautiful--a little TOO beautiful, Gilly says, and the Witches are also lovely and seductive. Donald does not hear the warning, however, and before Carol can tell him, Gilly Goes On. Bereft of their little Guide, Donald and Carol ride (on Talking Horses, of course) to a castle where a Duchess has been enchanted. The remedy is for someone to comb the Duchess's hair all night without stopping. Carol volunteers to try to break the spell, and does so, by combing the Duchess's hair with the comb she was given by Ceres--she does so even though the spell causes the Duchess's hair to turn into loathesome snakes and worms and so on. But Carol succeeds and the Duchess and Duke are so grateful that they ask her to stay with them, and they pamper her so much that she becomes rather lazy.
Donald wants to explore some more, and finally he convinces Carol to let him go on without her. He does so, and falls into a Witch Valley. The Witch is delighted to have such a stron source of life-energy. Meanwhile, Carol realizes--after a visit from Ceres clues her in--that he is in trouble and she goes in search of him. The search takes a long time and is very hard. She finally finds him and must physically carry him from the Valley in order to break the spell. THe Witch confronts Carol and makes Donald choose between them, and Donald chooses the Witch, but Carol seizes him and carries him away. He is free, but very weak and frail, and his hair has grown long, so that Carol teases him about looking like a girl. She, Carol, is quite a bit taller now and much more sturdy, having journeyed so far and under so many difficult circumstances. She now looks much the more boyish of the two.
Ceres appears again and tells them they have been "quite good children," after ascertaining that they have learned a great deal about life and about each other, and learned also to value each other more than before. She sends them back to the hilltop, where they discover that they are just the same as they were before St John's Eve--in the same old clothes, and the same sizes as they were before their Adventure. They leave the hilltop hand in hand, feeling that they have "dreamed a very long dream."