The Little Lame Prince: More Than a Little Lame

When I started re-reading the beginning of The Little Lame Prince (also known as The Little Lame Prince and His Travelling Cloak) by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, I was trying to remember why I never finished the book when I first recieved it from a white elephant auction in fifth grade. The book, short with a pink cover and time yellowed pages, had been sitting on my "too read" pile of fantasy books for years before I picked it up again, but I did remember reading the beginning, and then stopping; something rather unusual for me, because even when a book is bad, I do like to see how it turns out.

I was not left long in suspense. The book is written from the second person perspective or "point of view," which in this particular case was a strike against it, because in the supposed "re-telling" of the story, there was far too much of the author's opinion thrown in between the actual events for it to sound like more than a dry commentary that was trying to be witty. How it ever ended up among some lists of classic bedtime literature I'll never know, unless it is because it's ultimate goal of putting young ones to sleep was achieved by boring them into slumber. It was just so annoying, the chatty way it was told, that I found myself skipping entire pages or paragraphs just to try and wade through cute little anecdotes and conjecture to find something meaningful or exciting. The book itself is no more than 140 pages and still I didn't think I could finish it.

The story begins with a prince who, dropped on the way to his christening, becomes lame for the rest of his life. After the deaths of his parents, his uncle usurps the prince's throne and sends the prince to live in a tower without doors (I am reminded of Rapunzel and also a certain Greek myth about a king's daughter who was wooed by Zeus who appeared to her as a beam of light) and is aided in his persuit of learning about himself and the world around him by his fairy godmother, who names him Dolor. Aided by his godmother and his own inquisitive mind, the prince gains wisdom to surmount the challenges his useless legs have brought him, and the courage to return to his kingdom of Nomansland after the death of his uncle.

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