A Celtic folktale of a young man who gets a lot of help from a magical black horse.

This book tells the story of a prince named Tim and his only friend, a black horse. The two must fall under the spell of the horrible Sea King. The Sea King forces them to bring him a princess from the mountains to be his bride. The princess has her own plans, however.She sends Tim and the black horse on three quests to delay her marriage and defeat the Sea King. ( )

Long. I do not care for the illustrations. The friendship with the horse is wonderful, but the way they get rid of the sea king makes no sense. ( )

This Celctic folktale is about a young man, Tim, who receives help from a magical horse. He is under the spell of the Sea King, andd needs his horse companion's help to succeed in each task. He is able to perform each duty and pleases the Sea King. However, the princess, that Tim was able to capture for the Sea King, has a plan of her own. In the end, Tim realizes his black horse was indeed the brother of the princess all along. ( )

Originally collected on the Scots island of Barra by noted folklorist and scholar J.F. Campbell - best known for his four volume Popular Tales of the West Highlands - this magical tale follows the story of an impoverished young king's son, his adventures with an enchanted black horse, his enslavement by the evil Sea King, and the many quests which eventually win him the hand of the Princess of the Mountains. Like many Scots tales, it is set in a mythological Ireland, one in which princes and princesses interact with the monsters and fairies of the ancient Celtic tradition.

I enjoyed this story of boy and horse immensely, and appreciated that they were each - horse and boy - characters in their own right. My online friend Chandra has already noted, in her own excellent review, some of the folkloric parallels here, from the ancient Greek myth of Pegasus and Belleraphon, to the Russian tale of the Golden Mare (often found in the Firebird stories). I myself saw some some similarities between the Sea King in this tale, and the ruler of the Fomorians, as presented in ancient Celtic lore, a clear indication - as Mayer notes in her brief foreword - of the mythological antecedents of The Black Horse.

The artwork - credited here to Katie Thamer, who, as Katie Thamer Treherne, has illustrated such works as Tatsinda and The Little Mermaid - was something of a disappointment. The faces, in particular, looked rather flat to me. Otherwise, I heartily recommend this book to all young folklore and mythology lovers, especially those with an interest in Celtic lore, and thank my goodreads friend Chandra for pointing me to it. ( )