When my dear friend Stilo asked if I’d read The Land of Green Ginger, I said no but thought she was talking about the Winifred Holtby novel of that name. I also haven’t read The Land of Green Ginger (1937) by Noel Langley, but it had the added distinction that I hadn’t heard of it. I’d only heard of Langley’s novel Cage Me a Peacock, and had read nothing by him – and was only about 70% sure he was a man.
Well, Stilo said she and her mum loved it, and lent me her copy – illustrated by the wonderful Edward Ardizzone. It’s a sort of sequel to Aladdin, about his son Abu Ali (who can talk from birth).
“I understand you called the Queen Mother a Button-Nosed Tortoise?” he inquired.
“That’s not quite true,” replied his SOn and Heir politely. “I only said she had a Face like One.”
“He only said you had a Face like One, Mamma,” Aladdin explained weakly.
“And what right had he to say even that?” demanded the Widow Twankey indignantly. “Even if there were such a thing as a Button-Nosed Tortoise; he hasn’t seen one!”
“True,” agreed the Son and Heir, “but I’d know him as soon as I saw him!”
“How?” the Widow Twankey challenged him.
“It’d look like you,” said the Son and Heir simply.
Fast forward a bit and as a young man, he has to go on a quest to win the love of a fair maiden. Yes, it’s a children’s book – but it’s extremely funny. I love any author who can get humour from mixing tones successfully. Playing with the expectations of register, and distorting them, is the sort of whimsical wit that I rush towards – and The Land of Green Ginger was great fun. I’m keen to see what other sorts of things Langley wrote…