Horn Book Review
At the urging of Saint Patrick, who appears in his dreams, a good-hearted peddler travels to Dublin and hears of a treasure that lies buried under his own hearth. Hodges combines elements from several sources in the smoothly written tale. The acrylic paintings, with their special attention to light and dark, provide a distinctive portrayal of the Irish setting. Information about Saint Patrick is included. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Reshaping a tale found in both Jacobs's More English Fairy Tales and Sawyer's The Way of the Storyteller (as she explains in an excellent note), Hodges creates a briefer, more accessible tale retaining enough of Sawyer's Irish lilt for a pleasing flavor. A generous peddler has given away so much that he's destitute. Going to bed hungry--in his cabin near Ballymena, where Saint Patrick once lived--he dreams that the saint sends him to Dublin, where ``you will hear what you were meant to hear.'' After the saint's third dream-visitation, the peddler complies and meets a Dubliner who scoffs at his own three dreams- -about a treasure back in Ballymena, where the peddler duly finds it. In Sawyer's tale, he builds a chapel for weary travelers; here, the still-generous peddler's wealth allows him to have a beautiful wife and children, but the updated conclusion doesn't really change the story's essential tenor. Johnson renders an idyllic countryside in the spirit of Constable, but the romantic landscapes don't overwhelm the story (as Thomas Locker's tend to do); rather, they make a dramatic setting for the lively, effectively characterized figures. An auspicious blend of appealing story and engaging visual interpretation. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-10)
Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. A poor peddler from Ballymena has an old iron pot with a Latin inscription he can't read. When young Danny, a village lad, asks what the inscription says, the peddler encourages the boy to learn to read. For three consecutive nights during the potato famine, Saint Patrick appears in a dream urging the peddler to go to Dublin and listen on the bridge over the River Liffey. Hungry, tired, and penniless, the peddler travels the long, hard road to Dublin. After waiting in vain on the bridge, he is approached by a butcher who has watched him all day. The butcher says he, too, has had three nightly visits from Saint Patrick--his telling him to travel to Ballymena and dig under a pot in a cabin to discover riches. Returning to his cabin in great haste, the peddler discovers buried gold. Soon Danny arrives now able to translate the inscription: "Here I stand, old and good, With something better under me." Johnson's lovely acrylic paintings display the Irish countryside and the city of Dublin with a strong sense of place. The muted colors match the overall tone of the story, and the eerie ghost of Saint Patrick adds a dramatic touch. The book begins with a brief translation from "Saint Patrick's Breastplate." A biography of Saint Patrick and an author's note on the story origins are appended. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1993)0531054896Deborah Abbott
