Once on a Time

The first edition was illustrated by Charles Robinson, with a colour-plate frontispiece and black-and-white line drawings.

Ostensibly a typical fairytale, it tells the story of the war between the kingdoms of Euralia and Barodia and the political shenanigans which take place in Euralia in the king's absence, all supposedly rewritten by Milne from the writings of the fictional historian "Roger Scurvilegs".

Milne created the story to contain believable, three-dimensional characters, rather than the stereotypes which will satisfy children.

Hence the book introduces us to a princess who is far from helpless; a prince who, whilst handsome, is also pompous and vain; an enchantment which is almost entirely humorous; a villain who is not entirely villainous and receives no real comeuppance; a good king who is not always good; an evil king who is not always evil, and so on.

The book was written by Milne partly for his wife, upon whom the character of the Countess Belvane was partially based.

When the King of Barodia receives a pair of seven-league boots as a birthday present, his first barely controlled attempts to use the boots has him flying over the King of Euralia's castle more than eighteen times during breakfast.

This naturally provokes a series of incidents which escalate into war.