Kisington Town

"Once upon a time there was a peaceful Kingdom .… In one corner of the Kingdom …. was the pretty little Town of Kisington, where a great many strange things had happened in the past, the chronicles of which filled the town library …. On the High Street of Kisington lived a boy named Harold, …. the son of a poor widow… [who] was determined that her son should be a scholar, because he liked books …. though Harold liked to read to himself, he liked quite as well to read aloud …. his voice was agreeable and he read simply and naturally, without any gestures or tremulous tones, without pulling queer faces such as make listeners want to sink through the floor with embarrassment …. there was nobody in Kisington, not even the Librarian himself, who was so good a reader as Harold."

One day, Kissington is invaded by Red Rex, the bloodthirsty king of a neighbouring kingdom. The citizens send for help from their own King, but that will take several days to reach them. To buy time, the Librarian and Mayor send their best reader to distract Red Rex, Scheherazade-like, with stories about Kissington. This is the story of how young Harold rescued his kingdom. (Summary by Abbie Farwell Brown and Winnifred Assmann)