"With one bound they leaped into his boat. . . . his boat went down miles deep in the sea."

In the chair’s story “Sour and Civil,” a young fisherman named Civil finds himself whisked down into the world of merpeople. This piece illustrates the fear and wonder of this moment; once again, physicality is present in the way Civil grips the boat and the group’s clothing and hair billow in the wind (or rather, water). Civil stares determinedly ahead to caverns outside the reader’s view.

Katharine Pyle

"Sour and Civil" in Granny's Wonderful Chair and its Tales of Fairy Times by Frances Browne

E.P. Dutton & Co.

1916