Yatterings

The Minnipins (republished as the first part in a series, The Whisper of Glocken (Carol Kendall’s Tales of the Minnipins) ) is an odd book from an American author, Carol Kendall, but one which reflects the debate in the US about joining the Second World War. Heavily influenced by Tolkien’s Hobbit, the Minnipins live in a secluded valley which is peaceful, having left their old lives behind entirely. Only one Minnipin has left the valley, Old Fooley via balloon, but he is normally seen as an idiot and his attempt to engage with the modern world is rebuffed.

Years later, Walter the Earl finds Old Fooley’s treasure, sets of suits of armour and weapons, despite Fooley’s heirs deliberately trying to ignore the war-like past. Whilst Walter tries to work out what the sword is and how to use, Ltd., who is Mayor, is more concerned with winning the trophy for the best village. Muggles, equally an outsider through her untidiness (Minnipins are extremely tidy), joins Walter as they leave the village to its own devices and go up river on a raft where they see fires in the mountains that presage the return of the Mushrooms. (A section that echoes very strongly the trip into the Goblins in the Mountains when Bilbo meets Gollum down to the sword glowing in the presence of enemies.) When they return, the outlaws need to persuade the village that the Mushrooms are approaching and that they must fight. In the aftermath, the village manages to win the trophy which is left in the square.

At one level its obvious that this is a slight re-working of the US entry into the war, which was only forced after Pearl Harbour. Like Tolkien, Kendall celebrates the idyllic life but sees the need to defend it from external threats. It is an active book, rather than passively coming into contact with it, marking the generational change in perspective which the war provoked and enabled. The Minnipins does not have the bite of the Oz’s remaking the fairy tale or James Thurber’s writing as it is less critical and still influenced by the cosy myth making of Tolkien.

Carol Kendall, The Minnipins (J.M Dent, London, 1959)