Fierce, Fearless and Free

by Lari Don

  THE LACE DRAGON

  Chinese Folk Tale

  Many stories about strong, brave and clever girls involve spinning or sewing, so I was delighted to find a story where a girl’s skill with thread drags her into a drama with an emperor, a palace and that beautiful terrifying lacy dragon. I found this story in The Moon Maiden and Other Asian Folktales by the Hua Long collective (China Books, San Francisco, 1993). I admit that I invented the lacy mouse; it was a partridge in the source story, but once I’d imagined a delicate lacy mouse, I couldn’t tell it any other way!

  ALTYN ARYG AND THE SNAKE’S BELLY

  Siberian Legend

  When the stories in this book were first told, none of these heroines would have described themselves as feminists, because the word didn’t exist. But Altyn Aryg definitely had to battle against sexism and use all her girl power to impress her dad. He was probably more difficult to deal with than the huge snake… I found this story in the Encyclopaedia of Folk Heroes by Graham Seal (ABC-CLIO, 2001).

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lari Don

  Lari is an award-winning writer for young people of all ages. She loved traditional tales and folklore as a child, and now collects stories of any shape and size, from all sorts of sources, to inspire her novels. Fierce, Fearless and Free is her fifth anthology for Bloomsbury, returning to the theme of her first – the bestselling Girls, Goddesses and Giants. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two fierce, fearless and free daughters.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  Eilidh Muldoon

  When Eilidh isn’t drawing she’s thinking about drawing and she loves nothing more than to immerse herself in the world of traditional stories. Her sketch books are packed with detailed drawings and plots and plans. An illustrator and designer, she loves the variety of working one day on one of her popular colouring books or city-scape prints, and the next on one of Lari’s extraordinary heroines. Fierce, Fearless and Free is her first book for Bloomsbury.

  Also by

  LARI DON

  ISBN: 9781408188224

  A selection of brilliant folk tales about heroines from all around the world. In these stories it’s the girls who save the day through their courage, cunning or kindness – whether they are facing up to wolves, demons, dragons, enemy tribes or the sun itself! Handsome princes need not apply – these girls are doing it for themselves.

  Also by

  LARI DON

  ISBN: 9781472920973

  Have you ever heard of the horse who had gold in his dung, or of the Fire Horse of Hiisi with his mane of gold and red flame and smouldering black hooves? What about the hippogriff, the centaurs and the wise colt?

  This is a collection of stories about warriors, monsters and heroes’ horses and about the origins of horses and people. It is an anthology of stories where horses are magical and stories where horses are the villains; perfect for any horse lover.

  Also by

  LARI DON

  ISBN: 9781472900166

  A selection of folk tales about winter from all around the world. Find out how spiders invented tinsel, what happened when the spring girl beat the hag of winter, why snow is eagles’ feathers, and how a hero with hairy trousers used ice to kill a dragon.

  BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK

  BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  This electronic edition published 2020

  Text copyright © Lari Don, 2020

  Illustrations copyright © Eilidh Muldoon, 2020

  Lari Don and Eilidh Muldoon have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author and Illustrator of this work

  This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN: PB: 978-1-4729-6713-8; ePDF: 978-1-4729-6710-7; ePub: 978-1-4729-6711-4

  Typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India

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