Shaggy Dragon Story

SIR HENRY (187 pp.)--Robert Nathan --Knopf ($3).

The dragon was a scaly monster with a forked tongue and hooked claws. He politely requested the knight's identity. "I am Henry of Brentwood, knight," the knight replied. "My father was Sir Tiffany of The Glen, and my mother was an enchantress."

"Nonsense," said the dragon. "Your mother was a kitchen wench . . ."

"She enchanted my father," said Sir Henry simply, "and the enchantment was strong enough to bring me into the world."

With that, Sir Henry tried to charge, but his nervous horse backed away. Soon the dragon was spitting clouds of smoke and fire. As the monster opened his mouth wide, horse and rider were so scared that the knight dropped his spear--right into the dragon's mouth. It killed the beast stone-cold dead before you could as much as say Saint George.

That was only the beginning of Sir Henry's troubles. By slaying the dragon, he, of course, won the damsel. Lady Alisane, the dragon's ward, had been idly waiting around to be rescued, and as soon as the battle ended, she stepped forward and offered her knight some tea.

Second Maid. The world of Sir Henry was made by Novelist Robert (Portrait of Jennie) Nathan. It is located at the intersection where whimsy and satire collide. It is a slap-happy world, in a well-bred way, where the fish are philosophical. "There are creatures beyond us; for I have seen their shadows," says a trout to a nonbelieving chum, who thinks all there is beyond is an absence of water. "Do they lay eggs?" asks the chum. "They are altogether spiritual." says the trout. As for the dogs, they are even better than the fish. They are romantic. "If you had wings," a he dog murmurs to a she dog, "you would be an angel."

The animal Author Nathan is really aiming at, of course, is man; in the shape of Sir Henry, he makes a fine target. No longer young, prudent Sir Henry is just a run-of-the-mill knight who wears old-fashioned armor, travels with a hot-water bottle and suffers from nosebleed after battle. Head up, though run down after his encounter with the dragon, he is lucky enough to beat the daylights out of another knight and win a second fair maid. This doubles his troubles. With two women to choose between, Sir Henry becomes the eternal, quintessential male -- totally incapable of making up his mind as he holds on to both of them.

Suburban Bliss. Sir Henry is sufficiently tired to realize that his quest is not for glory and the Grail, but for the cozy security of a small castle with a hot-and-cold-running moat. But once he finds his medieval version of suburban bliss and the itinerant menage `a trois settles down, he feels he is committed to being a hero. So off he rides again on his trusty steed, this time to face the greatest foe a man can have: himself. It is a battle that Satirist Nathan does not allow his Every man to win.

Novelist Nathan is that literary oddity, a lineal descendant of James Branch Cabell. Their type of gently spoofing, satirical fantasy is not much in vogue these days, but Author Nathan is an expert practitioner of the genre. His touch is light, his fish are intelligent, and his dogs and dragons are shaggy.

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