The Gypsy Queen: A Tale Based on Bulgarian and Turkish Legends

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

The Gypsy Queen is a collection of Bulgarian and Turkish legends edited
to follow a single storyline. A young Bulgarian prince falls in love
with a beautiful Gypsy girl. After the usual objections from his father,
the king, he eventually marries her and they live a fairy-tale existence
together. A legend itself, this tale is used as a springboard for
further stories, generally told to their children by either the prince
(later king) or his consort. Each story has a moral that is matched to a
particular child. For example, when a character mistreats an animal, he
is made to see the error of his ways through a story about the strong
protecting the weak.

Although the book is aimed at 12– to 15-year-olds, it is much too
childishly written for that age group (8– to 10-year-olds would be a
more suitable readership). It has a saccharine sweetness that would
definitely be too unbelievable and cloying for teenagers. Family life is
too perfect and idealistically conceived. The characters seem to exist
in a never-never land that has very little in common with the
traditionally robust nature of myths and legends. Part of the problem
may be that The Gypsy Queen was originally written in French, and the
tone may have suffered in translation. Not a first-choice purchase.