The King's Head
A collection of retold folk-tales.
The night before battle, King Penda asks his storyteller, Egil, for a tale to pass the time.
Egil, out of sorts, refuses - but promises to tell a story the next night, after the battle.
King Penda loses the battle, and is captured...
A monk, Brother Dominic, wanders the battlefield with a lantern, hoping to help the wounded. A voice calls for help, but when he reaches the spot, he finds a severed head.
It's Egil's head, and it begs the monk to take it to King Penda, so Egil can keep his promise, and tell the King a final story.
The monk takes the head to his abbot, who gives it to a lord, who has it tell a story for his daughter... The Head tells story after story, hoping eventually to be carried to its King...
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Susan Price
Susan Price (born 1955) is an English author of children's and young-adult novels. She has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize for British children's books.
Price was born in Dudley, West Midlands, and still lives in the Black Country.
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