"In a secluded and mountainous part of Stiria, there was, in old time, a valley of the most surprising and luxuriant fertility..."

So beings John Ruskin's story of Treasure Valley, and of Schwartz, Hans, and Gluck, the three brothers to whom it belonged. What happened when the valley turned into a desert, and the brothers became involved with the small and magical King of the Golden River, makes an exciting and beautiful story.

In her Introduction, May Lamberton Becker remarks Ruskin was "greatly impressed with the beauty and grandeur of Alpine scenery, and when he told this talk to 'a very young lady' whose name was Euphemia Gray, he made her see it as vividly as if she had been there."

The special quality of Ruskin's fantasy is reflected in the drawings of Fritz Kredel for this new edition of the classic. As Mrs. Becker says, "Here are the high mountains, the deep valleys, the rushing waterfalls that mean so much to the story.... More than that, the struggle between simple kindness and narrow selfishness is shown with an unaffected directness that I am sure would have appealed to Ruskin very strongly."

From the dust jacket of the Rainbow Classic edition