'The Seekers'

London: John and Edward Bumpus, 1926

Working fairly unproductively in the celebrated London Bumpus bookshop, Bates 'assuaged my conscience by writing ... a little children's book' (The Blossoming World, pp. 39-40) which was sold at Christmas and also sent out as the firm's Christmas card. 'Dedicated to all children who ask why', the book follows a wandering prince and his faithful friend, a swallow, as they meet various magical characters in mystic lands.

Reprinted in Dreamers of Dreams (1978), The Mammoth Book of Fairy Tales (1997).