When Alan Garner takes on this old tale we see it afresh through his darker, powerfully poetic language. This is no compromise-the story is told so we can almost smell the smoke, see the flames at the fireside and hear the gravelly storyteller's gruff voice from ages past. Julek Heller's grimly evocative illustrations only fuel the illusion further. Not a light, comfortably sanitised retelling but the real thing.