"The muse in charge of fantasy wears good, sensible shoes. No foam-born Aphrodite, she vaguely resembles my old piano teacher, who was keen on metronomes. She does not carry a soothing lyre for inspiration, but is more likely to shake you roughly awake at four in the morning and rattle a sheaf of subtle, sneaky questions under your nose. And you had better answer them. The Muse will stand for no nonsense (that is, non-sense). Her geometries are no more Euclidean than Einstein’s, but they are equally rigorous." - Lloyd Alexander

The wonderful imagery here is by Rovina Cai, from Melbourne, Australia. Born in 1988, she studied at the University of Melbourne, and at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her publications include illustrations for Tintinnabula and Singing My Sister Down by Margo Lanagan, the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire, and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.

"My work is often inspired by the past," she says; "from myths and fairy tales to gothic novels, these stories resonate with me because they bring a little bit of magic and wonder to the present day."

Please visit Cai's website to see more of her work.

The passages above are from "The Flat-heeled Muse" by Lloyd Alexander, published in The Horn Book (April, 1965). All rights to the art and text reserved by the artist and the author's estate.