The Legend of El Dorado - Hardcover

Over the years, the name El Dorado has come to signify any place of fabulous wealth; the words also have a literal meaning--"the gilded man." This story relates the intriguing legend of a king whose wife and daughter are bewitched by a mysterious serpent in Lake Guatavita and lured beneath its surface. Each year, the grieving monarch covers himself with gold dust and is rafted out to the middle of the lake. There, in an elaborate ritual, he tosses treasures into the water to remind the serpent of its promise to someday reunite him with his family. As a final gesture, the king dives into the lake, offering the gold dust from his body. One year he doesn't reappear--the serpent has kept its promise. The splendid pairing of Van Laan's suave retelling and Vidal's richly colored illustrations--meticulously executed and imbued with a primitive charm--capture all the beauty and mysticism of a culture from long ago and far away. Ages 4-9.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The conquistadors, as American schoolchildren have long been taught, sought vainly for El Dorado; here is the legend that inspired their dreams, based on the 1541 account of an Indian in Colombia. The wife and daughter of a wealthy Chibcha king are lured into the holy Lake Guatavita by an entrancing sea serpent. Desolate, the king pines and neglects his duties until the high priest assures him that his wife and daughter are well and happy under the lake; it is not yet time to join them, but an annual ceremony in which the king himself is gilded (hence ``El Dorado'') and fabulous jewels are given to the serpent will keep the kingdom safe. The author's handsome, lightly stylized art glows with jewel-like colors. Just right for giving added dimension to a unit on explorers. (Folklore/Picture book. 5-11) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.