Gray's stories are a mix of appealingly quirky characters and marvelous events. What unites these elements is Gray's vivid language. In short stories there is not much time to get to know each character, and Gray describes each graphically, giving their physical characteristics as well as an idea of their temperaments. Traditional fairy tales contain few specific descriptions, but Gray provides details that make his unreal landscapes as clear to the mind's eye as the view from a kitchen window or down one's own street. When he describes the door to a magician's private room, he says that it was of bronze, with iron lintels, and that it was fastened with nine locks, which could be opened only when nine separate spells were recited. He later describes one sad king as having white hair, defeated eyes, and a face that was "lined all over like a...