The Happy Valley

I'm a psychologist and I adopt the transactional analysis. I was intrigued by the fact that Eric Berne had written a story for children. At first reading the book seems mazy and a bit strange but hides a very thin sense. Very nice.

The book jacket description is as follows - "the HAPPY VALLEY is a story for young people, written by Dr. Eric Berne, author of GAMES PEOPLE PLAY. The characters in the story include a mixed-up python, an obedient rabbit, a wise little man, a friendly sheep, a dutiful princess, an explorer, a billy goat, a kind prince, and three robbers. Even though there are thieves there and someone wants to eat somebody else and someone needs someone else's skin, the valley is a place where everyone is polite and happy and does what he likes best and, most important of all, still manages to satisfy his own conscience." While this is the first "unpsychiatric" book that Dr. Berne has written after several works complementary to GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, "he says he too would like to be polite and happy and satisfy his conscience and still do what he likes best".I was alerted to the existence of this wonderful exposition regarding the possibilities for finding ingenious solutions to the dilemmas which we frequently confront by an essay entitled THE LONELIEST BOOK I EVER READ in a collection entitled REMARKABLE READS (edited by J. Peder Zane - review 4/7/04). HAPPY VALLEY was published in 1968, after Dr. Berne became a well recognized writer on the subject of the complexity and ambiguity of interpersonal relationships; in fact his title became a common household phrase. This book tells the story of Shardlu, a python who "was not very handsome to look at, and not very clever. In fact, he was a little mixed up. The only way he could earn a living was by being kind to people on Tuesday night and Friday morning. He was listed on the payroll as Friend & Companion." One day while taking a nap on a hilltop, he became frightened by a dream and as was his wont, he rolled up into a ball and thus rolled down the hill and ended in a strange place identified by a sign as the valley of Lamador. The sign announced that "everyone will see something different here. You will see one thing and your father and mother and dog will see something else... But the main thing you will see is what happens next." The story is about wordplay (one of the robbers is named Tobedwego), and surprises, and relationships and the insights gained from seeing things "backwards and inside out".So this is for young people who can be amused by fantasy, but also for adults who recognize the complex truth so often wonderfully illustrated by seeming simple children's stories. The description in the essay which I read captured the essence of it impact with the phrase "thrilling weird". In addition, the illustrations by Sylvie Selig add immeasurably to the feeling of weirdness and wonder engendered by the book; they are intensely colorful, slightly whimsical and range from being exact representations of the storyline to almost background illustrations conveying a generic impression of the ambiance of HAPPY VALLEY and its inhabitants. (Several of the animals portrayed are never mentioned in the text.) While I would