One of the true high marks in George MacDonald's literary career was reached with the publication in 1879 of Sir Gibbie, the captivating story of a mute orphan with an angel's heart set in the highlands of Scotland. Every MacDonald reader has his or her favorite, but it is safe to say that Sir Gibbie is near the top of the list for lovers of fairy tale, poetry, and novels alike. The character of "wee Sir Gibbie" mysteriously embodies hints from the land of "faerie," and his soul is poetry personified. MacDonald's storytelling genius here rises to heights as soaring as the mountain of Glashgar where Gibbie roams barefoot with the sheep, amid earthquake and flood. It was this book that captured authoress Elizabeth Yates’ imagination and prompted her 1963 edition of Sir Gibbie, which in turn led to Michael Phillips’s updated editions that inaugurated the MacDonald renaissance of the 1980s. If one could choose but one MacDonald novel to read, many would say it should be Sir Gibbie. Following Elizabeth Yates’ example, Michael Phillips again translates the difficult Doric dialect of MacDonald’s original into more accessible English.
