Over the years the King collected thousands of gifts. Some were practical, some were mysterious and some were whimsical. But the King was not happy. He was sure there was something, some special gift, that would make him happy. Then he heard about the quilts made by an old lady who lived at the top of a mountain. He demanded that she give him a quilt. When she refused he had her captured and chained inside a cave with a huge sleeping bear.
The old woman was as wise as she was kind. She can see the old bear needs some comfort so from her shawl and pine needles she makes him a soft pillow. The King is now enraged. He orders his soldiers to place the old woman on a tiny island, barely big enough for her feet to stand, in the middle of the ocean. A tiny bird lands on her shoulder and she makes him a coat from a scrap of her vest. The little sparrow is so grateful he summons hundreds of his friends and they lift the old woman off the island and carry her back to the shore.
The woman explains to the King the only way she will give him a quilt is if he gives away all of his treasures. As each treasure is gifted she will sew a new square onto his quilt.
"I give my quilts to those who are poor or homeless ... They are not for the rich."
It takes years and years but eventually all of his treasures are given away and finally the quilt is completed.
"As I promised you long ago,' the woman said, 'when the day came that you yourself were poor, only then would I give you a quilt.' The king's great sunny laugh made green apples fall and flowers turn his way. 'But I am not poor,' he said. 'I may look poor, but in truth my heart is full to bursting, filled with memories of all the happiness I've given and received. I'm the richest man I know."
If ever a book might inspire you to take up quilting surely this is the one! There is also a strong case for allowing readers to pull the dust jacket off this scrumptious book because hiding underneath is a list of all the treasures collected by the king as represented by quilt pattern names.
I love this rich description of the quilt colours:
"The blues seemed to come from the deepest part of the ocean, the whites from the northernmost snows, the greens and purples from the abundant wildflowers, the reds, oranges, and pinks from the most wonderful sunsets."
I have mentioned The Quilt Makers Gift in previous posts so it seemed odd that I had not talked about this book here in any detail. This is a book I have read to my library groups for many years. I found this video of the whole book which is really well done. Here are some companion reads:
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