The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate
Joy Cowley and Miho Satake
Gecko Press

In days of yore there lived a fierce little woman in a house at the end of a jetty. She spent her days knitting woolly socks to sell to sailors, or walking along the jetty playing her bagpipes or swimming beneath the jetty. Winters were more restful and she’d sometimes sit by the fire fishing through the trapdoor in her floor.

One day a storm blows in and with it comes a pirate who taps at the window of the woman’s house as she sits knitting. She spurns his persistent demands to be allowed to enter and he retaliates with threats

several times over.

Eventually as darkness falls he tries a different approach and admits that’s he’s very frightened of the dark. Seemingly this pirate is more scared than scary; the woman relents, lifting her trapdoor and allowing him to come through into her cosy abode. As they talk, it becomes clear that each in their own way is vulnerable and they have things to offer one another.

After an initial refusal of his hand in marriage, the woman agrees, they get wed and raise a family together.

With her scenes from various perspectives Miho Satake skilfully brings out the quirkiness of Joy Cowley’s text and the battle of words that takes place between the two protagonists.