The old, fat, warm-hearted cousin of the young heroine. Â Both Merryweathers, he of the sun type, she of the moon. She’s an orphan and he takes her under his wing, providing her and her governess a safe, warm, welcoming, magical home. Â He takes to her quickly, noting that she brings ‘grit and skill’ to her riding lessons.
Although the book is set in the middle of the 19th century, he makes no concession to a new century, and stalwartly sports his half-century out-moded white wig, plonked on his head like a big cauliflower.
‘He had a huge white wig like a cauliflower on his head.’
Source: Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse, illus. C. Walter Hodges (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2011 (1946)), p. 21
