A harsh and miserly man, Gwilym Hughes was a Welsh farmer whose land lay beneath Llyn Barfog, a mountain lake known as "the bearded lake" in English. His son Huw longed to go to school like the boys in the village, but his father made him mind the cows instead, and forbade him from playing his harp. Sneaking this instrument up to the lake whenever he could, Huw would play by the waters anyway, attracting the attention of the Tylwyth Teg (fairy folk), who sent a magical silver cow in thanksgiving. The milk and cheese from this cow, and from her many children made Gwilym Hughes a wealthy man, but it didn't make him kinder or more grateful, and when he went to butcher the silver cow, she and all her children were called home to the lake, leaving him in poverty again...

One of three folktales retold by Susan Cooper in picture book form and illustrated by Warwick Hutton—the other two being The Selkie Girl and Tam Lin—this Welsh story apparently belongs to the village of Aberdyfi (AKA Aberdovey), the ancestral village of some of Cooper's family. It is a pourquoi story, explaining how the Bearded Lake came to be ringed by white lilies, and is a very melancholy tale, depicting a man whose ungenerous and unkind nature remains unchanged, even when good fortune comes to him, a man who loses that good fortune through greed and stupidity. I found it very poignant, and thought the telling was excellent—the best of all three of these Celtic folktale picture books from Cooper and Hutton. Although Hutton isn't my favorite illustrator—I find his work interesting, but can never quite take it to heart—and although I tend to find his human figures off-putting, here I thought his watercolor paintings suited the story. Perhaps because the landscape itself plays such an important role in the story, and I have no quarrel with the artist's depiction of that. However that may be, this was an excellent folktale retelling, and is one I would recommend to young folklore enthusiasts in general, and to readers interested in Welsh lore in particular. ( )

I very much enjoyed the Silver Cow, by Margaret K. McElderry. The main message of this book is that money is not the only important thing in life. The story warns readers that putting too much emphasis on money makes you greedy and unwilling to help others. The main character, Huw, is denied an education, as his father is obsessed with the money Huw makes herding cows. Even when the family gains an excess of money, the father grows even greedier and continues to bar Huw from school.

I also enjoyed the poetic language of this story. For example, McElderry writes, "Gwilym Hughes was a man with a heart as small and mean as his beady black eyes." The beautiful figurative language in the story adds to the reading experience.

Finally, I felt that the story's plot was extremely well crafted. The story constantly moved forward and went in unexpected directions. For example, as Huw is watching the cattle, a "strange shining cow" came forward to listen to the music on his harp. The surprising plot twists gives the reader a sense of wonder and excitement. ( )

A good story teaching about greed and prosperity. A great morality story with nice illustrations.