New York: Atheneum, 1964. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first book, written for older children. The word 'serendipity' was invented by Horace Walpole after reading an old fairy tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip," This story, which goes back at least to the 16th century, is retold by Hodges in a version based on an English translation of 1722. "The tale is brilliantly embroidered, full of color and imagination. It tells how the three princes of Serendip (another name for Ceylon) journey to Persia and India to prove their fitness as future rulers and to find the secret formula which will clear the dragoninfested sea around their island kingdom. Along the way they meet mighty kings, young girls as beautiful as jasmine, fearsome monsters. . . this ends happily as a fairy tale should with the gentle corollary that vision and knowledge come to 'those who dream with lifted eyes'. (New York Times review). Illustrated with drawings by Joan Berg. Notes, and a brief list of suggestions for further reading. 158 pp.