Simeon's Gift: The Julie Andrews Collection - Tapa dura

Embarking on a quest to find his muse, Simeon, a modest Renaissance musician, encounters a vast array of rhythms and harmonies that cause him to return home and look inside himself for inspiration, in an enchanting story that is accompanied by a CD read by the author. 100,000 first printing.

Convinced that his "lowly status" and the "simplicity of his art" will never provide more than a "meager existence" for his beloved, minstrel Simeon sets out on a fairy tale-like quest to free the music "deep in his soul." He encounters a veritable symphony of new sounds on his pilgrimage--the insistent beat of soldiers' drums, the harmonic chanting of monks, the general cacophony of a big city--but sadly, this barrage of new sounds bewilders and overwhelms Simeon, who feels his own attempts at song suffer in comparison. Lonely and weary, he abandons his quest and trades his lute for a canoe to take him home. On the way, Simeon befriends a bright little bird, a beautiful fish, and lovely fawn who become his companions. Heartened by his new friends and overjoyed to see his beloved Sorrel, Simeon breaks into song and discovers the music of his soul.