Bret Harte's 'The Queen of the Pirate Isle' is a captivating children's story set in a remote English village, featuring beautifully descriptive prose and engaging storytelling. The book follows the adventures of two orphaned children who stumble upon a hidden pirate treasure, leading them on a thrilling journey of discovery and friendship. Harte's writing style is playful and imaginative, making the story come alive with vivid details and colorful characters, making it a delightful read for both young readers and adults alike. This book is a timeless classic that showcases Harte's talent for storytelling and his ability to transport readers to a world of magic and wonder. 'The Queen of the Pirate Isle' is a must-read for anyone looking for a charming and enchanting tale that will leave you spellbound from beginning to end.

I first knew her as the Queen of the Pirate Isle. To the best of my recollection she had no reasonable right to that title. She was only nine years old, inclined to plumpness and good humour, deprecated violence and had never been to sea. Need it be added that she did not live in an island and that her name was "Polly." Perhaps I ought to explain that she had already known other experiences of a purely imaginative character. Part of her existence had been passed as a Beggar Child—solely indicated by a shawl tightly folded round her shoulders and chills,—as a Schoolmistress, unnecessarily severe; as a Preacher, singularly personal in his remarks, and once, after reading one of Cooper's novels, as an Indian Maiden. This was, I believe, the only instance when she had borrowed from another's fiction. Most of the characters that she assumed for days and sometimes weeks at a time were purely original in conception; some so much so as to be vague to the general understanding.

This is a quintessential children’s make-up-adventure story and is delightful in its telling. The 28 color images are exquisitely crafted and reflect and add to the essence of the story. Our story is set in the San Francisco area during the Gold Rush era of the late 1840’s and early 1850’s. The Queen of the Pirate Isle is about an imaginative young girl named Polly, who, with her cousin Hickory, a small Chinese boy named Wan Lee, and a neighbour named Patsey, who, after a game of pirates in the house, decide to “run away” to become real pirates. On their way they pass through the mining area where they slip and fall down a steep mud-slide. Polly’s doll’s removable hair got caught on something and ripped off during the fall and is now bald. They end up falling asleep in a nearby mine and are awoken and brought home by the miners, who have dressed up as pirates as a thank-you to Polly and the children as the mine in which they fell asleep led the miners to a new seam of gold.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, fiction, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction.