The Water of the Wondrous Isles

The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris is a fantastical tale about an Englishwoman who must save three women imprisoned by an evil witch. Stolen as a child and raised in the wood of Evilshaw as a servant to a witch, Birdalone ultimately escapes in her captor's magical boat, in which she travels to a succession of strange and wonderful islands. Among these is the Isle of Increase Unsought, an island cursed with boundless production, which Morris intended as a parable of contemporary Britain and a vehicle for his socialistic beliefs.