But in French story Helyas is not the son of Parzival, but of the king and queen of Lillefort, and the story of his birth, of himself, his five brothers and one sister is, with variations, that of "the seven swans" persecuted by the wicked grandmother, which figures in the pages of Grimm and Hans Andersen.
D P Atkinson is a trainee chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen, Cambridge.
A timeless classic for children aged five and above and their families to mark the bicentenary of Andersen's birth.
Was Hans Andersen's fairy tale about the emperor's new clothes directed at the Christianity of the day?
Andersen Press has produced some corkers this year too.
