AustLit

An advertising booklet by The Shell Company in which a young girl, Jean, meets a 'little fairy man playing a fiddle' [4]. He invites her to a royal banquet, at which she meets the Shell Fairy. In the course of the book, the production of energy and consumption of petroleum products is feted, through story, song and illustration: in the servicing of power to lights, vehicles, farms and the flying doctor service.

The Shell Fairy tells the palace guests 'all about the light and the other good things he has provided for the comfort of mankind'. With his companions, the Pennant Brownies, the Shell Gnomes, and the Elves of the Black Cross, he sings:

We brighten homes when daylight fails,
We speed the traveller on his way,
And - priceless dower - we give the power
That brings our bread from day to day.

By street or road or farthest track
We take our way and all is well:
And man, where'er his journeys lead
Shall find the symbol of the Shell. [13]