Cowardly Clyde is a 1979 children's storybook by Bill Peet.
Clyde, Sir Gallivant's warhorse, seems very poorly suited for his position. While his master wanders around looking for monsters to fight, Clyde would just as soon steer clear of anything scary. Then Sir Gallivant takes on the job of killing a ferocious ogre. Can Clyde keep his master from becoming the monster's next snack?
This book contains examples of the following tropes:
- Character Development: Before the incident with the ogre, Clyde fears everything, to the point that dogs can make him skittish without doing much of anything. Afterwards, he grows quite a bit bolder, as he's already survived a much more dangerous encounter relatively unscathed.
- Cowardly Lion: Despite being terrified of the ogre, Clyde makes believe he's brave and goes charging back into the forest to rescue Sir Gallivant from its clutches.
- Fearless Fool: Unlike Clyde, Sir Gallivant shows no fear of anything, regardless of how dangerous it is. A peasant who saw the ogre even says that only a noodle-brain would go into the woods after him.
- Honor Before Reason: Sir Gallivant happens upon the ogre while it's asleep after a big rampage. He muses that he could kill it in its sleep, but says that wouldn't be fair and wakes it up.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Sir Gallivant gets Clyde to enter the forest where the ogre is supposed to be hiding by questioning his courage. However, when he tries it again after Clyde runs away from the ogre, it doesn't work.
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: This one is a chimeric beast cobbled together of many different animals. It is extremely large and eats people (and animals) when given the chance.
- Punny Name: Clyde has large hooves, implying he might be a Clydesdale horse.
- Weakened by the Light: The ogre cannot live more than a few seconds after being exposed to direct sunlight. When Clyde succeeds in pulling it out of the forest, it realizes it's over and vanishes in a puff of smoke. Sir Gallivant thinks the townsfolk won't believe this and comes up with a different story about the ogre's demise.
