The King of the Golden River
Encyclopedia
The King of the Golden River or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria by John Ruskin
was originally written in 1841 for the twelve-year-old Effie (Euphemia) Gray
, whom Ruskin later married. It was published in book form in 1851, and became an early Victorian
classic which sold out three editions. In the "Advertisement to the First Edition," which prefaces it, it is called a fairy tale
, one, it might be added, that illustrates the triumph of love, kindness, and goodness over evil; however, it could also be characterized as a fable
, a fabricated aetiological myth
or etiology
, and a parable
. It was illustrated with 22 illustrations by Richard Doyle
(1824–83).
, high in the mountain
s of Stiria or Styria, southeastern Austria
, is lost through the evil of the owners, the two elder, "Black Brothers," Hans and Schwartz, who in their foolishness mistreat Southwest Wind, Esquire, who in turn flood
s their valley, washing away their "liquid assets," and turning their valley into a dead valley of red sand.
This personified wind has the power to keep things this way through his influence
with other winds that had caused the valley's unique fertility. Forced into a trade other than farming Hans and Schwartz become goldsmith
s. They cruelly melt their younger brother Gluck's prize heirloom, a golden mug
, which consists of the head of a golden bearded man. This action releases the King of the Gold
en River
for Gluck to pour out of the crucible as a finely dressed little golden dwarf. The Golden River is one of the high mountain cataracts, that surround the Treasure Valley. Gluck fancies that it would be good if that high majestic river would actually be what it appears in the setting sun, a river of gold. The dwarfish king disagrees with Gluck, but offers a proposition: if someone were to climb up to the source of the river and throw into it at least three drops of "holy water
," it would become for that person only a river of gold. That person must do it on his first and only attempt or be overwhelmed by the river to become a black stone.
Hans and Schwartz desire to take the challenge, duel
each other with the result that Schwartz is thrown into jail
for disturbing the peace
. Hans, who had the good sense to hide from the constable, steals holy water from the church and climbs up the mountains to the Golden River. He has a hard time of it on a glacier and gets away without his provisions and only his flask of holy water. Overcome with thirst Hans is forced to drink from this flask, knowing that only three drops are all that's needed. Along the path, Hans comes across three prostrate individuals dying of thirst, a puppy, a fair child, and an old man. Hans satisfies his own thirst while denying the three needy individuals.
The "demeanor" of the surroundings of his journey turns bleak and inauspicious, climaxing in Hans being transformed into a black stone once he has hurled the holy water flask into the Golden River. Gluck secures the release of his brother Schwartz, who, buying his holy water from a "bad priest," eventually fares likewise, spurning in his turn the fair child, the old man, and his brother Hans lying prostrate in his path. The Golden River then acquires another black stone around which to rush and wail.
Gluck takes a turn at climbing the mountain. He encounters first an old man walking down the mountain trail who begs water from the flask. Gluck allows him to drink, leaving only a third of the holy water. He then encounters a fair child, lying by the road
, whom he allows to drink all but a few drops. Following these unselfish acts, Gluck's path is made bright and pleasant making him feel better than he had in his whole life—no doubt, due to his kindness
. He then comes across the prostrate puppy, whom he gives the final drops of the holy water. The puppy turns into the King of the Golden River, who tells Gluck the fate of his two brothers and, thereupon, shakes three drops of dew from a lily into Gluck's flask to throw into the river. Gluck does this, and the Golden River forms a whirlpool where it travels underground and emerges in the Treasure Valley, which then becomes lush and fertile once more. Gluck the new owner is a wealthy man, who never turns away the needy from his door. Ever afterward, though, the people show and tell travelers the tale of the two black stones in the Golden River, known as The Black Brothers.
also has the character of an aetiological myth
(cf. Etiology
)—a story devised to explain why things are as they are in the world. It is structured like an epic saga with each of the chapters closing on one solitary curiosity: Chapter One, the card identifying Southwest Wind, Esquire; Chapter Two, the mug becoming a released King of the Golden River; Chapter Three, Hans becoming a black stone; Chapter Four, Schwartz becoming a companion black stone; and Chapter Five, the black stones being known as the "Black Brothers."
Another view is that of Oliver Lodge, editor, of the Everyman's Library edition of the work: "The parable is in two halves, a sort of Paradise Lost
and a Paradise Regained
—lost by selfishness, regained by love."
Water is the force that makes and unmakes things. The Treasure Valley never fails to have the proper watering to be perpetually lush. It is then destroyed by the water of a torrential flood. It is restored through the water of the Golden River becoming for the kindhearted Gluck a river of gold. Water's power appears in the treacherous glacier, which frightens those who traverse it with its sounds of rushing water and cracking ice. Water as "holy water" causes the miraculous transformation of the Golden River into a "river of gold" at the behest of the king. The King of the Golden River has himself disappear through the process of evaporation, a "water" phenomenon. Curiously similar is the tradition of Dracula
the vampire
in the neighboring region of Transylvania
, Romania
: he was reputedly able to disappear through evaporation.
In this fairy tale
the environment responds positively or negatively to human good or evil. There is the interplay of personified forces of nature like winds and rivers.
Lodge also enlightens us as to the lesson learned by the Black Brothers becoming goldsmiths and Gluck's wish that the Golden River become a literal river of gold: "And the restoration of wealth to Treasure Valley, by restoring the fertility of its soil instead of by metalliferous undertakings, is entirely in harmony with the author's consistent teaching that all true material increase must come from the soil". Note that the King of the Golden River was imprisoned through "metalliferous undertakings."
by which John Ruskin can impart to his readers that love, kindness, and philanthropy could transform the world as it did the Treasure Valley. No doubt, he speaks through the King of the Golden River when he tells Gluck: "the water which has been refused to the cry of the weary and dying is unholy, though it had been blessed by every saint in heaven; and the water which is found in the vessel of mercy is holy, though it had been defiled with corpses"
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
was originally written in 1841 for the twelve-year-old Effie (Euphemia) Gray
Effie Gray
Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais née Gray, known as Effie Gray, Effie Ruskin or Effie Millais was the wife of the critic John Ruskin, but left her husband without the marriage being consummated, and after the annulment of the marriage, married his protégé, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John...
, whom Ruskin later married. It was published in book form in 1851, and became an early Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
classic which sold out three editions. In the "Advertisement to the First Edition," which prefaces it, it is called a fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
, one, it might be added, that illustrates the triumph of love, kindness, and goodness over evil; however, it could also be characterized as a fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
, a fabricated aetiological myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
or etiology
Etiology
Etiology is the study of causation, or origination. The word is derived from the Greek , aitiologia, "giving a reason for" ....
, and a parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
. It was illustrated with 22 illustrations by Richard Doyle
Richard Doyle (illustrator)
Richard "Dickie" Doyle was a notable illustrator of the Victorian era. His work frequently appeared, amongst other places, in Punch magazine; he drew the cover of the first issue, and designed the magazine's masthead, a design that was used for over a century.Born at 17 Cambridge Terrace, London,...
(1824–83).
Plot summary
The richness of the Treasure ValleyValley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
, high in the mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s of Stiria or Styria, southeastern Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, is lost through the evil of the owners, the two elder, "Black Brothers," Hans and Schwartz, who in their foolishness mistreat Southwest Wind, Esquire, who in turn flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
s their valley, washing away their "liquid assets," and turning their valley into a dead valley of red sand.
This personified wind has the power to keep things this way through his influence
Social influence
Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts, feelings or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing...
with other winds that had caused the valley's unique fertility. Forced into a trade other than farming Hans and Schwartz become goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
s. They cruelly melt their younger brother Gluck's prize heirloom, a golden mug
Mug
A mug is a sturdily built type of cup often used for drinking hot beverages, such as coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Mugs, by definition, have handles and often hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. Usually a mug holds approximately 12 fluid ounces of liquid; double a tea cup...
, which consists of the head of a golden bearded man. This action releases the King of the Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
en River
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
for Gluck to pour out of the crucible as a finely dressed little golden dwarf. The Golden River is one of the high mountain cataracts, that surround the Treasure Valley. Gluck fancies that it would be good if that high majestic river would actually be what it appears in the setting sun, a river of gold. The dwarfish king disagrees with Gluck, but offers a proposition: if someone were to climb up to the source of the river and throw into it at least three drops of "holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
," it would become for that person only a river of gold. That person must do it on his first and only attempt or be overwhelmed by the river to become a black stone.
Hans and Schwartz desire to take the challenge, duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
each other with the result that Schwartz is thrown into jail
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for disturbing the peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
. Hans, who had the good sense to hide from the constable, steals holy water from the church and climbs up the mountains to the Golden River. He has a hard time of it on a glacier and gets away without his provisions and only his flask of holy water. Overcome with thirst Hans is forced to drink from this flask, knowing that only three drops are all that's needed. Along the path, Hans comes across three prostrate individuals dying of thirst, a puppy, a fair child, and an old man. Hans satisfies his own thirst while denying the three needy individuals.
The "demeanor" of the surroundings of his journey turns bleak and inauspicious, climaxing in Hans being transformed into a black stone once he has hurled the holy water flask into the Golden River. Gluck secures the release of his brother Schwartz, who, buying his holy water from a "bad priest," eventually fares likewise, spurning in his turn the fair child, the old man, and his brother Hans lying prostrate in his path. The Golden River then acquires another black stone around which to rush and wail.
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
, whom he allows to drink all but a few drops. Following these unselfish acts, Gluck's path is made bright and pleasant making him feel better than he had in his whole life—no doubt, due to his kindness
Kindness
Kindness is the act or the state of being kind, being marked by good and charitable behaviour, pleasant disposition, and concern for others. It is known as a virtue, and recognized as a value in many cultures and religions ....
. He then comes across the prostrate puppy, whom he gives the final drops of the holy water. The puppy turns into the King of the Golden River, who tells Gluck the fate of his two brothers and, thereupon, shakes three drops of dew from a lily into Gluck's flask to throw into the river. Gluck does this, and the Golden River forms a whirlpool where it travels underground and emerges in the Treasure Valley, which then becomes lush and fertile once more. Gluck the new owner is a wealthy man, who never turns away the needy from his door. Ever afterward, though, the people show and tell travelers the tale of the two black stones in the Golden River, known as The Black Brothers.
Characters in "The King of the Golden River"
- Schwartz – (his name means "blackBlackBlack is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
" in GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), one of the two "Black Brothers." He and his brother Hans are described as very ugly men with overhanging eybrows and small, "dull" eyes, which they kept half closed. - Hans – (his name is the common "John" in German), the other of the two "Black Brothers." Both are cruel to both animals and people, and they enjoy nothing better than drinking out their last penny at the neighboring alehouse.
- Gluck – (should be Glück; his name means "luckLuckLuck or fortuity is good fortune which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result. There are at least two senses people usually mean when they use the term, the prescriptive sense and the descriptive sense...
" or "happinessHappinessHappiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....
" in German; the name is a wish of "good luck": "G' Luck!"), the twelve-year-old kid brother of the "Black Brothers." In striking contrast to his elder brothers, he is blond-haired and blue-eyed and kindly disposed to all living things. - Southwest Wind, Esquire – a personified wind, who visits the three brothers in the Treasure Valley. He stands about four feet, six inches, has a brass colored nose and red cheeks that look like he had been blowing a refractory fire for 48 hours, silky eyelashes, and a moustache that curls twice around on each side of his face. He wears a conical hat that is almost as tall as he is, and a cloak that stretches about four times his height when blown by the wind.
- The KingMonarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
of the Golden River – a golden dwarf entrapped by "a stronger king" as a golden heirloom mug in Gluck's possession, freed through the melting of the mug, king of the river that cascades from the cataracts surrounding the Treasure Valley.
Structure and Forces of the Story
This fairy taleFairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
also has the character of an aetiological myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
(cf. Etiology
Etiology
Etiology is the study of causation, or origination. The word is derived from the Greek , aitiologia, "giving a reason for" ....
)—a story devised to explain why things are as they are in the world. It is structured like an epic saga with each of the chapters closing on one solitary curiosity: Chapter One, the card identifying Southwest Wind, Esquire; Chapter Two, the mug becoming a released King of the Golden River; Chapter Three, Hans becoming a black stone; Chapter Four, Schwartz becoming a companion black stone; and Chapter Five, the black stones being known as the "Black Brothers."
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
and a Paradise Regained
Paradise Regained
Paradise Regained is a poem by the English poet John Milton, published in 1671. It is connected by name to his earlier and more famous epic poem Paradise Lost, with which it shares similar theological themes...
—lost by selfishness, regained by love."
Water is the force that makes and unmakes things. The Treasure Valley never fails to have the proper watering to be perpetually lush. It is then destroyed by the water of a torrential flood. It is restored through the water of the Golden River becoming for the kindhearted Gluck a river of gold. Water's power appears in the treacherous glacier, which frightens those who traverse it with its sounds of rushing water and cracking ice. Water as "holy water" causes the miraculous transformation of the Golden River into a "river of gold" at the behest of the king. The King of the Golden River has himself disappear through the process of evaporation, a "water" phenomenon. Curiously similar is the tradition of Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
the vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
in the neighboring region of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
: he was reputedly able to disappear through evaporation.
In this fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
the environment responds positively or negatively to human good or evil. There is the interplay of personified forces of nature like winds and rivers.
Lodge also enlightens us as to the lesson learned by the Black Brothers becoming goldsmiths and Gluck's wish that the Golden River become a literal river of gold: "And the restoration of wealth to Treasure Valley, by restoring the fertility of its soil instead of by metalliferous undertakings, is entirely in harmony with the author's consistent teaching that all true material increase must come from the soil". Note that the King of the Golden River was imprisoned through "metalliferous undertakings."
Major themes
As stated above, this story could also be classed as a fableFable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
by which John Ruskin can impart to his readers that love, kindness, and philanthropy could transform the world as it did the Treasure Valley. No doubt, he speaks through the King of the Golden River when he tells Gluck: "the water which has been refused to the cry of the weary and dying is unholy, though it had been blessed by every saint in heaven; and the water which is found in the vessel of mercy is holy, though it had been defiled with corpses"
External links
- Project Gutenberg etext of The King of the Golden River at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
.