The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin

First published: 1851

Type of work: Fairy tale

Themes: Nature, social issues, and the supernatural

Time of work: The distant past

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: Treasure Valley, Stiria, Austria

Principal Characters:

• Schwartz and Hans Black, the owners of Treasure Valley, who have gained their wealth through greed and abuse
• Gluck, their twelve-year-old brother, who is good and innocent but much abused by Schwartz and Hans
• South-West Wind Esquire, a tiny man, four-feet-six, who wreaks havoc on Treasure Valley
• King of the Golden River Golden River, a dwarf who gives Gluck the secret of the Golden River

The Story

In the mountains of Stiria, Austria, lies a valley so blessed by nature and so graced by the Golden River that it is called Treasure Valley. It is owned by three brothers: Hans and Schwartz, who are called “the Black Brothers” because of their cruelty and greed, and twelve-year-old Gluck, who is innocent and good. One wet, wintry day, when Gluck is home alone, a curious gentleman, South-West Wind, Esquire, knocks at the door. Knowing that his stingy brothers will beat him for giving even a crumb to a stranger, Gluck nevertheless admits the short man. When Schwartz and Hans return, they predictably attack South-West Wind, Esquire, and he departs with the warning that he will return at midnight.

True to his word, he returns, accompanied by a violent storm that renders Treasure Valley a wasteland and reduces the brothers to poverty. One day, Schwartz and Hans instruct Gluck to melt their last piece of gold plate—Gluck’s own gold drinking mug, which bears the impression of “a very fierce little face, of the reddest gold imaginable.”

To Gluck’s surprise, the mug melts down not to liquid gold but to “a little golden dwarf, about a foot and a half high”—the King of the Golden River—who tells Gluck that if a person should pour three drops of holy water into the base of the Golden River, the river will indeed turn to gold. If, however, unholy water is poured into the river, the pourer will be turned to black stone. With these words, the dwarf walks into the furnace and evaporates.

Upon returning home, Schwartz and Hans beat Gluck for having lost their last piece of gold, but they quickly contrive to earn the gold of the Golden River. First, Hans steals a cup of holy water and sets out. On his journey, he meets a dog, a child, and finally an old man, to all of whom he denies water. When he casts the stolen holy water into the river, he is turned into a black stone. Next, Schwartz sets out with holy water purchased from a “bad priest.” He encounters first a child, then an old man, and finally his own brother, Hans. Refusing water to all, Schwartz casts the purchased holy water into the stream, and he too is turned into a black stone. Finally, Gluck sets out. Unlike Schwartz and Hans, he simply goes to a priest and asks for holy water. On his journey, Gluck meets an old man and a child to whom he gives most of the holy water. The few remaining drops he gives to a dying dog, who is quickly transformed into the King of the Golden River. All of Gluck’s holy water gone, the King gives him “three drops of clear dew,” which he casts into the Golden River. Miraculously, Treasure Valley is restored. Gluck prospers and becomes known for his generosity and love, but the two black stones stand as monuments to the consequence of avarice and cruelty.

Context

John Ruskin is not principally known as a children’s author. Having written only one other children’s book, The Ethics of the Dust (1866), he is best known as an art critic and as the author of Modern Painters (1843-1860). For this reason, The King of the Golden River is frequently slighted in critical works and biographies and is often considered one of Ruskin’s minor achievements. The work is highly significant, however, to the development of children’s literature, because it was written specifically for a child and because it reflects the nineteenth century interest in the fairy tale and its subsequent form, the literary fairy tale.

Like Lewis Carroll, one of Ruskin’s contemporaries, who wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) specifically for Alice Liddell, Ruskin created The King of the Golden River specifically for twelve-year-old Euphemia Chalmers Gray, whom he later married. Thus,The King of the River reflects the nineteenth century growing awareness of the child audience.

Ruskin’s story is even more significant for its use of the folktale or fairy tale form. The King of the Golden River bears all the marks of a fairy tale—a fast-moving plot, simple delineation of characters, clear delineation of good and evil, the meting out of swift justice for the cruel Schwartz and Hans—as well as many of the typical folk motifs, such as the appearance of the number three (three brothers, three tries at the Golden River, three obstacles or tests for each brother, three drops of holy water, three drops of dew) and the use of enchantment (the king’s imprisonment in the golden mug).

Ruskin, however, extends these motifs, especially in the development of setting, to create a classic literary fairy tale. The literary fairy tale borrows from the traditional fairy tale pattern but extends and embellishes such elements as plot, theme, character, and setting. The King of the Golden River belongs to the great tradition of Hans Christian Andersen, George Macdonald, and Charles Dickens, all of whom used the folktale model to create literary fantasies for children.

It is not surprising that Ruskin develops setting more fully than character or plot. An admirer of the British landscape artist John Turner, Ruskin gives great attention to the depiction of place, creating a landscape filled with color and intensity. As in a Turner painting, nature is portrayed in its most sublime aspect. Passages wherein nature is exaggerated to emphasize its beauty and magnificence are fitting vehicles for Ruskin’s strong moral message: Nature rewards avarice and cruelty with sublime horror and rewards moral goodness with sublime beauty. True riches can be neither stolen nor bought.