The King of the Golden River (1926 Edition)

by John Ruskin

Other authorsFrances Brundage (Illustrator) (Author)

Hardcover, 1926

Status

Checked out

Call number

RUSKIN

Genres

Children's Books

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

The Saalfield Publishing Company (1926)

Description

Through kindness, a boy regains for himself the treasure his cruel older brothers lost.

User reviews

LibraryThing member antiquary

A fairytale in traditional form with two bad brothers and a good brother and a warning against greed. As a child, I thought it was all right but rather heavily didactic. I am ashamed to say I think it is the only work of Ruskin I have ever read. My father was (among other things) a real Ruskin

scholar who taught him in Victorian lit classes --a student recalled his asking an exam question "What would Ruskin have thought of the new (drably utilitarian) university administration building. My mother persuaded my father to write the article on King of the Golden River for the NCTE anthology on children's literature --one of his very few published articles. (He always said anything he could write, someone else could write just as well.)

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LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26

First written in 1842, and published in 1851, this original fairytale by the nineteenth-century art critic John Ruskin takes as its inspiration the classic folkloric trope of three brothers who all embark upon the same quest. Not surprisingly, the three meet very different fates when they attempt

to take advantage of a proposition made by the magical King of the Golden River.

Although similar in structure to many traditional folktales I have read, Ruskin's tale has the unmistakable flavor of the nineteenth-century morality tale, perhaps explaining why I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would... My edition of this classic original fairy tale is illustrated with color plates by Arthur Rackham, and was published in 1932.

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LibraryThing member raizel

While written pretty much in the style of a fairy tale---with lots more descriptions of scenery---it feels more like a lesson on the value of kindness (and physical appearance) than a fairy tale. In other words, a story meant to instruct rather than one told for the fun of it. I was disappointed.

There are three brothers; the first two are mean and ugly and dark and the third is young and kind and blond and handsome.

SPOILER: The brothers live in an idyllic valley, where Hans and Schwartz become filthy rich by treating their employees badly and charging excessive amounts for their crops when people are desperate and starving. Gluck's kindness is to wind and river spirits is rewarded, Hans and Schwartz turn into black stones because they fail in their quests by letting others die of thirst. We learn that holy water can become unholy if it is not used mercifully. It seems the brothers are Catholic(?) because there are holy water and good and bad priests and going to mass. The introduction, however, states that Ruskin was raised to become a minister by his Scottish parents.

The introduction gives a brief biography of Ruskin. An interesting comment is made about thirty million British books destroyed in the blitz in 1941: Ruskin's other book for children was one of the first to appear in color for sixpence.

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LibraryThing member andyray

A most excellent children's story, brainashing the little ones most delightfully with the idea that meanness and selfishness brings hell, and kindness brigns its own rewards. There is just NOTHING about this work not to like, but that's not surprising when you remember that RFuskin was Aereric's

firt naturalist novelist

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LibraryThing member momma2

The title of the first chapter is "How the Agricultural System of the Black Brothers was Interfered with by the Southwest Wind, Esquire" and so I wasn't sure how well this title would be received by Ashlyn. She loved it! She couldn't put it down and kept wanting to read more and more. I truly

expected groaning or complaining and instead she said it was and awesome book. I am going to have to read it now just so I can understand why she enjoyed it so much.

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LibraryThing member aulsmith

I often don't like the early Victorian fairy tales as they are often long-winded versions of things that are best told in a fairly compressed form. I was about to give up on this one when the descriptions of the scenery got longish, but then I saw how he was using his artistic and Romantic

sensibilities, and I actually found the rest of the tale quite interesting. I would have expected children to be asleep somewhere after page 2, but another review posted here says not.

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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn

*JOHN RUSKIN, 'The King of the Golden River'

This is the only work of fiction that the prolific and multi-talented Ruskin wrote. However, it manages to encapsulate a great many of the ideals that we think of today, when we think of Ruskin. It has the emphasis on 'Christian' mercy and charity,

generosity over greed, and, to an almost distracting degree, the love of the beauties of nature. Indeed, the main 'message' of the tale is that natural bounty is what should be valued more than gold.

The piece wraps its morals in the tale of a young boy and his two cruel and greedy brothers. When a generous act leads to the youngest brother being granted the secret of 'how to turn a river to gold,' he confides in his siblings - but their lack of charity leads to their demise; leaving the reward for the sorely put-upon but unfailingly upstanding hero.

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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

(Read previously as part of a collection - am noting here because I only now have found out who Ruskin actually is, and I want to keep track of what I've read by him.)

LibraryThing member juniperSun

Not a bad moral tale, but the words were too uncommon for easy understanding by younger children.
Gluck meekly obeys his brothers commands, is beaten by them when he doesn't, but still has a good heart. His brothers are turned to stone when they try to take shortcuts to gold and ignore pleas for

help.

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LibraryThing member GridCube

I really really liked this very short story :D

Southwest Wind, Esquire reminds me of Gandalf, and of that witch that ask for help to the prince in The Beauty and The Beast

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