King John & Sheriff Marc

King John and Sheriff Marc shared an unnatural love together, for they despised each other's presence, yet continually appeased the other's vanity with great pleasure.

Neither would have thought twice before baring their sword from its leathery sheath; pushing hard with will and want, and a cruel gamefulness.

Both assumed superiority over the other.

The commoners hated them with equal distaste, and this manufactured a conspiratorial bond between them.

John's beard was twisted, and like a Saracen it would reach down to his waist when unwound. His back was scarred from flagellation; half of his finger nails were missing, torn by himself (at the Sheriff’s request); his girth had widened, and his veins bulged like purple grapes.

John's temperament was flaccid until aroused by some sport of cruelty. Whereas Marc's mood was permanent - an acrid disposition with a bitter tongue.

Retiring at night, both lay on their beds of black goose down - full fast asleep - yet without rest or dream.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Baby Charlene

Meeting baby Charlene was the best day of her ragged life ... everything else dissolved its importance and mother and baby were content eating and sleeping together; getting stronger by the day.

As the weeks progressed and the weather warmed, Marley would take Charlene in her pram out to the park to the seat on the hill.

She avoided walking too close to the gardener's shed, but would sit on the seat overlooking the suburb below.

Puck had engraved their three names at the back in the wood there, which made her smile to see this every time.

They had enough money to get by and Marley was so enthralled with her small child, she rarely, if ever, thought of anything else in the world - or outside of it.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Druid Priests related Fairytales

The ancient Druid Priests related fairytales which may seem very elementary to us, but which proceeded from the deepest and most profound insight. Stories of such beings as cobbolds, undines, nixies and the like, are regarded to-day as superstition and phantasy, but they originated from living intercourse with the highest spiritual beings on other planes. For in very truth, spiritual worlds are all around us. 

The astral world is everywhere, with colours and sounds as real as those of the physical world. All this is revealed to one who has made progress in his development. We learn to know whole ranks of new Beings who cannot become visible on the physical plane because they do not reach down as far as physical substance; their corporeality consists of astral substance.

The sagas and fairytales originated from actual intercourse with these Beings. In earlier times, spiritual forces brought about what the modern mind would call ‘Miracles.’ It is incorrect to speak, as do our scientists to-day, of the primitive conditions in which an ancient humanity existed. Men satisfied their material needs in those times in the simplest possible way, but, on the other hand, they shared in a very real sense in the spiritual life directed by these higher Personalities.

-Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner on Fairytales

Materialists say myths and fairy tales originated in the childhood stage of the human race. But in its childhood, humanity was taught by the gods. In the process of our evolution, myths and fairy tales are gradually lost, but children should not grow up without them. 

It makes a tremendous difference whether or not children are allowed to grow up with fairy tales. The power of the fairy tale images, which give wings to the soul, becomes apparent only at a later age. Growing up without fairy tales leads later to boredom, to world-weariness. Indeed, it can even cause physical symptoms — fairy tales can help to prevent illnesses. The qualities that seep into our soul from fairy tales later emerge as a zest for life, enthusiasm for being alive, and an ability to cope with life, all of which can be seen even in old age.

Children have to experience the power of the content of fairy tales while they are young and can still do so. People who cannot live with ideas that have no reality on the physical plane will be dead to the spiritual world. 

Philosophies based only on the material world are the death of our soul. Physical evolution leads to the death of the spiritual world. We must reach a view of the world based not on appearances, but resting solidly on its own inherent structure. We have to move toward the principle: I believe what I know. 

-Rudolf Steiner, The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path

Robin Hood as Puck

The "mythological theory" dates back at least to 1584, when Reginald Scot identified Robin Hood with the Germanic goblin "Hudgin" or Hodekin and associated him with Robin Goodfellow [Puck]. 

"There go as many tales upon this Hudgin, in some parts of Germany, as there did in England of Robin Goodfellow. But this Hudgin was so called, because he always wore a cap or a hood; and therefore I think it was Robin Hood."

-Reginald Scot 

Thomas Keightley said “Robin Good-fellow answers to the Nisse God-dreng of the Norwegians. He was called Robin Hood, because, like the Nis and the Brownie, he wore a hood”.

Jacob Grimm also noted the similarity between Robin Goodfellow and Robin Hood.


"From the beginning of scholarly investigation into the legends about the outlaw, it had been obvious that at the end of the Middle Ages he had been celebrated in plays as well as ballads. Two very different approaches to research into his legend were proposed in response. The first, by Joseph Ritson in 1795, assumed that Robin had been a real human being; the second, started by Thomas Wright in 1837, opined that he was originally a woodland god, honoured in the May revels. This latter argument gained more support in the early twentieth century. Douglas Kennedy and Lord Raglan suggested that he had been the dying and returning god of vegetation postulated by Sir James Frazer as a universal focus of devotion in ancient religion."

-Ronald Hutton

Richard Dadd 

Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the robin's breast, and thereafter all robins got the mark of Christ's blood upon them.

An alternative legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory.

Hermes the Trickster

Hermes:

In some myths, he is a trickster and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or for the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged sandals, and winged cap. His main symbol is the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus, which appears in a form of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff with carvings of the other gods.

In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon Hermes is identified with the Roman god Mercury, who, though inherited from the Etruscans, developed many similar characteristics such as being the patron of commerce.

Hendrick Goltzius

Due to his constant mobility, he was considered the god of commerce and social intercourse, the wealth brought in business, especially sudden or unexpected enrichment, travel, roads and crossroads, borders and boundary conditions or transient, the changes from the threshold, agreements and contracts, friendship, hospitality, sexual intercourse, games, data, the draw, good luck, the sacrifices and the sacrificial animals, flocks and shepherds and the fertility of land and cattle. In addition to serving as messenger to Zeus, Hermes carried the souls of the dead to Hades, and directed the dreams sent by Zeus to mortals.

Saint Francis- Rudolf Steiner

Saint Francis of Assisi made no attempt to overcome the experiences of the heart; on the contrary he retained them in full, and the consequence was, he retained them in perfect health. That is what is so grand and majestic about Francis of Assisi; he enlarged his heart to cover his whole soul.

-Rudolf Steiner