Description
John Ruskin is known as a painter and one of the leading art critics of the second half of the 19th century, but this book shows his talent not as an artist, but as a storyteller. Written in 1841 for Euphemia Gray, a twelve-year-old girl whom Ruskin married later, the King of Golden River is a fairy tale about the triumph of goodness and love and a very entertaining story as well.The King of Golden River comes with the classic components of fairy tales. The protagonist is a boy, the youngest of three siblings who must suffer and endure the abuse by his brothers and who repays the cruelty of his brothers with kindness. The three brothers are faced with a quest to find the source of the Golden River they all set off in the search and it is of course the youngest boy who succeeds.The quest is more complicated than simply to find the source of the river: if the person who finds it throws three drops of holy water into the river, it all turns to gold, but the failure to find the source is punished very severely, with the person attempting it without success being turned to stone. The youngest brother called Gluck succeeds by means of good judgment and kind-heartedness, saving his two brothers and becoming the rich owner of a fertile, beautiful land.The fable comes with very important morals and messages: goodness must prevail over selfishness and greed, because only kindness has the power to transform the world and make it a better place. However, the story is much more than an excuse for the final wisdom it is an eventful and entertaining story that will be equally enjoyed by young kids who have the story read to them as well as older children who can read it for themselves.