3: CLASSIC--SUPERB
The standout of this collection is the title story, "The Wise Woman, or, The Obstinate Princess." The princess in question is Rosamund, whose royal parents have spoiled her absolutely rotten. In fact, they are sick of her, she's so disgustingly violent and selfish (thanks largely to their 'care'). Enter the Wise Woman, who steals Rosamund away underneath her voluminous cloak and takes Rosamund to her cottage, which is miles away from nowhere--and bigger on the inside than the outside. Here, for the first time, Rosamund begins to learn that her wishes are not what the world revolves around. Very slowly. Before that happens, however, she enters another world through a picture and takes the place of another spoiled brat, Agnes, daughter of a shepherd and shepherdess. Agnes takes Rosamund's place. The Wise Woman does her best to save both girls, whose (to paraphrase Burke) intemperate minds mean that they cannot be free; their passions have forged their fetters. I can't tell you how the story ends, however. You'll have to find out for yourself. MacDonald writes in an elegant, leisurely style (he takes three pages to describe a rainstorm at the beginning), and the story is rather long for a story--a 100 pages, give or take a few. But these are not really drawbacks. To adult readers, the story is a rather obvious, but effective, allegory of God's offer of redemption to humanity. To child readers, it is simply a good story; they will probably miss the parallel, but get the message. The story is filled with memorable scenes and images: the little cottage, the Wise Woman's eerie song, Agnes in her bubble (in more ways than one), Rosamund losing her temper with the little child in the boat. These make as much of an impression as the ideas, especially the recurring one that it is not enough to good; that's easily done when one's in a good mood. The goodness that counts is that done against one's inclinations--a hard doctrine that negates most of my good deeds, if nobody else's. In short, this is a haunting book. It is well-written, it is thoughtful, it stands up both as a strong story and as a sermon, it entertains, it rebukes; it rewards repeated reading with additional meaning.
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