• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 5243 0

has learned from his previous experiences to do exactly as the vixen advises him, and this enables him to pass the first test by identifying the youngest daughter, as the one who is most plainly dressed. Once again here we see the familiar principle that whatever represents the Self, like Aladdin's plain old lamp in a cave of glittering jewels, is often the thing which least obviously catches the eye, because its value lies within and is not external. This turns out to be really the crux of the whole story, for although the enraged Queen imposes two further tasks on Ivan, each harder than the last, he passes both because the Princess is now secretly helping him. Finally in the nick of time he and the Princess manage to escape the avenging Dark Mother, and Ivan is only sad because he now loves the Princess more than anything in the world and cannot bear the thought of exchanging her for the Horse with the Golden Mane. But again the vixen comes to his aid, as the story unravels back the way it came. By magically disguising herself first as the Princess, then as the Horse, the little fox eventually helps Ivan to get away from the two Dark Kings with all three `treasures' intact, and he can begin the final stages of his journey home.

Then, just as all seems on the verge of resolution, there intrudes the `central crisis'. Ivan is about to emerge from the forest within sight of home when he makes a fatal mistake. Just like Odysseus when he is first about to reach Ithaca with the help of the wind-god Aeolus, he feels weary and falls asleep. At a crucial moment he has lost consciousness. His brothers come upon him in the forest, see his prizes and, as Dark Rivals, decide to steal them. They cut Ivan into a thousand pieces, leaving him in the forest, and bring the treasures home, thinking that one of them will marry the Princess and that they will share the kingdom. But when they arrive the Firebird does not sing, the Horse hangs its head and will not eat, and the Princess pines away. Their father, the king, believing his youngest son must be dead, falls sicker with grief than ever.

The purpose of the `central crisis' is always to emphasise how the final stages of the maturing process are different from what came earlier. The hero's lapse into unconsciousness has seemed fatal. From now on he must develop his consciousness more fully than ever, as he learns to depend on his own powers. In fact, the little vixen does again come to the rescue, for the last time. After a complex episode which involves enlisting the help of another helpful animal, a raven, to fly to the distant sea to bring back the waters of life and death, the vixen puts the hero back together again and restores him to life. But, having told Ivan to go to his father's castle disguised as a humble stable boy, she disappears from the story, leaving him at last completely on his own. The climax of the story is approaching in a way which may remind us of the closing stages of the Odyssey, when Odysseus secretly approaches his palace disguised in beggar's rags. When Ivan arrives he finds the whole castle under a terrible shadow. All is sick and out of sorts. But thanks to his return everything gradually comes together again. First the Horse recognises the new `stable boy' and begins to eat. The king hears of this miracle and sends for the stable boy to see whether he can do the same for the Firebird. It too recognises him and begins to sing. Finally the stable boy is brought before the Princess, She also recognises him with joy. The king is astonished until Ivan throws off his disguise and reveals his true identity. The heartless treachery of the two Rivals is exposed and they are beheaded. The king is restored to health. Ivan and his Princess are married and succeed to half the kingdom (a common motif in folk tales, to show that the hero is ready to inherit); and when the king eventually dies, they succeed to the whole and `govern the kingdom wisely and well for the rest of their lives'.

Behind its fairy-tale symbolism, the essence of what The Firebird is describing