A Strange Parable: GMac's "The Gray Wolf"

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

I’ll leave “the dram” to you at that time of day. The fish is certainly strange to us Americans, but at least until recently, I think fish at breakfast was pretty common in Britain…“Could we have kippers for breakfast. Mummy dear, Mummy dear…” (Supertramp, if you remember) Also kedgeree, though I don’t know if that was just confined to certain classes. (It’s delicious, by the way)

By the way… where does the word “Whisky” come from?

Steve

anon12438761 · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

The story reminds me a bit of Kafka. Not the content so much as the , oh I don’t know - minimalism? Some of K’s stories were stripped to the bone. Here’s one called 'Give it up":

It was very early in the morning, the streets clean and deserted, I was walking to the station. As I compared the tower clock with my watch I realized that it was already much later than I had thought, I had to hurry, the shock of this discovery made me unsure of the way, I did not yet know my way very well in this town; luckily, a policeman was nearby, I ran up to him and breathlessly asked him the way. He smiled and said: “From me you want to know the way?” “Yes,” I said, “since I cannot find it myself.” “Give it up! Give it up,” he said, and turned away with a sudden jerk, like people who want to be alone with their laughter.

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

I think that’s apt comparison. Every word of dialogue, every action and every detail is important in this story. I hadn’t realized how short the story was until I reread it again a few days ago. It seems much longer in my memory…

I do think though, that the genre, the gothic tale aspects of this story are what made it difficult for me to understand. Like the young man in the story, I was “bewitched” by the ambiance, the storm, the romance (and the woman) and failed to see through that to the meaning behind it…

Steve

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Cindy, I missed your post last night (was posting at the same time, I guess… )

You’ve got it, I believe! MacDonald is fond of the “wise old woman” archetype as at least an expression of God and possibly the Holy Spirit.snc.edu/northwind/documents/By_genre_or_topic/Archetypes_and_Mythology/Knowing_God_‘Other-wise’=The_Wise_Old_Woman_Archetype-_Katharine_Bubel.pdf Where else have we seen someone like the young woman in MacDonald? Where else do we see the “beast within”?

Also does this…

…remind you of anything in scripture?

Edit: Also, I’m not sure the fish is the body of Christ but is is certainly “wholesome” and perhaps “holy” nutrition. The “broiled” fish is actually what caught my eye remembering the risen Jesus eating a piece of “broiled fish”.

Cindy_Skillman · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Yes, I figured that was what happened. It’s fine though – I half hesitated to post it anyhow, lest I spoil the fun for everyone else.

I think it (the fish) could be a type of the ‘host’ – I’ve heard others refer to fish being symbolic of Jesus – the early church drawing the fish symbol to identify themselves to one another, for example (whether that’s true or a myth). I’ve heard that the sea symbolizes death and that fish are symbolic of life coming from death – resurrection. Again, that could be anyone’s symbolism and who knows whether GMac would have heard of it.

As to your other hints, I will have to ponder this. (I need lots of hints! )

Cindy_Skillman · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Thanks for the link you sent! It looks like a great read, though too long for me to read until perhaps after Thanksgiving (I’m the cook). I’ve downloaded it though and am looking forward to it as a special treat for later.

Only Lilith comes to mind at the moment, but she’s probably a bit over the top for a comparison to the wolf girl. Maybe. Hmm . . . maybe not though.

Sobornost · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Happy Thanksgiving everyone Bless you all.

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

I think you may be right… Was thinking about the “air fish” in “The Golden Key” that Dave mentioned who jump in the pot (sacrificing themselves?) and are eaten…GMac may have been using the “icthys” symbol there and here as well.

As far as the wolf-girl goes, I’m thinking of one of his children’s fairy tales/fantasies where the “beast within” figures prominently…

Edit: Thanks, Dick! Since you Brits don’t celebrate our Thanksgiving, eat a turkey sandwich and think of us on Thursday.

Sobornost · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Yes - I will eat one certainly. I promise We do Christmas bigger to make up for not having Thanksgiving. Mind you - now we’ve got Trick or Treat and Proms - both absent when I was young - we may we’ll have a decontextualized Thanksgiving soon as well

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

OK, OK … I don’t want to drag this out tooooo long so …

Could this be echoing?:

Caleb_Fogg · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Cindy Skillman:

OH! Okay, I get it. The fish is Christ and whiskey is called “water of life.” The old woman then – the Holy Spirit? If the daughter will only eat and drink what her mother/mentor provides, maybe she will be healed. I wish she would. The mother uncovers her daughter’s secret to warn her guest. But why did the girl bring him to her mother in the first place?

The girl is not safe for the student (who did eat and drink) now. She would devour him; but maybe things will be better later. There she is, all alone in a barren place with no comfort offered but that which she refuses for fear of losing herself. Eventually all the small animals will be gone and perhaps she will be desperate enough to partake of life. Are the werewolves considered to be among the ‘undead’?

I think this is right on Cindy. Its almost like we are getting a little glimpse into someone’s purgatory/Gehenna/outer darkness.

I think you are exactly right Steve. This seems to be a parable by GMac of the outer darkness. Jesus also said it else where:

Cindy_Skillman · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

This is all really good. I haven’t had time, but I want to re-read the story and see what else I might be able to see in it. Thanks so much for posting this, Steve. I’m very much enjoying the discussion.

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Hi Caleb and Cindy!

I finally have a chance to get back to this thread.

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!

I wanted to post a couple quotes from GMac regarding the “outer darkness” (which is a common theme in his stories) which I do believe the cave represents for the Wolf-girl.

From the unspoken sermon, “The Last Farthing”:
I think I have seen from afar something of the final prison of all, the innermost cell of the debtor of the universe; I will endeavour to convey what I think it may be.

It is the vast outside; the ghastly dark beyond the gates of the city of which God is the light–where the evil dogs go ranging, silent as the dark, for there is no sound any more than sight. The time of signs is over. Every sense has its signs, and they were all misused: there is no sense, no sign more–nothing now by means of which to believe. The man wakes from the final struggle of death, in absolute loneliness-- such a loneliness as in the most miserable moment of deserted childhood he never knew. Not a hint, not a shadow of anything outside his consciousness reaches him. All is dark, dark and dumb; no motion–not the breath of a wind! never a dream of change! not a scent from far-off field! nothing to suggest being or thing besides the man himself, no sign of God anywhere. God has so far withdrawn from the man, that he is conscious only of that from which he has withdrawn. In the midst of the live world he cared for nothing but himself; now in the dead world he is in God’s prison, his own separated self. He would not believe in God because he never saw God; now he doubts if there be such a thing as the face of a man–doubts if he ever really saw one, ever anything more than dreamed of such a thing:–he never came near enough to human being, to know what human being really was–so may well doubt if human beings ever were, if ever he was one of them.

and…

Can there be any way out of the misery? Will the soul that could not believe in God, with all his lovely world around testifying of him, believe when shut in the prison of its own lonely, weary all-and- nothing? It would for a time try to believe that it was indeed nothing, a mere glow of the setting sun on a cloud of dust, a paltry dream that dreamed itself–then, ah, if only the dream might dream that it was no more! that would be the one thing to hope for. Self-loathing, and that for no sin, from no repentance, from no vision of better, would begin and grow and grow; and to what it might not come no soul can tell–of essential, original misery, uncompromising self disgust! Only, then, if a being be capable of self-disgust, is there not some room for hope–as much as a pinch of earth in the cleft of a rock might yield for the growth of a pine? Nay, there must be hope while there is existence; for where there is existence there must be God; and God is for ever good, nor can be other than good. But alas, the distance from the light! Such a soul is at the farthest verge of life’s negation!–no, not the farthest! a man is nearer heaven when in deepest hell than just ere he begins to reap the reward of his doings–for he is in a condition to receive the smallest show of the life that is, as a boon unspeakable.

I’ll go more into GMac’s thoughts about “the beast within” soon, but it might be time to start thinking about why GMac so cleverly and subtly hid the purgatorial meaning of this story…. Why is the “old woman” not completely obviously “good”? Why does she feed (or at least offer) the wolf-girl fish, which would be the expected food on the shore of an island, and whisky (which is closely associated with Scotland) and would be expected in a peasant’s hut? Why is the altercation between the old woman and the wolf-girl so ambiguous?

Steve

Caleb_Fogg · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

alecforbes:

From the unspoken sermon, “The Last Farthing”:

I think I have seen from afar something of the final prison of all, the innermost cell of the debtor of the universe; I will endeavour to convey what I think it may be.

It is the vast outside; the ghastly dark beyond the gates of the city of which God is the light–where the evil dogs go ranging, silent as the dark, for there is no sound any more than sight. The time of signs is over. Every sense has its signs, and they were all misused: there is no sense, no sign more–nothing now by means of which to believe. The man wakes from the final struggle of death, in absolute loneliness-- such a loneliness as in the most miserable moment of deserted childhood he never knew. Not a hint, not a shadow of anything outside his consciousness reaches him. All is dark, dark and dumb; no motion–not the breath of a wind! never a dream of change! not a scent from far-off field! nothing to suggest being or thing besides the man himself, no sign of God anywhere. God has so far withdrawn from the man, that he is conscious only of that from which he has withdrawn. In the midst of the live world he cared for nothing but himself; now in the dead world he is in God’s prison, his own separated self. He would not believe in God because he never saw God; now he doubts if there be such a thing as the face of a man–doubts if he ever really saw one, ever anything more than dreamed of such a thing:–he never came near enough to human being, to know what human being really was–so may well doubt if human beings ever were, if ever he was one of them.

and…

Can there be any way out of the misery? Will the soul that could not believe in God, with all his lovely world around testifying of him, believe when shut in the prison of its own lonely, weary all-and- nothing? It would for a time try to believe that it was indeed nothing, a mere glow of the setting sun on a cloud of dust, a paltry dream that dreamed itself–then, ah, if only the dream might dream that it was no more! that would be the one thing to hope for. Self-loathing, and that for no sin, from no repentance, from no vision of better, would begin and grow and grow; and to what it might not come no soul can tell–of essential, original misery, uncompromising self disgust! Only, then, if a being be capable of self-disgust, is there not some room for hope–as much as a pinch of earth in the cleft of a rock might yield for the growth of a pine? Nay, there must be hope while there is existence; for where there is existence there must be God; and God is for ever good, nor can be other than good. But alas, the distance from the light! Such a soul is at the farthest verge of life’s negation!–no, not the farthest! a man is nearer heaven when in deepest hell than just ere he begins to reap the reward of his doings–for he is in a condition to receive the smallest show of the life that is, as a boon unspeakable.

Steve

Amazing quotes Steve. Apparently I had not read “The Last Farthing” yet. I’ve read some of the Unspoken Sermons, but not all. Reminds me a little of the Ghosts in the Great Divorce–many of which had a ways to go before arriving in deepest hell.

Who knows the truth about Gehenna, the refining fire, the black fire of the outer darkness? I was watching "Hellbound? yesterday with my dad, and some of the speakers: Brad Jersak and Brian McLaren, talk about Gehenna being fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem. But there is something about MacDonald’s vision of Hell that just “feel’s” right to me. It reflects my own human experience, my understanding of human psychology, and my deepest hopes and longings about God. Do you think that the outer darkness and the weeping and gnashing of teeth could have had a first century fulfillment and have an eschatological one as well? I think I would lean that way.

Don’t have much to add on these questions yet. Looking forward to more of your thoughts on these matters.

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Hi Caleb,

I agree, Caleb—it feels “right” to me as well, and his vision is what brought me to EU. He’s certainly not “soft on sin” as some accuse universalists of being… I also think that the outer darkness texts did have a first century fulfillment as well as an eschatological one. After seeing your post, I wracked my brain trying to remember if he wrote anything about the 70 AD events and did a Google search as well but found nothing. I do think GMac sees the eschatological fulfillment as a process that begins in this life and continues “post-mortem” if need be. In other words, the Holy Spirit is working like the “old woman” at this very moment…

As far as the “beast within”, I think this is addressed most directly in “The Princess and Curdie”. Curdie, the protagonist is given a gift by the Grandmother/Princess (another of his “wise old women”.
**Edit: ****MINOR SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t read The Princess and Curdie

'Now listen. Since it is always what they do, whether in their minds or their bodies, that makes men go down to be less than men, that is, beasts, the change always comes first in their hands—and first of all in the inside hands, to which the outside ones are but as the gloves. They do not know it of course; for a beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast the less he knows it. Neither can their best friends, or their worst enemies indeed, see any difference in their hands, for they see only the living gloves of them. But there are not a few who feel a vague something repulsive in the hand of a man who is growing a beast.

'Now here is what the rose-fire has done for you: it has made your hands so knowing and wise, it has brought your real hands so near the outside of your flesh gloves, that you will henceforth be able to know at once the hand of a man who is growing into a beast; nay, more—you will at once feel the foot of the beast he is growing, just as if there were no glove made like a man’s hand between you and it.

‘Hence of course it follows that you will be able often, and with further education in zoology, will be able always to tell, not only when a man is growing a beast, but what beast he is growing to, for you will know the foot—what it is and what beast’s it is. According, then, to your knowledge of that beast will be your knowledge of the man you have to do with. Only there is one beautiful and awful thing about it, that if any one gifted with this perception once uses it for his own ends, it is taken from him, and then, not knowing that it is gone, he is in a far worse condition than before, for he trusts to what he has not got.’

And then there is “Lina” who might be in a similar condition as the Wolf-girl in this story…

‘Come here, Lina,’ she said after a long pause.

From somewhere behind Curdie, crept forward the same hideous animal which had fawned at his feet at the door, and which, without his knowing it, had followed him every step up the dove tower. She ran to the princess, and lay down flat at her feet, looking up at her with an expression so pitiful that in Curdie’s heart it overcame all the ludicrousness of her horrible mass of incongruities. She had a very short body, and very long legs made like an elephant’s, so that in lying down she kneeled with both pairs. Her tail, which dragged on the floor behind her, was twice as long and quite as thick as her body. Her head was something between that of a polar bear and a snake. Her eyes were dark green, with a yellow light in them. Her under teeth came up like a fringe of icicles, only very white, outside of her upper lip. Her throat looked as if the hair had been plucked off. It showed a skin white and smooth.

‘Give Curdie a paw, Lina,’ said the princess.

The creature rose, and, lifting a long foreleg, held up a great doglike paw to Curdie. He took it gently. But what a shudder, as of terrified delight, ran through him, when, instead of the paw of a dog, such as it seemed to his eyes, he clasped in his great mining fist the soft, neat little hand of a child! He took it in both of his, and held it as if he could not let it go. The green eyes stared at him with their yellow light, and the mouth was turned up toward him with its constant half grin; but here was the child’s hand! If he could but pull the child out of the beast! His eyes sought the princess. She was watching him with evident satisfaction.

‘Ma’am, here is a child’s hand!’ said Curdie.

Caleb_Fogg · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Steve,

I’m hesitant to read your quotes from the Princess and Curdie. I’m afraid it will spoil the story. I’ve read the Princess and the Goblin to my boys, along with At the Back of the North Wind, The Light Princess, The Golden Key and The Wise Woman (or the Lost Princess), Little Daylight, Cross Purposes, and the Castle: a Parable. The only novel I’ve read is The Laird’s Inheritance, Michael Phillips edited version of Warlock O’ Glenwarlock (which I really loved).

Do you think it will ruin any major plot points for me?

Caleb

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Hi Caleb,

No, I don’t think what I’ve posted will spoil any major plot points…The quotes are all from one section and since you’re already acquainted with the “Great Grandmother”/“Princess” and Curdie, I think it will be okay. Thanks for reminding me of the need to avoid “spoilers”, though.

You mentioned The Wise Woman who makes use of the “outer darkness” in her care of the spoiled shepherd girl. I started with the Phillips versions of GMac’s novels as well! The unedited versions are quite a bit longer, but there’s more of MacDonald there to learn from, I think. Warlock O’ Glenwarlock is a favorite of mine! I love the old legend (and the rhyme) and the playing out of that whole plot line, and, well…I just love his Scottish novels. You might like Malcolm, which is one of my favorites of his Scottish novels. Phillips has an edited version-- The Fisherman’s Lady, but you might want to try it unedited, though both are good.

Cindy_Skillman · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

The Princess and Curdie was a great story, but it’s been a long time since I read it. A local jeweler put up a billboard last year – Valentine’s Day, I think – of roses on fire. It reminded me of the story, and I had always wondered, “Why roses burning?” I googled it, and found the roses on fire signify the death of love. Not sure what that would mean with P&C, but I feel it has some significance.

alecforbes · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Just googled it myself after seeing your post and came right to this page with your lovely picture on there answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101017211002AAUNbax

The top answer right now is apparently: “In Rosicrucian circles, a burning rose that does not get consumed by the flames represents the spirit.” I have no idea how accurate that answer is but fits in better with P&C, I think.

Caleb_Fogg · March 9, 2018, 2:43am

Just read your quotes from the The Princess and Curdie. I think you’re dead on in the parallels with The Gray Wolf. And of course, GMac was inspired by Johnny Cash’s cover of Nick Lowe’s “The Beast in Me”: youtube.com/watch?v=T8tGCVavS5s

Yes, I thought of the spoiled girl in her little mirror bubble. In The Laird’s Inheritance, I enjoyed reading, or trying to read the Scottish Brogue out loud in my best Scottish accent. I definitely want to try the unedited novels at some point. Though I think when I get back to reading MacDonald in earnest again I’ll try reading in chronological order of publication, which means [gulp] starting with Phantastes. (Though I think he does have a published poem that came earlier.)