The King of the Golden River - John Ruskin's portrayal of Nature

The King of the Golden River

John Ruskin

Q. How does John Ruskin show the Nature punishing the cruel and rewarding the sympathetic in his novel The King of the Golden Rivers?

Answer: The King of the Golden River: or Black Brothers, a Legend of Stiria published anonymously in 1851, was written for a twelve-year-old girl who would later become the author's wife. John Ruskin was the notable critic of the Victorian era. This novel, his only fiction, is a moral story in which nature punishes the cruel and rewards the compassionate.

Hans and Schwartz are the rugged and greedy masters of the Treasury Valley, a fertile farm in the Styria Hills. Their innocent younger brother Gluck suffers a lot of abuse but maintains his sincerity. Left alone in a winter rainstorm, Gluck allows a strange stranger to sit in the room and cut him a piece of mutton. Such hospitality is strictly forbidden, and Gluck knows he will starve himself and possibly be beaten. His older brothers return to the country to try to expel their guest. It immediately becomes clear, however, that strangers are no ordinary travelers. In the morning, when the storm has washed away their treasures and destroyed the valley, the stranger's calling card is found on the kitchen table: Northwest Wind, Esquire. In the valley there is never any rain and no wind, and all the work of the farm fails. And the three brothers are forced to go to the village.

Hans and Schwarz became goldsmiths, though not very honestly. When Gluck melts the favorite gold mug, it is seen as an enchanted dwarf, the king of the river of gold. Freed from the mug, he told Gluck that if one went to the source of the river and threw three drops into the holy water, the river would turn to gold.

Hans first tried his hand at claiming the Golden River. His ascent to the springs of the river fully reflects his barren soul. His thirst is quenched and he decides to drink a portion of the precious holy water. A dead dog catches his eye, and he kicks it to one side before drinking. Later, he denied his water to a child and finally to an old man. Reaching the source of the river he threw at the end of the holy water just to turn into a black stone.

Schwartz makes a similar attempt and fails similarly. It's up to Gluck then. He cannot pass without allowing the thirsty old or humble child to drink their holy water, even though he himself must be very thirsty. When he finally appears at the source of the river, he sees the merciful dog, which must die before he returns. Losing the gold, he threw the last part of the holy water into the dog's mouth. The dog is instantly transformed into the king of the river of gold, he explains that no water, however, can be blessed if the thirsty are denied; the water, however contaminated, "is holy whatever is found in the vessel of mercy." He gives Gluck three drops of dew, which the young men are shaking in the river.

However, John Ruskin, being a famous lover of Nature, evokes, in conclusion, the termination of the novel which is a cautious response to the Industrial Revolution. Ruskin's Golden River does not accumulate in soft metals. Rather, it diverts a portion of itself and runs through the barren Treasure Valley. Gluck restores the fertility of the land he inherited, lost through the cruel mismanagement of both his brother and man and nature.

*****

👉 Moll Flanders as a Realistic Novel

👉 Moll Flanders – significance of the title

👉 The King of the Golden River - John Ruskin's portrayal of Nature

👉 The School for Scandal as a Restoration Comedy or ‘Comedy of Manners’