![]() I could do the same but I don’t think I need to. Others have written long chapters about this part of the story. “Do you know where to look?” asks the dwarf.īecause the youngest son is humble and shows him respect, the dwarf points out the road and gives him magical implements he will need to win the Water of Life. When the dwarf asks where he is going, the youngest son gets off his horse and says, “I seek the Water of Life for my father who is dying.” At last the third son wears him down and wins permission to venture forth. ![]() Figuring his last son, who has reputation for being odd, has no chance if the clever brothers are lost, the king is reluctant. When neither of his older brothers returns, the youngest begs permission to go on the quest. The second son sets out, disrespects the dwarf, and soon he too is stuck. He keeps going, looking neither right nor left, until he and his horse are wedged in the rocks unable to move forward or back. He speaks a few words, and before long, the oldest son finds the valley walls closing in on him. “What’s it to you, runt?” asks the prince. “Where are you riding so fast, looking neither right nor left?” asks the little man. The oldest sets out, looking neither right nor left and soon passes a dwarf by the side of the road. He calls his three sons and tells them only the Water of Life can save him. Here is the whole text for those who wish to pursue it: ).Ī king lies dying. All along, Meade emphasized that the story speaks to cultures as well as individuals, for both can become rigid and stuck. One more update preceded Meade’s release of an ebook last year.Ī new urgency informs the latest version in light of the economic and ecological crises we face. In 2006, he revised the book and renamed it, The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul in an effort to broaden the scope to include both genders. The original version, which analyzed six classic folktales, was based on the work he did hosting large men’s gatherings with James Hillman and Robert Bly. One of these is Michael Meade, who wrote, Men and the Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of Men in 1994. The story has been a favorite of those who write about folklore from a psychological perspective. This “least competent sibling” lives closest to the unconscious where the healing waters lie. Jung believed that at critical points in our life, renewal comes through “the inferior function,” the one that is least developed. In doing so, they bring new life to themselves and to the land.Ĭarl Jung analyzed The Water of Life in detail because it so neatly aligns with his theory of the four functions – thinking, feeling, intuition, and sensation – which are known to many through the Myer-Briggs Personality Profile. It shares a pattern with stories found all over the world: the youngest brother or youngest sister, the one whom everyone else regards as incompetent, succeeds in a task or quest where the “wise” siblings fail. ![]() The Water of Life is a German folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm. The youngest part of each psyche still longs to find the holy waters that can ease the pain of living and make life whole and meaningful again.” – Michael Meade “Amidst a world increasingly disoriented and at war with itself, each person carries with them the seeds of a unique and valuable story trying to unfold.
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