a true elsewhere

enchantingimagery:

One of John Bauer’s magnificent illustrations for Agneta and the Sea King.

One of my favourite collections of stories is Swedish Folk Tales illustrated by John Bauer, and published most recently by Floris Books in the U.K. Agneta and the Sea King by Helena Nyblom is one of the tales in the…

Actually, I suspect that this is probably an atavistic fairy myth repurposed to define the magical, redemptive power of OUR LORD GOD (this happened to so many poor sad fairy stories; I’m looking at you, Children of Lir), and that Agneta’s merchildren are of little value to the church since, as non-humans, they have no souls — but I suppose one finds one’s feminism where one can.

Agneta’s gross Jesus-flavored betrayal is even more tragic when you consider that the Sea King has really great hair and a fantastic ass.