cimorene

I wrote a long and minutely detailed summary of the last Morris novel I read, The Well at the World's End, a couple of days ago here.

In a more brief and analytical tone, one might say that this story diverges from folktales about the quests of multiple brothers and incorporates a successful quest to the fountain of youth (not that I can think of any folktales specifically about this right now. If only I had an academic library login to check Arne Thompson...).

In the same way that I described the prior Morris I finished rereading, The Wood Beyond the World, as preoccupied with the virtue and virginity of women, The Well at the World's End is preoccupied with two main clusters of things:

1. Freedom, Justice, the Nature of Society and Humanity, etc.

slavery (and adjacent classes ie thralldom, serfdom, and highly unequal societies)

good/just and bad/unjust rulers, with the former being shown explictly to consist in those who actively work to increase the equality and quality of life and freedom not just of their own subjects, but of the entire world

the necessity and value therefore of war and combat, but the hollowness and ultimate evil of war for the sake of wealth or glory

the importance of mercy and forgiveness, with the counter-case being shown in the backstory of the villainous warriors of the Burg of the Four Friths who are said to have been peaceful agrarians who were attacked and plundered by a neighboring tribe in the distant past, in response to which they walled their town and changed their whole culture to be based on merciless battle, emphasizing nothing more highly than the trainig and arming of their male populace, who conduct regular raids in revenge on the neighboring culture who supposedly attacked them once in antiquity but unwisely left able-bodied men alive - and as a result of which they invariably plunder absolutely all wealth, livestock and crops, kill all males and enslave all females. Their supposed self-defence turns out to be a lie when they are overthrown and cast out of their city by their victims, and turn themselves into an armed band roving around looking for nearby innocent settlements to steal.

2. Having Two Romantic Interests.

The younger son starts out by meeting and being attracted to a beautiful peasant girl, but then meets and instantly falls in love with an immortal woman who has been worshiped as a goddess and rules a nearby city as warrior queen, and who is actually a wonderful person, but unfortunately is cursed so that every man who sees her will fall in love with her, possibly as a result of being partly fae. She falls in love with him too and briefly teaches him the ways of love, but during their honeymoon together tells him about the peasant girl and informs him that he is destined to be with said peasant girl and they are perfect for each other. Then she dies tragically and he sets off to rescue the peasant girl, and then to find the fountain of youth with her, and the second two thirds of the book or so are dedicated to their love. The peasant girl rescues herself, by the way, and later more than once rescues the hero. She travels a time armed and armored in a knight's gear and follows the hero into battle in this way more than once. (Morris's feminism is not really modern but he does way better at women being people and doing male tasks than JRRT writing two generations later.)

This isn't the only Morris novel to deal sensitively and empathetically with love triangles (consecutive or contemporaneous), infidelity, or second partners. These views are distinctly non-normative for the Victorian era, although nothing groundbreaking now. Interesting in light of biographical details.