The Ring

A Summer Fairy Tale by Rudolf Steiner

Related by Marina from the Authors Life

(Translated from the original German by David W. Wood)

S. turned with his condant Z. into the animated Scho engasse in the city
of V. Both walked silently for a while, side-by-side. You could see from
their faces that the two of them were preoccupied with something
extremely close to their hearts. Z.s face, however, serenely radiated joy,
whereas S.s traits became progressively sombre and serious. Z. then
spoke the following words: You can scarcely imagine how happy youve
made me today, on account of your good mood and the cheerfulness that
you have displayed the whole day; I never thought that I could occasion
this kind of mood in you. You have also never been so unreservedly in
agreement with one of my ac ons. S. appeared not to have heard a
single word, for he did not reply. In order to coax an answer out of him, Z.
directly posed a ques on: Do you think I should tell my close friend in my
distant homeland about my current experiences? S. s ll seemed as
though he were absent. Why are you so quiet all of a sudden, especially
a er having been so sincerely happy the en re day? S. broke his silence
and said: We passed an enjoyable evening. You, my dear friend, have
now met a young woman whose unassuming nature has righ ully
cap vated your spirit. Her indescribable kindness is capable of bringing
your spiritual forces into the most beau ful harmony, and her glorious
beauty ought to engender in you a reveren al inclina on towards a divine
form. It was an enchan ng sight for me to see how devoted you were to
her tonight, as I the third person in your deligh ul company saw how
blissful you were in her presence. However, as we were saying goodbye to
her and I extended my hand in par ng, a beam of light from the street
light suddenly fell on my ngers. My eye caught sight of the ring on my
hand, and this ring I assure you is a magic ring. At certain moments of
my life it con nually conjures forth things of which you cannot have any
idea. Z. replied: There are always magic rings in fairy tales, surely you do
not want to make a new version out of an old story of this kind. Yes,
rings are ancient magical objects. Thats what I also said when I rst
received the ring in an altogether miraculous place. Z. answered: Well,
then its nally me I heard the story of your enchanted ring.

S. began to speak: I had just had a few years under my belt, where
I was preparing my spirit for something higher, living in earnest
expecta on of the me when I was to be ini ated into the deeper secrets
of science. Then it abruptly happened. I was walking along the street
without any par cular purpose, and without thinking of anything
signicant. A wondrous vehicle appeared behind me, moving at great
speed. It was drawn by horses of such beauty that it is simply impossible
to picture them if youve only seen earthly horses. The carriage was as
light as a feather and beau fully furnished. The goddess Fortuna was
seated in it with a shining countenance. She beckoned to me, in ma ng
that I should sit down next to her. I was unable to resist. We then
travelled through provinces that were ini ally desolate and empty, before
passing through regions lled with the most magnicent things. Our
vehicle started to slow down in a plain in which there was nothing to see
for miles on end, except a ny co age. We drew closer and closer to the
small co age, and I soon realised that this was our des na on. As we
stopped my heavenly driver said to me: this is one of my best homes, ring
the bell, I have prepared everything for you.

As I fully came to my senses, the goddess and her vehicle had

already vanished and there was nothing le for me to do but to anxiously
ring the doorbell. The mysterious door opened and a tender young girl
appeared. Before I could u er a word, she said: Everything is ready for
you here, I will lead you to my mistress. However, let me warn you, the
appearance of my mistress might be shocking to you at rst, but try to
overcome your aversion. A er preparing me in this manner she led me
through a side door into her ladys chamber. Si ng in an arm-chair was a
woman with an incredibly ashen face, the likes of which I have never seen
on earth. It was a deeply moving scene the en re being of the woman
betrayed a youth in which every trait of her face expressed but a single
word: profound suering. Her bleak eyes, furrowed brow, and
indescribably contorted mouth, ready at any moment to break forth into
sighs and laments. All of this presented such a graphic image to me,
powerfully seizing the forces of my spirit, and I would not have been able
to speak had not this sight been preceded by so many other wondrous
ones. On catching sight of me the woman placed her hands on my
shoulders, and spoke the following hear elt words to me: This co age in
which you now nd yourself is the one I have chosen for myself. I must
live extremely far from the whole world, because I have suered so much
there and can no longer look upon it. Here I mourn and lament my former
happiness. Apart from my servant girl, no one else lives here except my
dear lovely li le daughter. I myself have renounced all earthly joy and
earthly life. However, she should not do that. I cannot allow my daughter
to leave me for the me being, because her hour has not yet come. She
should receive here the best and most beau ful spiritual treasures that
the earth can oer. I have chosen you to teach her these things. I hope
you will full your task.

A er these words, she took me by the hand and led me into the
room of the young girl. She introduced me to her, and le us a er a few
further instruc ons. The lessons were to begin at once. But as the rst
lesson began I no ced that the earlier astonishing events had robbed me
of my en re memory. I did not know a thing, and so began my rst lesson
in the most embarrassing fashion. All of a sudden, however, the lesson
went excellently, and I easily explained a world to the girl the nature of
which I myself had never learned, or even had the slightest idea. The girl
was enthusias c about the elevated content of my instruc on and
a en vely listened to my words in the most indescribable manner. What
was the origin of this miraculous knowledge that I now suddenly
possessed? Oh! I was reading the en re text in those loving eyes that
were so intensely directed at me, they furnished me with everything, and
I only needed to present it back to the girl. The mother had innite trust
in me, and I spent the most wonderful me there.

A year a er my arrival at that extraordinary place, the lady of the

house sought me out. With a thoroughly serious demeanour, she spoke
the following words to me: The me has come, we have to take leave of
one another. The goddess who brought you here will return in a few
moments to pick you up. Very soon my daughter will be placed back into
the world, in order to live again with people. I cannot give you anything
else, except this magic ring. I do not know its eects, but I have to give it
to you for reasons unknown to me. In any event, the goddess Fortuna will
be able to explain its signicance to you. The doors immediately opened,
and the goddess appeared, tearing me from that exalted happiness. I got
into the carriage that had brought me there one year previously, and once
again I had to travel through the same regions that I had earlier traversed.
I barely exchanged further words with the goddess, and had to put the
ques on to her myself about the signicance of the ring. The goddess
knew all about it. The ring, she said, will have the wonderful eect on
you, that you will never be able to think of any female being without
remembering the girl that you have just become acquainted with. It will
help you to nd her again, when within the workings of the world, the
friend is in need. Her words became fullled. The par ng words of the
suering lady: My daughter will soon be placed back into the life of the
world con nue to deeply reverberate within me. Now that I too have le
that magic realm, and have been placed back into this world, my longing
is directed towards that being, who also has to return here. My wish is to
encounter her again somewhere, in order to save and protect her with my
devoted love.

A erword: Rudolf Steiners Early Enigma c Tale

David W. Wood

Rudolf Steiner published the fairy tale Der Ring (The Ring) in
August 1884, when he was twenty-three years old.[1] Forgotten for almost
130 years, the tale was never reprinted or included in any subsequent
German edition of Steiners writings, only becoming rediscovered in a
Budapest library archive in 2011.[2] It is translated and made publicly
available here for the first time since 1884.
The tale originally appeared in two instalments of the weekly
Siebenbrgen or Transylvanian newspaper, the Carlsburger Wochenschrift.
[3]
The town of Carlsburg (Karlsburg, Alba Iulia), the place in whose
newspaper the fairy tale appeared, is a town in the Siebenbrgen region of
Romania. In the 1880s Siebenbrgen had a significant German-speaking
population, which had emigrated there from Germany in the 12th century.
In his autobiography, The Course of My Life, Rudolf Steiner recounts how
he personally visited Hermannstadt (Sibiu) in Siebenbrgen in 1889, with
his friend Moritz Zitter as his guide.
This 1884 fairy-tale is not the first text ever published by Steiner,
but certainly among his earliest extant writings. More significantly,
however, it seems to be the first-ever published artisticwork by Rudolf
Steiner. The first published writings of Steiner were several essays from
the years 1882/1883. As Steiner himself relates in his long 1913
autobiographical lecture, the first essays he ever wrote for publication
were around 1882 on Goethes Theory of Color, but only later made it into
print with the help of Karl Julius Schror.[4] These were then followed by
four essays: Lessing, Hermann Hettner, Auf der Hhe, and
Parallels between Shakespeare and Goethe, all four of which now
appear to be lost.
Alongside this essayistic work in the years 1882 and 1883, Steiner
was working on his introduction and commentary to the first volume of
Goethes Natural Scientific Writings. He had received the commission
from Joseph Krschner in September 1882, the first volume was finished a
year later, and then published in March 1884. This first volume also
contained an introduction by Karl Julius Schrer, dated August 1883, in
which he briefly introduced Steiner to the scholarly world.[5] In addition,
in June 1884 a summary of some of Steiners thoughts on Goethe appeared
in the newspaper Deutsche Zeitung under the title: Goethes Recht in der
Naturwissenschaft. Eine Rettung.[6] From Steiners writings and letters,
one can see that around the period 1882-1884 he was above all active with
his Goethe scientific studies, as well as with philosophical works and
literature.
There is no doubt that Rudolf Steiners August 1884 fairy tale The
Ring is a highly enigmatic piece of writing, and could even be called an
esoteric tale. How can or should we try to interpret it?
The story begins in the evening in the earthly realm, with two
friends walking along and discussing in a street the Schottengasse in
the city of V i.e. Vienna (W in the German text, for: Wien). These
friends are designated by the initials S and Z. Rudolf Steiner seems to
be openly hidden behind the S and his close friend Moritz Zitter behind
Z. Just after the appearance of this fairy tale, Steiner wrote and published
in November 1884 an essay Ein freier Blick in die Gegenwart (A Free
Glance at the Present Time) in another Siebenbrgen publication,
the Deutsche Lesehalle fr alle Stnde, which had succeeded
the Carlsburger Wochenschrift, and was edited by Moritz Zitter.[7]
After beginning in the terrestrial sphere of a Vienna street and a
conversation about love, devotedness and happiness, the tale then proceeds
to relate how one of the two friends came to possess a magic ring that
makes him remember a young girl he had met and tutored in a small
isolated cottage, after being whisked there in the heavenly carriage of the
Goddess Fortuna. The appearance of this celestial horse-drawn carriage
had also occurred while the protagonist was walking along the street. The
young girl in this cottage has a mother who has renounced all earthly life,
in a manner similar to the Buddha, and it is from this mother that he
receives the magic ring. Her incessant worries about her daughter
furthermore recall Mother Demeters constant laments for her daughter
Persephone, in stories connected with the Mothers of the Greek
Eleusinian mysteries. As is well-known, Persephone periodically
alternates between the upper and lower worlds, and we are told that this
young woman too after being tutored at home for a year by the young
man is soon to return to the earth.
Like the eternal feminine of Goethes Faust, and the figure of Lily
in Goethes Fairy-Tale, the love for this young woman continually uplifts
and draws S on to encounter her again. Goethes Fairy-Taleconcludes
with the building of a new temple, and accordingly can be read in the
prophetic esoteric Christian tradition of the Revelation of John, as Goethe
himself admitted to Prince August von Gotha in a letter of December
1795.[8] As just noted, Steiners tale The Ring also contains a prophecy
one concerning the future destiny of the young girl: My daughter will
soon be placed back into the life of the world.
And who is the mysterious figure of Marina, who is said to
narrate the tale from the life of the author? Both
Shakespeares Pericles and Schillers Demetrius contain figures called
Marina, and Steiner was also occupied with Shakespeare and Schiller at
this time. Thaisa the mother of Marina in Shakespeares drama is also
connected with the ancient Greek mysteries this time as a priestess of
Diana/Artemis at Ephesus. Could Steiners female fairy-tale narrator be
somehow inspired by these earlier literary and cultural models?
Then there is the magic ring at the heart and in the title of the tale.
It appears to recall other significant ancient magical objects in spiritual
history, such as Solomons magic and protective ring in the Jewish
mystery tradition, or even G.E. Lessings later ring parable another
author Steiner was busy reading in the early 1880s.
Finally, the course of the events in the tale is guided by the Goddess
Fortuna the Roman divinity of fortune or fate. Hence, the most fruitful
interpretations of this fairy-tale will no doubt be those that take into
account Steiners other autobiographical indications concerning his
enlightenment experiences for the period of the early 1880s. In this respect
the protagonist S in the fairy-tale says he received the ring sometime
earlier: I had just had a few years under my belt, where I was preparing
my spirit for something higher, living in earnest expectation of the time
when I was to be initiated into the deeper secrets of science (Ich hatte
soeben die Jahre hinter mir, in denen ich meinen Geist fr hheres
vorzubereiten hatte und lebte in banger Erwartung auf die Zeit, in welcher
ich in die tieferen Geheimnisse der Wissenschaft eingefhrt werden sollte).
If this does indeed refer to a spiritual event in Rudolf Steiners own
biography, then it seems to point to around the years 1879-1882, when
Steiner attended the Technical College in Vienna, just before starting his
editorial work on the natural-scientific writings of Goethe.
Here three later autobiographical accounts of Steiner immediately
spring to mind, and all similarly relate to initiation and esoteric
experiences:

1). Rudolf Steiners Rosicrucian mystery dramas of 1910-

1913, which artistically depict a small group of people pursuing the
path of initiation. In these mystery dramas we also find a small
otherworldly cottage belonging to the couple Felix and Felicia
Balde. The latter like Marina just happens to be a teller of
enigmatic fairy-tales. All the characters in these Rosicrucian plays
are dramatic metamorphoses of historical people personally known
to Steiner on the one hand, as well as transformations of the figures
in Goethes 1795 Fairy-Tale on the other. The character of Felix
Balde is based among others on the real-life Austrian herb-gatherer
Felix Koguski a man Steiner met around 1879/1880, while Felicia
Balde is likewise inspired by a number of direct personal
acquaintances of Steiner, and both are metamorphoses of The Old
Man with the Lamp and his Wife respectively from Goethes Fairy-
Tale.[9]
2). Rudolf Steiners long autobiographical lecture of 4
February 1913. There he directly evokes his occult schooling
around the years 1879-1882, after meeting the herb-gatherer Felix,
in connection with the works of the philosopher Fichte, and
Goethes Faustand natural-scientific writings.[10] And like the 1884
fairy-tale The Ring, this 1913 autobiographical lecture is likewise
narrated in the unusual impersonal style of the third person.
 3). The Course of My Life Steiners autobiography,
published in the years 1923-1925. The first chapters tell of Steiners
early spiritual experiences. One episode in particular relates to the
herb-gatherer Felix, and it too refers to the years 1879-1882. Just
like the two figures in the 1884 fairy-tale discussing and walking in
the Schottengasse in Vienna, here we find Steiner again walking
along another street in Vienna, the Alleegasse, discussing spiritual
topics with a person whom he calls an Initiate. As we saw, this
same Felix was the model for one of the main characters in Steiners
Rosicrucian mystery dramas.[11]

These four accounts the 1884 fairy-tale and the other three texts
and autobiographical lecture mentioned above seem to be deeply
intertwined with Rudolf Steiners own initiation and destiny. Just as with
Goethes Rosicrucian poem The Mysteries and Rosicrucian text the Fairy-
Tale, Steiners own early fairy-tale The Ring has countless echoes to
many different religions and mystery streams, including the Greek,
Roman, Jewish, Buddhist and esoteric Christian traditions. All these
presentations immanently and explicitly point to the years 1879-1882 as of
great significance for the young Steiners spiritual awakening. In
Goethes Fairy-Tale, the most important mysteries are the open ones.
Similarly, Rudolf Steiners published autobiographical fairy tale The
Ring of 1884 presents innumerable open secrets or mysteries.

David W. Wood is a university researcher in the history of philosophy.

Some of his other translations and writings can be found here:

http://kuleuven.academia.edu/DavidWWood

[1]
The full title of Steiners fairy tale in German is: Der Ring: Ein
Sommermrchen von Rudolf Steiner. Aus des Verfassers Leben mitgetheilt v.
Marina. I would like to thank Professor Dr. Walter Kugler, Dr. David Marc
Hoffmann, Dr. Martina Maria Sam, and the Rudolf Steiner Archiv in Dornach,
Switzerland, for their kind help, including providing me with transcriptions of the
original German text and a photographic scan of the original 1884 Carlsburger
Wochenschrift. I am also grateful to Frank Thomas Smith for his feedback and offer
to publish this translation and afterword in the SouthernCrossReview.

[2]
It was rediscovered by Lars Engelberger. A copy of the original
1884 Carlsburger Wochenschrift can be found in the National Szchnyi Library in
Budapest, Hungary. A brief online report of the rediscovery can be found
here: http://rs150onair.blogspot.be.
[3]
The full name of the publication organ is: Carlsburger Wochenschrift: Organ fr
Unterhaltung, volkswirtschaftliche und kommunale Interessen. It was edited by
August Behal, and published by Volz and Krner. The Carlsburger
Wochenschrift began publication in 1881 and ceased three years later in 1884.
Steiners text appeared in two instalments in the issues of 10 and 17 August 1884.
[4]
These appear to be the two brief essays: ber das Verhltnis Thomas Seebecks
zu Goethes Farbenlehre and Hundert Jahre Zurck: Zur Farbenlehre, updated and
published by Steiner in the Chronik des Wiener Goethe-Vereins, which was edited
by Schrer, in the years 1886 and 1887 (cf. reprints in GA 30, pp. 477-479).
[5]
See: Karl Julius Schrer, The Natural Scientific Writings of Goethe (1884).
English translation here:
https://www.academia.edu/15646174/Karl_Julius_Schrer._The_Natural_Scientific_Writings_of_Goethe_1884_
[6]
Reprinted in GA 30, pp. 227-232.
[7]
Reprinted in GA 30, pp. 232-237.
[8]
See J.W. von Goethe to Prince August von Gotha, (21) December 1795, Sophien
(Weimarer) Ausgabe, IV, vol. 10, pp. 351-352.
[9]
For further details, see my essay, Frau Balde and the Library in the
magazine New View(London), Winter 2011, pp. 58-70.
[10]
See R. Steiner, Self-Education. Autobiographical Reflections 1861-1893. A
Lecture by Rudolf Steiner(Mercury Press).
[11]
Rudolf Steiner, Mein Lebensgang, Dornach, 2011 (GA 28, p. 60).