Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Fairy Tale The Green Snake and The Beautiful Lily is an imaginative story written in 1795 during the course of the French Revolution.
This Fairy Tale was Goethe's response to letters and essays from Friederich Schiller about the difficulties facing humankind rebuilding society after the Revolution.
The power of the Tale arises from the nature of the characters, riddles in the story and from underlying themes such as Diversity, Community Building and Transformation.
There are nineteen very different characters who change and transform themselves as the story develops. An example is the Green Snake who ultimately transforms herself into shining jewels to form a bridge spanning a river enabling two 'communities' to become one.
The Fairy Tale is imbued with moral values. It is the final story of short sequence of stories Goethe wrote, under the Title of "Recreations of German Emigrants", about the plight of displaced families at the time of the French Revolution.
Immediately prior to the commencement of the Fairy Tale in Recreations of German Emigrants Goethe gave a fascinating insight into his rationale for the creative and imaginative way he wrote.
One of his characters stated: "Exercise of imagination should be voluntary. It can affect nothing by compulsion, it must wait for the moment of inspiration. The imagination should not deal in facts, nor be employed to establish facts. It's proper province is art and there its influence should operate like sweet music."
Views have been expressed about the "meaning" of the Fairy Tale. However, it is believed Goethe's intention was that individuals would simply allow the Tale to develop their imagination and free thinking.
My personal discovery from working with groups with this Work has been the value of enabling individuals experience: being the characters; what they speak and living the riddles.
Consequently, I encourage exploration of The Green Snake and The Beautiful Lily through offering ways of experiencing it followed by reflection for personal and community development."
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