The King of the Golden River

John Ruskin · 1841 · Short Story

Explore this on the mapTrace its ancestors and descendants live in the tree.

Children's fantasy with clear good vs. evil

It presented a moralistic fairy tale for children with clear good-versus-evil characters, a magical quest, and a hidden magical entity, emphasizing virtue and kindness.

What it is

Three brothers live in a fertile valley, but two are cruel and greedy, while the youngest, Gluck, is kind. After the valley is ruined, Gluck embarks on a quest to find the King of the Golden River to restore their fortune.

↑Inherited from

This work originated its idea. No known prior influences in the dataset.

↓Passed on to(1)

The Princess and the Goblin· 1872↓ open

This early English fairy tale for children, published decades before MacDonald's work, established a precedent for children's literature featuring explicit moral allegories, magical quests, and personified natural forces, which MacDonald built upon.