The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs
On Thursday evening our family and friends came to this year’s fairy tale, which was performed at the Kay Meek Centre with eurythmy movements, bells, cello, lyres and psalter music. At the beginning, the audience watched five opening acts. In the first act Cascadia coworkers and companions performed EVOE to the music of Max Schuurman which was played on the piano by Alison. Then they performed Calendar of the Soul, 18 and 35. Bonnie Freundlich from Eurythmy Northwest danced to ‘Nocturne’ by Claude Debussy and the Arbutus Quartet entertained us with the Piano Quartet in E flat major.
Then Patricia’s excellent narration brought to life the Grimm’s fairy tale of ‘The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs’. In a small village a poor woman (Mary) gave birth to a baby boy. All the villagers were excited and talking about the birth. When the king came he wanted to know what all the excitement was about. The villagers told him that a baby boy has been born and in his fourteenth year, he will marry the king’s daughter.
The king was very displeased at this and he took the baby, put him in a box and floated him down the river. The Miller’s boy saw the box, pulled it out of the water and thought that he had found a great treasure. To his surprise, when he opened the box, he found a baby boy. He gave the baby to a couple who had no children and they were very happy to raise him.
When the king discovers that the child is alive, he writes a letter to the queen saying that the child must be put to death. Luckily, the child meets some robbers who tore up the letter and wrote a new one saying that the child should marry the princess. They got married and again the king became very angry. So the king told the child, that if he gets three golden hairs from the devil’s head, he can keep his daughter for his wife.
The boy sets off on his journey to hell. He traveled through three towns. In the first town he came to the first gate keeper and the gate keeper asked him, “What do you know?” The boy said, “I know everything.” Then the gate keeper asked him, “Why is there no wine in the well?” The boy didn’t know, so the gate keeper told him to go to the devil to get the answers. Then the boy meets the second gatekeeper who asks him “Why doesn’t the apple tree produce apples any more?” The last gatekeeper asks him, “Why does the ferryman have to row backwards and forwards forever? The boy couldn’t answer their questions so the gatekeeper told him to get the answer from the devil. The ferry man rowed him to the other side of the shore where the boy entered hell. While the devil was sleeping, the devil’s grandmother pulls out the three golden hairs and also gives the young boy the answers to the questions. He gave the three golden hairs to the king and the boy is rewarded with gold The young boy and his wife live happily ever after. The greedy king is punished for the sins he committed.
Here is a thank you from one of the Grade 2 students at the Vancouver Waldorf School.