I read today a really entertaining book by E. T. A. Hoffmann. I do not know the English translated title of it, but the original German name is "Der goldne Topf - Ein Märchen aus der neuen Zeit". Maybe in English it could be something like "The golden bowl - A fairy-tale from a new age".
This story really IS a fairy-tale literally. It tells about probably German male student of about the end of the 18th century. He is drawn by the fairy world, which gradually reveals more and more about it to him. He meets evil spirits and an evil (sic) witch, elementals and fairies. The fairy world is said to be of the ancient Atlantis (of course).
But this fairy-tale is not anything like modern D&D adventures or Sword&Sorcery. It is like those old German fairy-tales collected and told by the brothers Grimm, but in the rational and relatively modern setting and world. It is a kind of surrealistic or fantasy story. It is a lovely tale and very fascinating.
It is also a lover story and about the strength of true love and loyalty and the strength of the spirit of all beings and the value of innocent child-like mind and wonder and sensitivity to the hidden powers of the Nature. It is also a little philosophical. And the motifs of this story are typically archetypal in the Jungian sense. The author is said to have influenced Dr. Jung.
The fairy love of the hero, Anselmus, is a serpent fairy called Serpentina.
And the valued prize, beside the lovely fairy, is the golden bowl. Which reminds me remarkably about the Holy Grail. And THAT has so many references and meanings... It is interesting that in this story there appear both the evil witch with her demonic cauldron and the golden bowl of the fairy world, or of a good wizard. I would say, two opposing aspects manifested of the the same archetype.
Maybe this tale is a little like "The Golden Ass" of Apuleius. Not in the surface, but there seem to appear the same archetypal and mythological themes and motifs. I do not know for sure about this, but I have to think more about this.
And in the end, here are two links:
About E. T. A. Hoffmann: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hoffman.htm
About Apuleius and "The Golden Ass": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apuleius
