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The King of the Golden River is a folk tale about three brothers. The two elder brothers are terrible to the younger and to the people of the town. The younger brother is good-natured and invites a strange man into the house one

Source: Ruskin, John. (1907). The King of the Golden River. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company.

Part 1

A folk tale about three brothers. The two elder brothers are terrible to the younger and to the people of the town. The younger brother is good-natured and invites a strange man into the house one evening. The other two show him no hospitality and lose everything because of their bad temperaments.

Part 2

Gluck’s two evil brothers decide to become blacksmiths after the Southwest Wind prevents rain from touching the farmland. Gluck is forced to melt down his gold mug which is the King of the Golden River. He offers Gluck advice on how to turn the river to pure gold with holy water and warns him of the consequences should he add unholy water.

Part 3

Hans, one of the older brothers, attempts to turn the Golden River to pure gold and because of his terrible nature, fails and is turned to stone by the river.

Part 4

Schwartz, the second older brother, set out to try and turn the river to pure gold. He too fails because of his bad nature and turns to stone like Hans.

Part 5

Gluck attempts to turn the river to gold and succeeds because he is charitable to the thirsty people and animals he meets alonng the way (unlike his brothers). The holy water of which the king had spoken, was the water of mercy.

Year Published: 1907
Language: English
Country of Origin: England
Readability:
• Flesch–Kincaid Level: 6.8
Word Count: 9,521
Genre: Fairy Tale/Folk Tale
Keywords: hospitality, mercy, punishment, reward
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