Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales in the Light of Spiritual Investigation and A Mongolian Legend

“Fairy tales and sagas are comparable to a good angel, granted human beings as a companion from birth on their life’s wanderings, to be a trustworthy comrade throughout – offering comradeship, and making life inwardly into a truly ensouled fairy tale!”

This is a lecture, given by Rudolf Steiner, entitled Märchendichtungen im Lichte der Geistesforschung, and contained in the volume Ergebnisse der Geistesforschung (Results of Spiritual Research) GA 62. The series in which this lecture was given at the Architektenhaus in Berlin, may be said to underline its overall importance for Rudolf Steiner: held February 6th 1913 subsequent to a lecture January 30th on Raphael, it was followed a week later, on February 13th, by a lecture on Leonardo da Vinci.

As a bonus, A Mongolian Legend is included. It is from a matinee lecture given by Rudolf Steiner: Mythen und Sagen. Okkulte Zeichen und Symbole (Myths and Legends. Occult Signs and Symbols). From GA 101. Lecture IV, 21st October 1907 in Berlin.

This lecture is the third in a series of four lectures from GA 62, that are newly translated by Peter Stebbing. Edited by Urs Rüd and James Stewart.

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.