| Jack got away with stealing a Goose, then stealing a golden harp, and then the Giant tried to chase him down the beanstalk, and the ending gives us the story of Jack and Jill: “Then the ogre fell down and broke his crown, and the beanstalk came toppling after.” Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Of course, we all know the common nursery rhyme. The primary shamanic theme, which should be apparent by now, would be the climbing up the beanstalk to get to the “otherworld” where the Giant resides. That is the journey for our hero. The “Golden Eggs” or the Goose herself, would be the treasure the hero is trying to attain, and as we learned in the Rig Veda, the treasure is the Soma, which allows one to feel rich as the richest man, although he might have nothing at all. These are also Easter Eggs, or amanitas “golden eggs.” He imagines himself with palaces, and servants and jewels and luxuries while under the influence of the Soma. Fairies are usually endowed with the magical ability to turn garbage into gold. They take our teeth when we are young and place them under our pillows and they replace it with a dollar (or more if your parents are rich). I’ve been able to solve a lot of “mysteries,” but how the fairies know precisely just how rich or poor our parents are, is a question I haven’t been able to figure out yet. The last important aspect of this I would like to bring to the reader’s attention is the theme of a “giant beanstalk” that reaches into the highest part of the sky, above the clouds, where the heavens reside. This is also the world tree, the tree of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the Giants, where we come full circle back to Jack and the Beanstalk. This is another reason I think the Giants were the giant trees, the oaks, the sequoia trees, the places where the A. muscaria grow. King Herla There is a story similar to Rip Van Winkle, called the reign of King Herla, or the Hunt, which is an English tale from the 12th century. King Herla and his men are travelling through the ancient forest and run upon a small figure riding on the back of a goat: “Compared to the humans the dwarf was smaller and squatter and probably about half as tall. The dwarf had a huge head and a bright face with a long red beard down to his chest. His skin was light yellowish brown and his shoulders, arms and chest were very hairy. His legs were also hairy, and he had cloven hooves instead of feet and he rode upon a huge mountain goat.” The dwarf invited King Herla to a wedding thrown for the king and queen of France whose daughter was going to marry King Herla. The dwarf wanted the king to agree to this and then to attend his wedding one year later. King Herla thought this was probably some kind of dream and agreed. The agreement was sealed with a drink shared by both. When he returned to the kingdom though the ambassadors from the King of France where there to give him the offer of his daughter’s marriage. |
When the wedding was about to begin, the dwarves all entered and, “from tents pitched by the Dwarf King’s followers, fine wines were served from pitchers exquisitely decorated and studded with precious gemstones and poured into goblets of silver and gold and crystal.” “King Herla heard or saw nothing of the Dwarf King until one year from his wedding day when once again he appeared riding on his goat with a retinue behind him. Standing before Herla he reminded him of their agreement and asked him if he was willing to fulfill it. Herla agreed and along with a retinue of knights followed the Dwarf King along strange paths through the forest until at last they came to a towering cliff. There Herla and his men followed the Dwarf King into a small cave and along a passage that opened into a huge and marvelous cavern that was lit my many hundreds of lights.” They celebrated the wedding and drank and ate and enjoyed themselves but when they were getting saddled and ready to leave the dwarf king warned them that, “the world he had known had changed and it was not safe for him and his men to leave and begged them to stay.” But King Herla would think nothing of leaving his wife, the queen, behind and he was determined to return home. The dwarf gave him a bloodhound to keep mounted on the horse and told him to be cautious never to allow any one’s feet to touch the ground before the bloodhound jumped off first and touched the ground. When the king and his entourage got to the edge of their kingdom, they saw a shepherd, and thinking only three days have passed, asked the shepherd how the queen had been doing. The shepherd replied, “My lord, I scarce understand thy language, since I am a Saxon and thou a Briton. But I have never heard of the name of that queen, save that men tell of one so called, a queen of the very ancient Britons, and wife of King Herla, who is reported in legends to have disappeared with a pigmy into this cliff and to have been seen nevermore on earth. The Saxons, having driven out the natives, have possessed this kingdom for full two hundred years.” This was very unfortunate for King Herla, but he was wise. Some of his men decided at once to dismount, causing them to turn to dust, but the King remained on his horse. The sad part was that this bloodhound never jumped off so it is said King Herla rides his horse cart through the winds and lands in the spirit world, endlessly on his “great hunt.” |