ABSTRACT
‘The Singing, Ringing Tree’ is a modern rendering of Grimms’ fairy tale, ‘Hurleburlebutz,’ in which a naïve Prince calls upon the neighboring King to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The Princess’ recollection of her deep psychic roots begins with an experience of abduction. The Evil Dwarf is the counterpoint of consciousness seduced by its own self-sufficiency, a trickster figure grown powerful in the absence of the Queen, ‘whose chief and most alarming characteristic is his unconsciousness’. Bear and Princess build a seemingly impossible house together. It’s their turning point because they co-operate despite brutish Bear behavior and the Princess’ foul appearance. The Princess walks through the circle of flames and remembers her identity with Nature. Alchemically, flames burn the dross and impurities from the soul. The Tree’s dark roots and aerial branches transcend opposites. It is the Self, expressed as a symbol of Nature. Nature, like the Self, is something everyone is made of and yet faced with.
