"He
Too Saw the Image in the Water" by Kay Nielsen (Kay Nielsen spend his last years in poverty since nobody was interested in his works)
In Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairy
Tales, Sara Maitland writes:
"I believe that the great stretches
of forests in northern Europe, with their constant seasonal changes, their
restricted views, their astonish biological diversity, their secret gifts and
perils and the knowledge that you have to go through them to get anywhere else,
created the themes and ethics of the fairy tales we know best. There are secrets,
hidden identities, cunning disguises; there are rhythms of change like the
changes of the seasons; there are characters, both human and animal, whose
assistance can be earned or spurned; and there is -- over and over again -- the
journey or quest, which leads first to knowledge and then to happiness. The
forest is the place of trial in fairy stories, both dangerous and exciting. Coming to terms with the forest, surviving its
terrors, utilising its gifts and gaining its help is the way to 'happy ever after.'”
