The Knight, the Lady, and the Forest of Sorrow
A little fable of encouragement for all the suffering.
1889
© frielp, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
An unnamed forest in England, shrouded in mist. © frielp, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Introduction
This touching tale appears almost out of nowhere in Jerome K. Jerome’s comic novel. It reminds us that only those who utterly despair understand hope, and only those who truly grieve know the meaning of joy.
ONCE upon a time, a company of knights rode upon the marches of a thick forest. Night lay upon it, and whoever turned aside from that path was held fast in its thorny briars, and lost in its darkness.
One knight missed the way, and when his companions could not find him, they mourned for him as one dead.
But after many days, he came among them. His face was bloodied, his clothes were rent; but in his face shone Joy.
In deep forest night, he said, he had stumbled on and on, into despair. But then a queenly Lady came towards him, took him by the hand, and led him, by yet darker paths, to a place where all was Light.
And he looked, and stood as one enchanted: and all wounds and grief were forgotten.
The name of that dark forest was Sorrow. But only those who stray therein may find the dazzling glade where the Lady brought that wandering knight.
Based on a fable told in Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.
