Kissing Frogs & Creating Princes

You may have to kiss a lot of frogs before
you find your handsome prince.

Even though some frogs look a little green and slimy, there really is something irresistible about these wonderful amphibians!  Really, think about it - are you ever neutral when you encounter a frog and they spring out hippity-hop across your feet on the yard? When you see one of these fabulous brothers or sisters, it brings an instant feeling of happiness, energy, and smiles.  I've never kissed one (yet), but sometimes I'm tempted to just to see what might happen.

Years ago when working with the American Indian community in Dallas, one of the Muskogee Creek elders instructed me about frogs,  "When I was a boy, my grandpa used to tell me not to bother the frogs that would come up in his little garden."  When I asked why, the elder said, "He would just smile and say - 'they talk to me and tell me things.'"  I always like to tell that story because it tells me that the respected role of the legendary shaman-magician-blessing granting frog can be found in many traditions and cultures.

The story of a beautiful maiden or princess kissing a frog, undoing his curse, and restoring him back to a prince again is of course very common in mythology and folklore. We've all heard stories like that growing up and seen Disney movies based on that lovable theme.

I saw a frog in my back yard last night and watched with amusement as our little grand-doggie Sophie the schnauzer excitedly followed him around, jumping back every time the frog jumped!  I felt, as the Creek elder shared, that maybe the frog had come "to tell me things." So, I started remembering stories about Princesses kissing frogs and them turning into Princes. Yeah, maybe that frog was telling me something after all.

I did a little research on "frogs" and found that different cultures have revered them as symbols of:

• Luck
• Purity
• Rebirth
• Renewal
• Fertility
• Healing
• Metamorphosis
• Transitions
• Dreaming
• Opportunity
• Intermediary

Wow, not bad for our little green, living-in-two-worlds amphibian friends. I refreshed myself on the idea of "metamorphosis" and "transitions" in relation to frogs and found that their distinct life cycles mirror ours in a lot of ways - "egg"  "tadpole"  "metamorph" (in-between) and "frog."  And since frogs can live comfortably in "two worlds" - land and water - they are a symbol for a stage of development in which we are balanced between our physical and spiritual selves.  They can also symbolize the "shaman" - the medicine person who has the ability to travel between the worlds as an intermediary or shape shifter. Little creatures CAN be powerful, my American Indian mentors taught me.

Then, I went back and pulled up the most common version of the old Grimm fairy tale and read it again:

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/FrogPrin.shtml

So, here we have the beautiful young princess strolling out at night with her golden ball (or pearl) when she accidentally drops it into a pond of water. Weeping bitterly, she sits down by the water. Up pops the healing-medicine amphibian who informs her that he will be happy to retrieve the ball  - BUT ... with one condition. If she will let him "sleep with her" and eat off her golden plate, he will gladly remedy her loss. The Princess, thinking probably, "fine - whatever," sits back and to her surprise sees the froggy friend bring up her lost treasure from the water. She takes it and leaves, thinking to disrespect the sacred frog and with no intent to fulfill her bargain with him.

Nature & Karma Always Find Us: 

Froggy comes a' callin'

The next day, a knock at the Princess' door:

     'Open the door, my princess dear,
     Open the door to thy true love here!
     And mind the words that thou and I said
     By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

The persistent amphibian-prince-in-disguise is persistent and she finally fulfills her vow and he sleeps with her for three nights. This not so subtle allusion to sexuality relates to frog symbolism pertaining to fertility, dreaming, and rebirth.  I also like to think of this part of the story as a reminder to we nature-deprived modern types that like the Princess, until we re-learn to kiss, love, and embrace nature and understand that we are not really above and superior to the Earth Mother and all her creatures, we shall all be like the initially shunned and judged frog, having to come calling to remind others of our common Earth bond.

After the third night at Dawn, the Princess awakes to find not the frog but a handsome Prince lying next to her! He explains that her actions have resulted in the breaking of an evil charm that turned him into a frog.  Now, the two are married and ride off in a horse-drawn carriage to live happily ever after in his father's kingdom.

Blessings of the Frog: This wonderful story has rich meaning spiritually. When losses come, we all go through a grieving process and feel the incompleteness left by that lost loved one or that lost important aspect of our life. It is a time of transition. The ways things have been have been good, but now they're not working so good - a change is needed.  Water and water creatures symbolize the cleansing of our wounds, the need for healing, and the ability to change and transform ourselves and keep growing.

Sometimes at a time like that, I have seen a "frog-like" person come into my life - someone you would consider unlikely to be able to help you.  The fairy tale teaches otherwise.  Sometimes people who are dismissed or under-valued are the very ones with the most to offer.  Our culture is majorly enamored with physical beauty and the importance of looks and eternal youth.  The patriarchal elements of our corporate culture have created a pseudo-waif-princess-model standard for women that is unhealthy, unbalanced, and sometimes tragic. We unfortunately start early on doing a demolition job on the self esteem of women in this culture.

Who's Laughing Now?  I like to think of the frog character in these stories as a medicine man - a magic, blessing carrying being who is deemed ugly sometimes, but as a result has the power to ignore the silly, false models of female beauty presented by the media.  The frog can be a "Trickster" as in American Indian culture - a powerful and beneficial counter-hero who teaches us to laugh at ourselves.  Like the Muskogee elder taught me - "they tell us things" - they help us see how our eternal pursuit of physical beauty is ridiculous and perhaps begin to move toward a greater awareness that our physical bodies and life on the planet is TEMPORARY.

So, the frog is right. He really IS a prince! Its all about metamorphosis.  Its about learning to be fertile and believe in the power of our self to change, grow, and turn into something more than others or even we thought we could. 

GO AHEAD AND KISS THE FROG...  A GOOD CHANGE IS ON THE WAY!

Keith Overstreet   November 4, 2010

Six Swans & An Amazing Princess Hero, Part 2.



The Sacred Sister is true to her vow and willing to sacrifice her life for her brothers.
Walter Crane, illustrator



At the end of Part 1, we found the Six Swan brothers in an unenviable fate of being caught in between worlds. Bewitched (or initiated into the Greater Mystery for those ready to understand), they are only able to become human again for a quarter-hour per day and then turn back into Swans once more.

We were introduced to the fabulous character of the Seventh sibling, the amazing Hero Sister who has come to save and rescue her ill-fated brothers from a life of "neither this nor that." 

"Can nothing be done to free you?" she implores her brothers. The brothers sadly and skeptically answer her: "The work would be too hard

for you," and indeed the price of their liberation is to prove exorbitant.  She is told that the only way to win back their humanity is:

         "For six whole years you would be obliged never to speak or laugh, and you would

           have, during that time, to spin, weave and make six white shirts out of aster-down.

           If you were to let fall a single word before the work was ended, all would be lost."

A Hero Arises:  What an amazing challenge - a six year vow of silence while knitting six full shirts out of star-flowers! It is a good challenge to ask ourselves if we would be willing to take such a vow of total silence and fulfill it for someone we love! The story text says: "The maiden made up her mind on the spot to set her brothers free, no matter what it might cost her."  Now, here is the Christ spirit in full bloom within this wonderful sister character - no matter the cost, she is determined to win back her brothers.  This is a very high ideal and one that we may never be able to achieve, but one that inspires us and magnetically draws us toward this bright and shining star-shirt weaver!

Every night by the light of the moon, the silent, sacrificing sister goes out and gathers the down of the star flower so she can accumulate enough to make the shirts for her brothers.  "No matter how lonely seemed the dark forest, nor how black the shadows, she was always gathering down."  A long time later, a King of that country came through the forest and got separated from his traveling companions. He was about to meet a very extraordinary and special woman.  There, up in a tree, she sat silently gathering the down of star flowers.  The King tried to get her to identify herself, but of course she had taken the six-year vow of silence and the seventh sibling would not say a word. He brought her down and fell immediately in love with her, retrieved her bags of star down and galloped away to his castle with the sister.



The Hero sister silently prepares to marry the King.

 The Wedding:  The King had the modest, humble sister clad in royal garments and they married - with her still silent and only able to smile and send a message of love to him with her eyes.  She continued her lonely, silent vigil for her brothers - maintaining her vow to knit each of her six brothers a garment of star-flower.

Residing in the castle was a jealous woman who was the head of his household. She hated the new bride from the beginning and began immediately to try to plant the seeds of doubt and division in the mind of the King.  She also spoke harshly to the new Queen and called her "dumb as a door-post" and a probably "beggar" in disguise.

The danger of witch hunts:  The woman begins to engage in an effort to label the Queen as an evil person - someone who is probably a witch who had cast a spell on the poor, unwitting King.  The people in the realm begin to question why she was silent in the face of such serious accusations and promptly labeled her a WITCH and demanded she be put to death. It is worth pausing here for a moment and reflecting on the dangerous potential of "labeling" and "fear."  Purity of spirit and integrity do sometimes excite the lower nature of some and cause them to project their own worst qualities onto the pure one. For anyone with eyes to see, history is full of witch hunts that ended with the death of innocents. In religious-spiritual traditions, savior-avatar figures such as the sister are often accused of being subverters of the order. This same phenomena is seen in the false condemnation of Jesus by the Sanhedrin religious council and by the people of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Whenever we are told to choose up sides and that we must stand up against evil "out there,"  the writer always becomes squeamish and worried because it is always ever so much easier to project blame and darkness on others than it is to see it within ourselves.  The Swan story points us to that same danger.

The sad and courage-lacking King shows his own cowardice by allowing his pure Queen to be dragged out of the castle to be burned at the stake for witchcraft.  Mob psychology is a dark potential always present in human existence and always represents the death of freedom and reason in favor of fear and paranoia.

The Hero Sister - Faithful to the End:  

In an amazing act of courage, sacrifice, compassion, and love for her beloved brothers, the sister walks willingly and silently toward her own fiery death.  But like the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, the ultimate sacrifice is not demanded. The six brother swans come flying over - it is exactly the "very last day of the six years during which she had neither spoken nor laughed in order to free her brothers."  The six star-down shirts are ready - EXCEPT one of the shirts' sleeves is not finished. From the top of the wood pile, she cries out for her brothers and they come and circle her. She flings out the shirts onto the swans and they immediately turn back into humans again - she and her brothers once more stand before the mob and explain to them and the King the circumstances of her amazing sacrifice on their behalf.  The joyful King hears her beautiful story and kisses her and embraces her - perhaps beginning to understand for the first time what an amazing, special woman he has for his wife and Queen - certainly his superior in many ways.

Unfinished: A work in progress  

It is interesting to reflect on the last brother whose knitted shirt was missing one sleeve.  The story tells that as a result, he went through the rest of his life with one arm as a feathered swan wing.  This is an excellent metaphor for the reality that we are forever a "work in progress."  Regardless of how much knowledge we accumulate, or how much we grow in understanding of life and about things relating to the Divine - it is always fragmentary and incomplete.  The winged brother is a wonderful reminder to all of us that we DO have within us the spark of the Divine and that we are indeed "the marriage or union of Earth and Sky."  We are the unique union of eternal spirit residing in mortal, decaying bodies.  While we possess the innate ability to fly high like the Swan, we are children of the Earth and if we are to grow toward balance of our opposite, dichotomous qualities, we must always deal with and have active consciousness of both parts. This is sometimes depicted to in the Masonic and other esoteric traditions as "the compass and square." In order to allow ourselves to grow in discipline, stability, and ultimate service to our brothers and sisters, we must learn to be combination Swan-Humans.  This awareness affirms our divine potential and legacy while maintaining the humility of knowing our incompleteness and the need for us to learn the hardest lesson of all. This is the one demonstrated by the Seventh  - the sister who was willing to do anything to win the freedom of her six brothers. For the fortunate and those with eyes to see, her amazing example will be found in everyday, mundane people - parents, grandparents, good friends, animals, plants, and everywhere that life gains awareness that we are never here to exist solely for ourselves. Our ultimate and highest path and destiny lies in the amazing fact that even though incomplete and flawed, we all have the ability to reach down and connect to a compassion that propels us to serve others and give selflessly of ourselves for other's sake.

Keith Overstreet   November 4, 2010

Six Swans & An Amazing Princess Hero, Part 1.

*Copy of an old fairy tale book printed in 1920, "Through Fairy Halls," Olive Beaupre' Miller, editor.



*This page shows an illustration by D. Crane of the wonderful story, "The Six Swans," a German fairy tale collected by Wilhelm & Jacob Grimm & published in the 1800s.

This wonderful folk tale by the Brothers Grimm is one of the richest metaphorical expressions of human spiritual evolution anywhere.  If its been a while since you read the text of this rich, gorgeous fable, you can be like the author and become an awed child again and read it with joy at:

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/49sixswans.html

There are many, many reasons to love the story of the Six Swans and their 7th sibling. Not the least of which is the rather unique female character in this story - the amazing, courageous, sacrificing, strong, loving, compassionate, faithful, resourceful, intelligent, invincible Sister. Far too many of our Indo-European myths and folk tales feature a male Hero. Rarely, except in bright and shining exceptions like this story, do we see a female figure emerge as the rescuer and savior of the males. Hence, finding an old story that breaks free of the patriarchal, gender bias of much story-telling is like finding a pearl of great price! Some have rightly suggested that the title of the story should be:  "The Seventh Swan."  The writer agrees.

SYMBOLIC THEMES

The story begins with a familiar folktale/mythological scenario: the King hunting; the King lost; the King searching for "a path;" encountering the ogress/old witch woman of the forest; the desperate promise, and the shot-gun wedding to the witches' beautiful daughter. More later on the "witch" figure, but the writer confesses here an affinity and admiration to the Wicca religion and the ancient Druid tradition of his Keltic ancestors. The writer is also an initiate into the Sacred Medicine Ground of the Yuchi-Zoyaha Tribe of American Indians and so has a high respect indeed for indigenous culture Earth medicine and its practice. The "witch" figure is typically and unfortunately branded in these stories as a dark evil figure - the Goddess banned from the courts of our patriarchal culture. For those of open mind, it is possible to flip the story as done by Gregory McGuire in Wicked, and understand the witch as a counter Hero, a rebel, someone with a strong connection to the divine feminine and with the courage to stand against the harsh patriarchal bias in many of our modern religious traditions. Keeping this in mind will help the reader of this story begin to wonder if the Witch-Queen is just another way of looking at a part of our creative ability that we have lost and relegated to the cultural scrap-yard of mythology and folk-tales.  There is a deeper understanding in the Seventh Swan story that comprehends the Witch-Queen as an Initiator figure.

The "Hunter" or "Seeker" The figure of the King or Queen "hunting" is the metaphor for the Vision Quest - the "Seeker" - the spiritual pilgrimage of the Hero.  It is a symbol of the "royal" part of ourselves - our higher, universal spirit that comes from the Divine going out into the world to seek our lost brothers and sisters who also share that royal/divine but often forgotten and estranged heritage. In mythology, the royal figure often sends sons or daughters out in search of the lost or prodigal sibling. This is a potent metaphor for the fact that all humans are fragments or sparks of the Divine Fire that have chosen to incarnate in a temporary, mortal existence. Often in these stories, the Seeker them self becomes lost in the seeking process - lost in the forest of the fear and longing for life in the body. This part of the story is a poignant reminder of the difficulty and ultimate sacrifice of that high, slow, incremental and ever steepening path of reclaiming our divine birthright.

The Witch Queen: The King has 7 children by a previous marriage and the theme of the "rejecting step-mother unfolds." Of course, the number "7" is always the number of completion, of sacredness. In the context of Jungian psychology and its symbols of unconscious transformation, the Witch-Queen can serve to represent the devouring human ego - the part of each one of us that cannot recognize the divine nature of ourselves and those with whom we come in contact in our daily lives.  In the story, just as in most of our lives, we unfortunately have the tendency to want to "own" those we love.  We sometimes act as though love given to others diminishes us and takes value from us, so we can allow ourselves to be jealous and possessive.  No need to point fingers here, this is something every honest person can admit to having done at some point or the other! 



On a superficial level, the envious Queen turns her jealousy into hatred and weaves 7 magical shirts with the power to transform the hated children into something non-human. In another more esoteric way of understanding, she is the force that understands we have the ability to become more than what we are now. She is the maker of magic and the one who throws bewitching possibility our way.  When not ready, this can indeed be a frightening thought and we sometimes react by projecting our negativity and cling to our smaller world with a vengeance.

Six Swan Brothers: In the story, the six brothers are immediately transformed into six swans. They sprout wings and mount up, flying over the tree tops.   In mythology, the number "6" always stands for "humanity" and the earthly life in the physical body.  In this wonderful story, the Seventh is the sister who resists the Witches charm and stays back in the hidden forest castle.  The Queen knows nothing of the 7th and goes back to the King gloating over her successful swan job.

The Female Hero Arises:  Now, the 7th becomes the Seeker, the symbol of the Avatar - the enlightened one who is not charmed or lost or confused by our rich but fleeting life in the body. The text reads: "I must stay here no longer. I shall go and seek for my brothers."  This is always the compassionate pledge and commitment of the Bodhisattva - to voluntarily delay entering Nirvana to enter the path of sacrifice for one's beloved friends and family. In the story, the sister is willing to walk deeply into the dark forest with her only guide being her heart of love.  At sun-set, she comes upon a forest hut:  "Behold!  Six handsome white swans came flying in at the window. They alighted ... and blew at one another until they had blow all their feathers off..."  To her surprise, she had been reunited with her beloved brothers and a joyful reunion it was. But part of their curse was that they could only stay in human form for a quarter-hour before changing back into beautiful, feathered swans once more. A female savior was about to arise....

End of Part 1.  To be continued....       

The sacred, loving 7th sister with her beloved brothers

Keith Overstreet   November 3, 2010



The Open Gate Beckons: Horses, Ambivalence, Security & Freedom

The image above is a powerful visual icon about the ever-present, often-ignored, and persistent "open gates"of our lives:

"The gate is open! No need to question why… no need to find out who opened it or when it happened. It is a bright and beautiful new morning, a fresh beginning! Gates are meant to be opened and souls are meant to be free… pause at the gate only a moment to thank Love for your freedom, and then run…RUN!"  -K.Overstreet

The image of a horse running free evokes strong, positive emotions and expresses the universal longing of the human spirit for freedom. Familiar elements in the image communicate far better than the words now being written about them. But for those such as the author having a lifelong affair with not only art, photography, and visual imagery but ALSO with language and words (!), the following are interesting symbols:

"Horse"   -  The human spirit, power, strength, movement, rebirth, physical existence, experience, pilgrimage, mission, freedom, passion, emotion.

"Morning or Dawn"  -  Symbol of new beginnings, fresh starts, unrealized potential, unlimited
possibility, Sun Mother, nurture, maternal love, the Earth Mother, spiritual awakening, Creation, adoption of life on Earth by the Divine, the evolutionary realization of Light in the midst of our own darkness, and the gradual evolution of the human soul toward enlightenment and actualization.

"The Fence"  -  The lines of limitation that we all use to define ourselves in known, safe, familiar conceptions and terminology: race, gender, age, occupation, religion, culture, sexual preference, political affiliation, and of course, LINEAR TIME - our ubiquitous clocks, watches, and calendars in modern life. 

"The Overhanging Tree"  -  Symbolizes the protection of elders, the mediating and shielding of Nature and the Earth, the connecting pillar connecting Earth and Sky, home, refuge, stability, relationship, connectedness, maturity, growth, wisdom, reaching up toward the unknown.

"The Gate"  -  Represents our ability as humans to transcend our limitations, the phenomena of events, people, ideas, music, art, and other powerful conduits that open us to larger reality, the scary idea that our knowledge and experience is NOT final - that there is something larger than us and BEYOND, the implicit existence of spiritual "gate-keepers" - forces/energies that require of the spiritual pilgrim a proper "password" before advancing further upon the path of growth and evolution.

"The Color Gold"  -  In esoteric traditions, gold always symbolizes the ultimate stage of actualization of human spiritual evolution. It implies having gone through the long painful, fiery purification process to rid us of the undeniable presence of ego and dross that is our common baggage as beings "of sky AND earth." The golden sunshine and light in this graphic and the Sun positioned above the head of the horse shows the attainment of "freedom"  "enlightenment"  "moksha" "nirvana" "heaven" "liberation."

Although not a horse owner or horse expert, like many the author is a long time horse-lover and admirer. Images such as the one above of horses running with their mane and tails flowing out with the wind evoke feelings of joy and happiness.  Modern existence - especially urban life -  has inflicted upon many of us a NDS diagnosis - "Nature Deprivation Syndrome!"  Perhaps this is part of the reason that seeing imagery of horses running free evokes such longing and happiness in us.  Even if we cannot articulate it adequately, we sense at a primal level that our addiction to cable or satellite television, Ipods, computers, laptops, video games, texting, earphones, and yes - BLOGGING (!) has taken us even farther away from our deepest origin as children of the Earth.  This alienation of our planetary roots is dangerous and creates many undesirable effects which are too many to articulate here.  Suffice it to say here, though, that the feelings we experience when viewing horses is proof that this spark is NOT dead.  Indeed, it is is inextinguishable and forever at the deepest base of who we are and our need and ability to become RE-related to the planet and learn not to tread so heavily upon it and take more than we give.

The Ambivalence: 

Freedom, as they say, is never purchased cheaply. We all say that we want to be free, but it is undeniable that we all also have a corresponding and natural desire for SECURITY and the "known."  This ambivalence is the resistance and gravity of the human ego tugging against the horse standing at the open gate, saying, "Hey, you don't know what could be out there! You might get hurt, or fail, or even die. You need to stay inside the fence and gate where its safe!"  Powerful urgings for safety!  This voice is internalized inside our own head - I call it "The No Committee."  We all have one!  Additionally, this NO voice will be reinforced and unfortunately EN-forced by our sometimes dysfunctional families and culture. Every one of us - and particularly women, children, minorities, gays and lesbians, and members of religions we don't understand or fear - will be sharply reinforced to STAY INSIDE THE FENCE WHERE YOU BELONG.  Or worse yet, perhaps the terrible double-bind message:  "You really don't belong with us, but you can't leave either!"

So, in looking at the idea of horses, fences, gates, and ambivalence, it is clear that only those who are STILL inside the fence (which is ok) will tend to be judgmental of those who have gone beyond it! We all do this sometimes! By criticizing others for having the courage to transcend the limits of culture, politics, and religion, we somehow feel a little smug and secure and better. Those who have ever gone beyond the safe confines of family and culture will tend to be very patient and understanding of the growth process because they know just how difficult this kind of spiritual growth actually is! 

Gatekeepers and Learning the Password:   No spiritual growth can occur and no horse can run through any gate without getting past gatekeepers.  Gatekeepers can be literal mentors, gurus, elders, teachers, or others who have already successfully gone out that particular gate and know THE PASSWORD.  We may tend to think of this as a limiting factor, but it actually is not. Rather, it is a positive aspect of growth toward a higher spiritual plane. In reality, we all inherently possess every spiritual resources and all the riches of the Universe inside ourselves.  We are all children of Life; simultaneously inter-related to the tiniest atom or quantum quark and to the vast nebulas, stars, and galaxies flung out upon the cosmos like sand upon the beach. As the Lakota Indian tradition teaches:  "Mitakuye Oyasin" - meaning "All my relatives" or "We are all relatives."  This is forever our heritage and higher destiny and nothing can ultimately defeat that higher purpose. We ourselves have chosen our own paths - no one determined this for us as much as our own ego wants to believe otherwise!   Ultimately, WE all are certainly and inescapably our own gatekeepers! We can and should seek the support of mentors, teachers, and elders to validate our vision quests. But ultimately, at least in the author's experience, the mentor cannot and should not push the yearning horse beyond the gate.  The freedom to stay or go is always up to us and no one else. If someone is pushing you, then that is an excellent indication that they are not qualified to be your mentor.  No true mentor will rob you of the responsibility of your own choice and your own path.   Whenever we are truly prepared and "ready," we'll know the "password" and give the gatekeeper a respectful smile and hug on the way out the gate - traveling joyfully onward toward new adventure and broader horizons. 

Keith Overstreet,  November 3, 2010

The Ugly Duckling & the Human Race - Forever Linked

The graphic above is one I created to express my strong belief in the innate, inextinguishable spark of fiery potential humans have for rising above their limitations and transcending the ashes of death. Even though the bird in the graphic is an Eagle and not a Swan, the two are very interchangeable and fitting for the "Ugly Duckling" story. Both provide validation for the universal theme found in religion, mythology, and folklore that positive change and transformation can arise from the ashes.

The beloved folk tale by Hans Christian Anderson, Danish poet and author, was published in 1845 and since then has been told innumerable times in many languages.  Wikipedia lists some of the different language translations for this tale of adversity, darkness, and ultimate transformation:

Arabic - البطة القبيحة - Al-Bţh Al-Qbyhh

Bulgarian - Грозното патенце - Groznoto Patentse

Catalan - L'Aneguet Lleig

Chinese - 丑小鸭 - Chǒu Xiǎo Yā

Croatian - Ružno Pače

Czech - Ošklivé Káčátko

Danish - Den Grimme Ælling

Dutch - Het Lelijke Jonge Eendje

English - The Ugly Duckling

Estonian - Inetu Pardipoeg

European Portuguese - O Patinho Feio

Finnish - Ruma ankanpoikanen

French - Le Vilain Petit Canard

German - Das Hässliche Entlein

Greek - Το Ασχημόπαπο - To Aschimópapo

Hebrew - הברווזון המכוער

Hindi - बदसूरत बत्तख़ का बच्चा - Badasūrata Battakha kā Baccā

Hungarian - A Rút Kiskacsa

Icelandic - Litli Ljóti Andarunginn

Indonesian - Itik Buruk Rupa

Italian - Il Brutto Anatroccolo

Japanese - みにくいアヒルの子 - Minikui Ahiru no Ko

Korean - 미운 오리 새끼 - Miun Oli Saekki

Norwegian - Den Stygge Andungen

Polish - Brzydkie Kaczątko

Portuguese - O Patinho Feio

Romanian - Răţuşca cea Urâtă

Russian - Гадкий утенок - Gadkiĭ Utenok

Serbian - Ружно паче - Ružno Pače

Slovak - Škaredé Káčatko

Slovenian - Grdi Raček

Swedish - Den Fula Ankungen

Spanish - El Patito Feo

Thai - ลูกเป็ดขี้เหร่ - Lūk Ped Khiher

Turkish - Çirkin Ördek Yavrusu

Undoubtedly, there are a myriad of other related titles in many different languages by which this universal tale of spiritual growth has been known and told.  But why has this story persevered in its popularity? What is it about the Ugly Duckling that captures our hearts and imagination?

It is worth going back and re-reading the short text of the Ugly Duckling if you have not done so recently. One of many sites you can find it is:

http://www.best-childrens-books.com/the-ugly-duckling.html

Apparently, Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the power of positive transformation was autobiographical. Writers have commented upon his own experiences of being a tall, gangly person who suffered teasing and abuse and a feeling of not fitting in. Some have speculated that he was the illegitimate offspring of Danish crown prince Christian Frederik, hence the story can also be understood as a metaphor of struggling to reclaim his rightful royal heritage. In any case, Andersen succeeds in capturing a theme of the potential of humans to grow beyond adversity and achieve dignity and transformation to higher levels of functioning.

In the story, our newborn hero, the misplaced swan in the midst of a clutch of duck eggs, enters life with the distinct disadvantage of "being different."  In many instances, the Hero figure of folktales and mythology starts life in this exact manner - immediately challenged and burdened with the awful burden of "self-consciousness" - the human ego. This trait is, of course, at once "blessing" and "curse." "Why am I here?" "Am I special in any way?" "Is this barnyard existence all there is?"  "Is there some higher meaning for the suffering I've known?" "Can I become something more?" "Does the ember of possibility of Beauty exist within the ashes of rejection and death?"

 We cannot escape the fact that, for better or worse, we are born into life with the distinct ability to discern and judge ourselves; to compare ourselves with others and of course to experience emotion. The Hero is in all of us, but only those prepared to engage in a long, arduous, and uphill spiritual pilgrimage to find our true identity as the duckling did, can hope to realize the transcendant identification with our higher destiny and identity. The Swan is used frequently in folklore and mythology as a robust metaphor for the realized higher potential of the human spirit and so is fittingly used in the Ugly Duckling tale.

In the Ugly Duckling story, our young little Hero is shown to be loved and accepted by his mother - an indication of the amazing, encompassing potential of maternal affection and enduring compassion.  But in the world, the duckling finds only rejection, humiliation, and abuse. Many who experience these kinds of trauma in their lives will certainly be able to deeply feel and identify with the lonliness and pain expressed in the lines of this tale as well as the enduring hope for healing and positive transformation.  Additionally, many will rightly see in this story the tragic tendency homo sapiens have had and still have, to ostrasize those who are different - those deemed inferior by race, gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. The tragic footprints of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and genocide are clearly etched upon the winding path of human civilization and history. This dark and persistent tendency of our species is a powerful way to frame the ugliness of the concept "Ugly Duckling."

There is another level of identification and meaning worth considering. All good mythology and folk-tale telling holds up a mirror and allows us to look inside something universal and reflective.  The mirror of story telling provides an opportunity for us to connect to our soul - to join the march of countless others who have felt the stirrings of the Phoenix within the limiting ashes of their temporal life in the flesh. 

Relevance & deeper meanings:  In the Ugly Duckling, our Hero is shown to be bullied by siblings, barnyard animals, circumstances, and humans.  We usually read the story and interpret these anti-hero/villain figures as the authority figures, parents, culture and others who have mistreated us in our lives. Certainly that is a valid level of understanding and interpretation. But what a wonderful vista that unfurls when we read this story and many other stories from religious and mythological disciplines with the knowledge that the anti-hero/villain figures can respresent our own negative tendencies.  What if it is not really others with the power to continually hold us down and back, but ourselves? What would we do if we had the power to grant ourselves "Swan" or "Eagle" status and rise above our own self-imposed limitations.

 The disciplines of psychology and psychotherapy teach us that it is very human to project our own personal longings, unmet needs, and darkness onto others. This "projection" mechanism is not inherently bad and serves to protect us from truths about ourselves that we are not yet ready to admit or comprehend.  However, at some point in our spiritual growth and development, a time will arise when this level of function will be experienced as unsatisfactory.  Just as in the Ugly Duckling story, a deeper consciousness will arise and inform the Hero that perhaps our own actions, choices, and karma have played a role in bringing us to exactly where we are now.  We begin to understand that the so-called "bad guys" in the Ugly Duckling story can symbolize the self-destructive forces within ourselves. As the old line goes, "I have seen the enemy and they are us."  In more modern parlance, it is the same moment expressed by Darth Vader saying "Luke, I AM YOUR FATHER..." and Luke's horrified retort:  "NOOOOO!"

Knowledge of our self-defeating, destructive ego-based patterns is not easy to come by of course. Like the Ugly Duckling, there is a long, uphill pilgrimage involved. Our status as a student in the School of Hard Knocks is affirmed continually.  We seek and find support from wise others, mentors, who have already navigated this confounding duckling-to-Swan path.  We grown in knowledge and as the saying goes, "Knowledge is power."   We come to also understand another saying,  "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."  We come to understand that whatever our particular level of spiritual growth and knowledge is, it is only a "little" of the awe-inspiring mystery that is life.  We grow more tolerant of our own human weaknesses and hence, of our brothers and sisters as well.  We learn to forgive those who have hurt us and see that our own ego and self-destructive qualities have played a role in the path designed to teach us about our higher purpose and destiny. We gain the qualities of tolerance and patience.  In short, we begin degree by degree to transform into the Swan - the symbol of grace, compassion, and love.  We see the plight of others suffering from the weight of discrimination, rejection, and trauma as our own story. An excitement begins to build in realizing that the diversity of religion, philosophy, and culture on this planet is a wonderful thing - something to celebrate and learn.

In all stories of the Hero's journey of trials as the Ugly Duckling, the scene of rejoining the Swans symbolizes our return to the world of existence as a fragment/spark of the Spirit residing in the world of material flesh. We are indeed and will continue to be "the marriage or union of Earth and Sky." We are an unlikely but undeniable partnership of evanescant, ephemeral fire of invisible divinity married to the temporal, mortal ashes of humanity.  The Phoenix Swan-Eagle arises from defeat. The Sacred Fire is rekindled and holds out to us the hope and promise of a spark - only one is needed - that can rekindle our own potential and continued upward growth toward our higher destiny as human beings. 

Keith Overstreet   November 3, 2010