NOW COMES THE TIME FOR THE DEBT TO THE FERRYMAN TO BE PAID

At the beginning of the story the two characters called Will-o'-wisps tried to pay the Ferryman with pieces of gold for taking them across the river in his boat. He remonstrated with them that he could, for the benefit of the River, only be paid with "Fruits of the Earth," specifically three artichokes, three cabbages and three onions.

The wife of the Man with the Lamp, the Woman with the Basket, feels it necessary for her to pay the Ferryman what he is due. Her husband agrees.

We enter into the story for this Post in the direct text of Goethe, where:

The Old Woman filled her basket and set out as soon as it was day. She came upon the Giant's shadow and with dexterous ease his hands picked away from her basket a cabbage, an artichoke and an onion. The Giant let the Woman go in peace.

She considered whether to return to the cottage and replace from her garden the pieces she had lost. She kept walking and in a short while arrived at the bank of the River. There she sat and waited for the Ferryman whom eventually she saw steering across a young noble-looking handsome man whom she could not gaze upon enough.

When the boat arrived the Ferryman cried: "What is it you bring?"

The Old Woman replied: "The greens which those two Will-o'-wisps owe you." pointing to her ware.

As the Ferryman found only two of each sort, he grew angry and declared he would have none of them. The Woman entreated him earnestly to take them; told him that she could not now go home and that her burden for the way which still remained was very heavy. The Ferryman stood by his refusal assuring her that it did not rest with him.

The Ferryman said: "What belongs to me I must leave lying nine hours in a heap, touching none of it, till I have given the River it's third."

After much haggling the Ferryman said: "There is still another way. If you would like to pledge yourself to the River and declare yourself its debtor. I will take the six pieces; but there is some risk in it."

The Old Woman said: "If I keep my word, I shall run no risk?"

The Ferryman replied: Not the smallest. Put your hand into the stream and promise that within four-and-twenty hours you will pay the debt."

The Old Woman did so; but what was her affright, when on drawing out her hand, she found it as black as coal. She scolded the Ferryman declaring that her hands had always been the fairest part of her.

The Old Woman looked at her hand with indignation and exclaimed in a despairing tone: "Worse and worse! Look, it is vanishing entirely; it is grown far smaller than the other."

The Ferryman said: For the present it but seems so, if you do not keep your word, however, it may prove so in earnest. The hand will gradually diminish and at length disappear altogether, though you have the use of it as formerly. Everything as usual you will be able to perform with it, only nobody will see it."

The Old Woman cried: "I had rather that I could not use it and no one could observe the want but what of that, I will keep my word and rid myself of this black skin and all anxieties about it."

She took up her basket hastily and hurried after the Youth who was walking softly and thoughtfully down the bank.

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Questions that arises from this imaginative description of the "plight" of the Old Woman could include: why did she take on the responsibility for paying the debt of someone else; what degree of personal inconvenience and worry was she be willing to incur; why did she appear to be more concerned with the physical appearance of her hand than whether she was still able to use it; what was her level of faith. Further intriguing overarching questions are the degree to which this character is represented in present day society, how and why.  

Echo's of Dante's Divine Comedy?

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The audio recordings of this section of the Tale on www.tgsatbl.blogspot.com are Numbers 6 and 7.