George MacDonald's Prophecies

You know that a fairy tale is truly superb if it tells prophecies that all come true.

This is the case in George MacDonald’s Lilith.

In Lilith, a city called Bulika is ruled by an evil princess. MacDonald’s description of this city is disturbingly familiar. It all sounds an awful lot like the United States today.

In chapter 21, the main character meets a woman who is fleeing from Bulika to save her baby’s life. She describes the princess thus:

“She does not care about her country. She sends witches around to teach the women spells that keep babies away, and give them horrible things to eat. Some say she is in league with the Shadows to put an end to the race.”

After entering Bulika, the main character has a rather interesting conversation with a woman of the city:

I asked her many questions. She told me the people never did anything except dig for precious stones in their cellars. They were rich, and had everything made for them in other towns.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it is a disgrace to work,” she answered. Everybody in Bulika knows that!”

I asked how they were rich if none of them earned money. She replied that their ancestors had saved for them, and they never spent. When they wanted money, they sold a few of their gems.

“But there must be some poor!” I said.

“I suppose there must be, but we never think of such people. When one goes poor, we forget him. That is how we keep rich. We mean to be rich always.”

“But when you have dug up all your precious stones and sold them, you will have to spend your money, and one day you will have none left!”

“We have so many, and there are so many still in the ground, that that day will never come,” she replied.

“Suppose a strange people were to fall upon you, and take everything you have!”

“No strange people will dare; they are all horribly afraid of our princess. She it is who keeps us safe and free and rich!” (Chapter 23.)   

The first reference almost seems to be a foretelling of the deeds of population control freaks. The city of Bulika has no children; soon our country will be no different.

I found the second passage particularly intriguing. Like in the U.S., the people of Bulika no longer make anything for themselves, but buy it from other places. They are confident that their economy will never fail, and that no one will ever dare to invade.

By the way, this book was published in 1895. Could all of this be a coincidence? It’s much more likely that MacDonald had already seen signs of what the real world was becoming, and that he followed them to their natural conclusion in his story. It's all a little too close to the truth.

 This commentary, I feel, is very incomplete, so it would be great if we all discussed this book.