The Boy Who Left Home to find Fear

One of my favourite stories (hmm, just realised I've said that about others, and that in fact I've probably become more fond of more stories through doing this deck). Four of Cups: The boy who wanted to learn to shudder (also known as “The boy who left home to learn what fear is”) The Brothers Grimm A father had two sons, the older was smart and sensible, the younger one seemingly stupid. The only problem with the sensible boy was that he was easily scared, while in contrast the younger was unable to feel fear or shudder at all. Seeing his brother afraid, he became curious about what it felt like to experience fear and declaried that he wanted nothing more than to learn how to shudder. The sexton came to the house one day and offered to teach the youth how to shudder. Late that night, he woke him and told him to go and ring the church bell. The sexton secretly went there beforehand him dressed like a ghost and jumped out when the boy arrived. When the boy called out to the white figure asking him to identify himself, the sexton said nothing, so the boy, far from being afraid, pushed the “ghost” down the stairs, breaking his leg. When the boy’s father hears the news, he was so ashamed that he banished his son. The boy left home and on the road he met a man who claimed he could teach him to shudder. He told the boy to sit beneath a tree where seven men have been hung. Doing so, the boy saw the phantoms of the hanging men, but even they didn’t make him in the least afraid. Eventually he heard of a haunted house, that was supposedly filled with treasure. The king had made a decree stating that whoever spent the night there could marry daughter. Already many men had tried and failed. The youth decided to spend three nights in the haunted house. Over the three nights, he saw many horrific things, including yet was unable to feel fear or to shudder, and came away quite unmoved,. He happily won both the treasure and the king’s daughter. One night, he complained to his new wife that he was still unable to shudder so she simply fetched a pail of cold water and poured it all over him. Finally, he found out what shuddering is! Aarne-Thompson type 123 KEYWORDS AND PHRASES Being unimpressed and bored by everything • Sinking into ennui • “Couldn’t care less” • Feeling listless and disinterested in your surroundings • Having it all, but feeling depressed by this The young boy in this story is weirdly disconnected to reality - he has lost any ability to feel fear and, it’s implied, he may not be able to feel any ordinary human emotions in a normal way. Everything he sees is simply a spectacle, which leaves him mentally and physically untouhed. In fact, it’s only when his wife takes rather drastic physical action that he feels something, albeit physcial - although it isn’t clear whether this is temporary or succeeds in finally waking him up to sensation. Like all the Cups the Four of Cups deals with emotionality, but in this case, feelings are blocked - there is a boredom and numbness that affects everything in life. We are told that the boy in this story is regarded as stupid, but “dull” is the word that more accurately describes him. The card is all about disconnection, depression and a general ennui - a time when nothing can touch you or move you. To others, this can look like a callous lack of interest, but in fact it isn’t a case of someone choosing not to care, but rather someone who cannot care, even if they would rather be experiencing“normal” reactions and emotions. One notable feature of the Grimm’s tale we’ve used to illustrate this card is that the boy desperately wants to feel fear and knows that the fact that he doesn’t makes him an object of suspicion and even contempt to his family and community. It’s significant that it’s only when he’s married - in other words, when he becomes a part of the established community - that he finally feels something. In reading the Four of Cups consider how serious and/or long-term the problem indicated is. Sometimes the general feeling of dullness and depression is very temporary - all we need is to be encouraged to get active and involved for a while, and it will pass. Howver, in other cases such a feeling may set in as a persistent and distressing problem, and it may need real support and treatment in order to help the sufferer break through and take part joyfully in the world once more.