# XII explained — Phantastes

> Chapter companion for Phantastes by George MacDonald.

## What happens

This chapter explores a fantastical world where children are discovered by maidens rather than born, and where women have wings instead of arms. It describes how the circumstances of a child's discovery determine their nature and the colors of their wings, which vary by season. The narrative also contrasts this world with Earth, noting that waters do not reflect forms, while the sky reflects everything. A story within the chapter tells of a maiden who, weary of winter, travels south to meet spring and dies beside a snowdrop, possibly leading to a child's birth on Earth.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Nature of Imagination and Reality

The chapter presents a detailed imaginary world with its own laws, blurring the line between fantasy and reality through vivid descriptions of winged women and child-finding customs.

### Death and Rebirth

The maiden's death beside a snowdrop symbolizes a cycle of death and potential rebirth, as a child may be born on Earth from that event.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The narrator describes the fantastical world and its customs, including the discovery of children and the wings of women.

### The Maiden

A maiden in the story who finds a child and brings it home, and later another maiden who travels south in winter and dies beside a snowdrop.

## Key lines

> They who believe in the influences of the stars over the fates of men, are, in feeling at least, nearer the truth than they who regard the heavenly bodies as related to them merely by a common obedience to an external law.

Those who think stars affect human destiny are more emotionally correct than those who see only a shared physical law.

_The narrator argues for a mystical connection between celestial bodies and human life._

> The men alone have arms; the women have only wings.

In this world, men possess arms, while women have wings instead.

_A key physical distinction between genders in the fantastical world._

> She lay down beside it and died. I almost believe that a child, pale and peaceful as a snowdrop, was born in the Earth within a fixed season from that stormy afternoon.

She died next to the snowdrop, and I think a child resembling it was born on Earth at a specific time after that stormy day.

_The narrator suggests a mystical connection between the maiden's death and a birth on Earth._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/phantastes_se/chapters/xii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/phantastes_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/phantastes_se/chapters