VII: Mein Herr explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Innocence and Childhood Wisdom

  Lady Muriel's childlike joy and faith, and her resemblance to Sylvie, highlight the theme of childlike simplicity and wisdom.

• Reality vs. Fantasy

  The narrator's eerie sensation and the blending of the Professor with Mein Herr blur the boundary between fairy and real worlds.

• Art and Authenticity

  The creation of Fortunatus's Purse involves doing things in the 'wrong way,' reflecting on the nature of art and unconventional methods.

Characters to notice

• Narrator

  The narrator visits Lady Muriel and experiences an eerie merging of fairy and real worlds upon meeting Mein Herr.

• Lady Muriel Orme

  Lady Muriel speaks of heavenly joy, sews a magical purse under Mein Herr's instruction, and shows childlike curiosity.

• Mein Herr

  A German visitor who resembles the Professor; he explains Fortunatus's Purse, time storage, and a gravity-powered railway.

• Earl of Ainslie

  Lady Muriel's father, who joins the conversation and listens with slight incredulity to Mein Herr's explanations.

Key passages

• “I feel as if it had begun for me, I feel as if I were one of the happy children, whom He bid them bring near to Him, though the people would have kept them back.”

  Lady Muriel expresses that she feels heaven has already started for her, comparing herself to the children Jesus welcomed.

  This reflects her spiritual joy and childlike faith.

• “Whatever is inside that Purse, is outside it; and whatever is outside it, is inside it.”

  Mein Herr explains that the magical purse's inner and outer surfaces are continuous, so all wealth is contained.

  This illustrates the paradoxical nature of the purse, akin to a Möbius strip.

• “They store up the useless hours: and, on some other occasion, when they happen to need extra time, they get them out again!”

  Mein Herr describes a method of saving wasted time for later use.

  This fantastical idea contrasts with the real-world irreversibility of time.