The Golden Key was published in Dealings with the Fairies (1867).

The story begins with a boy named Mossy listening one night to his Great-aunt's stories, fascinated by the tale of a magical golden key. The reader learns their house lies at the edge of fairyland. One night, the boy sees a rainbow that shines on after dark, finds its source, and discovers the golden key. In the same village, a young girl named Tangle is frightened by the fairies and runs into fairyland also, where a tree captures her in its branches and she is freed by a mysterious creature, the air fish, before she arrives at the cottage of a wise woman. She is bathed, and to her astonishment the air fish is cooked and eaten, then transforms into a small human-like winged creature called an aeranth.

The next day Mossy appears at the cottage and the two set out on a journey to discover the keyhole, and what lies beyond the door it opens. In their travels they come upon a valley made up entirely of marvelous shadows, without seeing the subjects casting them, and long to travel "to the country whence the shadows fall.” They grow to old age while there, and are ultimately separated. Their journeys continue singly. Tangle travels down into the earth, encountering the Old Man of the Sea, the Old Man of the Fire and the Old Man of the Earth, who appear to be the opposite age of their title, the oldest man of all appearing as a wise young child rearranging colored balls in a significant way.

On his journey, Mossy rightly recognizes the Old Man of the Sea as death, and he gains the power to walk across the sea. After climbing a precipice, he enters a chamber where the colors of the rainbow appear as columns of light. Tangle is waiting for him, seated on a column with her hair flowing around her like a river. The column reveals a keyhole, and the two enter the rainbow and climb the stairs "to the country whence the shadows fall".

(Source: Summary, from Ruth Sanderson’s essay, “Unlocking Wonder in The Golden Key”)

““You have tasted of death now,” said the old man. “Is it good?” “It is good, ” said Mossy. “It is better than life.” “No,” said the old man: “it is only more life.””

— George MacDonald, from the Golden Key

Recommended Editions and Adaptions

WRITTEN WORKS

Edition illustrated by Ruth Sanderson Eerdmans, 2016

A spectacular edition with over forty-five scratchboard illustrations by Ruth Sanderson. We have created a page dedicated to samples of Ruth’s illustrations and her essay, Unlocking Wonder in the Golden Key.

Edition illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Limited edition from Pegana Press, 2015

Letter press edition with original illustrations by Charles Sandwyck. Thoughts from Pegana’s Mike Tortorello and sample pages can be found on the Pegana Press page of Bookseller Central.