At the Back of the North Wind: 4th session

In Chapter 15, Diamond's family find themselves in new living quarters, "the mews."  The mews is that area behind the London homes, consisting of an alleyway with adjacent stables and living quarters for the hostlers' families.  Here Diamond's father is reduced to the humbler position of London cabman.  He is, however, gladdened by the opportunity to buy is beloved horse, Diamond, for use now on the London streets.

That Diamond the boy shares the same name with the horse is emphasized at the very beginning of the story, and their association plays a prominent role in the story throughout.  What is the point?  In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 6, the black horse--Diamond's color--signifies economic hardship and famine, realities that bear upon the family, but there must be a greater significance then that.

Further imagery teases.  Association with either the horse or North Wind occupies a great portion of Diamond's life.  He maintains a healthy attitude towards both and is most comfortable when seated on the back of either one or the other.  The relationship to each is, however, quite different.  North Wind is the mysterious Other to whom obedience, submission, and trust are essential.  On the other hand, he must learn to make the horse obedient and submissive to him.  He learns to kindly control the horse and care for it, harnessing its energies to fulfill his purposes.  In short, he must care for the horse, whereas North Wind takes care of him, and it is crucial to the quality of his life that he maintain a healthy attitude towards each.  Were he not to have utter faith in North Wind, or were he to be cruel or neglectful of the horse, his life would be plunged into uncertainty, misery, and gloom.

Just as North Wind signifies the unseen spiritual world, governing events over which we can exercise no human control, Diamond the horse signifies the natural world, of which Diamond the boy is very much a part (hence the identity of names), and which he must learn to steward and  properly control for his own betterment.  Together, the two encompass all of experience outside of human relationships.

MacDonald's basic point is that both realms are sacramental; that is, they are channels offering grace.  How one is related to each determines the nature and quality of one's life.  Everything in life is fraught with potential blessing.  One's attitudes determine how and to what extent grace is realized.  Life means us well; our attitudes are crucial.  I think this is one of the reasons Christ had in mind when he remarked:  "The eye is the lamp of the body:  So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness" (Matt. 6:22, 23).  How one sees the world shapes the nature of one's experience in it.

Diamond's exemplary grasp of this truth makes him himself an instrument of sacramental grace:  he wants to befriend people and help them.   This is why so much of the fairy tale is devoted to Diamond's life on earth after he as visited "the back of the North Wind."

Early on in the story, when North Wind and Diamond observe the beleaguered Nanny sweeping her London street crossing, Diamond wants her to be helped, and when North Wind tells him she cannot, but he could, he leaves her to befriend Nanny himself.  Why cannot North Wind  help Nanny?  She is a tough-spirited little girl with a good heart, and is living in the most deplorable of conditions.  But she lacks the proper attitude towards the unseen spiritual world; she lacks faith.  When Diamond tries to tell her of his experiences, she dismisses them utterly as foolishness.            

North Wind asks Diamond, "Do you think if you don't see it happen then nothing is being done?" In the course of the story, Nanny takes seriously ill.  Diamond and Mr. Raymond, who also is ready and eager to help those in need, get her into a children's hospital where, through their instrumentality and Nanny's dream (which is sent by North Wind), she is set on a course that issues in a much more satisfactory life.

MacDonald also teases reader by using red imagery.  In the hospital, Nanny is given a ruby ring whose color fascinates her and triggers her dream, a dream which has an intriguing quantity of red imagery in it.  The dream takes her through disobedience to repentance and initiates her into a different course in life, one in which she is taken into Diamond's home and is trained by his mother.  Red is also the color of Ruby, the horse that through Mr. Raymond is given to Diamond's father as a test of his integrity.  The red horse in Revelation Chapter 6 signifies misery, strife, and war.  In MacDonald's thinking all such has a great potential for grace.  Mr. Raymond announces the principle in his fairy story "Little Daylight":  "I never knew of any interference by a wicked fairy that did not turn out to be a good thing in the end."

The child who is receiving MacDonald's story is learning that people in adversity need the help of other more fortunate people.  But in every aspect of life, attitudes of love and concern are essential.