The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily
| "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | |
First page in Die Horen | |
| Original title | Mährchen |
| Translator | Thomas Carlyle |
| Country | Holy Roman Empire |
| Language | German |
| Genre | literary fairy tale |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Die Horen #4 |
| Publication type | literary journal |
| Publisher | Cotta’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |
| Publication date | 1795 |
| Pages | 45 |
| Series | The German Refugees |
"The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily" (German: "Das Märchen" or simply "Märchen") is a literary fairy tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1795 in Friedrich Schiller's German magazine Die Horen ('The Horae'). The story revolves around the crossing and bridging of a river, which represents the divide between the outer life of the senses and the ideal aspirations of the human being. It concludes Goethe's short-story rondo The German Refugees. "Das Märchen" is regarded as the founding example of the genre of the Kunstmärchen, or artistic fairy tale.