📖 Read it for free at [this link].
⭐ Support the podcast with a paid subscription: [Subscribe here]
Other George MacDonald episodes:
* 3. Seeing Good, quoting At the Back of the North Wind
* 4. Little Daylight, a full reading of the fairy tale from At the Back of the North Wind
* 18. Chasing Shadows, quoting Sir Gibbie
* 27. Theory Vs. Reality, a thought from Phantastes
* 30. The Story of Cosmo von Wehrstahl, a full short story from Phantastes
This week I read George MacDonald’s “A Letter to American Boys,” written for St. Nicholas magazine in January 1878. It holds one of my favorite parables ever written: a boy’s vision of a prisoner who has forged his own chains. Bit by bit, he obeys a voice: he throws out a dead mouse, sweeps his cell, sets a dove free, polishes his irons, and carves the figure of a man. Then the boy goes home, sulks, and has to learn the same lesson by tidying his room. This episode’s video includes new illustrations and animations of the parable’s scenes.
“Unawares to thyself thou hast forged thine own chains, and riveted them upon thy limbs.”
Chapters:
00:00 Hook: “Thou hast forged thine own chains”
00:12 Intro
03:16 The letter begins
07:44 The dungeon vision
11:05 The dead mouse
11:47 The broom
12:13 The dove
12:53 Polishing the chains
13:45 The man of light
15:21 The boy at home
17:36 Make the room tidy
19:08 Closing
Wisdom in the Best Books and Films: bite-sized nuggets of truth from great books and films, used to help us become better people. Hosted by Jake Bair.
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## Tags
A Letter to American Boys, George MacDonald, parable, St. Nicholas magazine, short story read aloud, Victorian literature, Christian literature, obedience, repentance, self-pity, chains, classic literature, audiobook, Wisdom in the Best Books and Films
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