Résumé
Résumé de Le Bois au-delà du monde
Go deeper: the whole of Le Bois au-delà du monde
About 3 h 10 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will love this book if you enjoy quests, enchanted forests, clever heroines and old-fashioned romance told in vivid scenes, with love that must be tested before it is won.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What would you do if three strangers walked past you on a quay, stepped aboard a ship, and vanished, and you could not forget them? That is the question facing Golden Walter, a young merchant's son in the sea city of Langton on Holm. His wife has deceived him, and his father's house has become hateful to him. Then he sees a dark dwarf, a gray-eyed maiden with an iron ring on her ankle, and a lady so radiant that no one can look at her only once.
The Wood beyond the World is a prose romance by William Morris, published in 1894. He wrote it in the plain, ringing language of the old sagas, and it is often named among the first modern fantasy novels. It gives you sorcery, wild peoples, a clever heroine and a lovely, dangerous house in the forest.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A wounded husband sails away from LangtonFree
- 2News of death sends Walter into the unknown
- 3Across the wilderness to a maiden at a spring
- 4The Golden House, the hunt and the lion
- 5A vanishing garden and two meetings in one night
- 6Deceit, desire and freedom make the story's heart
- 7A story told like an old tale with strong images
Point clé 1 sur 7
A wounded husband sails away from Langton
The tale opens in Langton on Holm, a great city by the sea. Walter is the son of Bartholomew Golden, a rich merchant. He seems to have everything. Yet he loves a beautiful wife who has turned from him to a worse man, and her hatred wounds him.
So he goes to his father and asks to leave on the Katherine, a new ship soon to sail, with no fixed destination. Bartholomew looks hard at his son, for there is deep love between them. He agrees, though he fears they may never meet again. Walter says that if they meet again, his father will see a new man.
Bartholomew sends goods aboard and commends trusted men, including the cargo clerk Robert the Low and the skipper Geoffrey.
The next morning Walter wanders the harbor with little interest in anything. Then he sees a tall ship nearly ready to leave, and three people walk up its gangway. First comes a dark, ugly dwarf with long arms and dog's teeth. Then comes a maiden in a short green gown with an iron ring on her ankle. Last comes a stately lady whose beauty is almost too much for the eye. For Walter, everyone else on the quay seems to disappear. When he walks home, he thinks he sees the same three coming down his father's steps, but there is only a stray dog and some children.
A broken heart can push a person toward the very thing that will mend it.
That’s 1 of 7 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Le Bois au-delà du monde
About 3 h 10 min to read.Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Golden Walter
- A merchant's son from Langton on Holm who leaves home after his wife betrays him and follows a vision of three strangers.
- The Maid
- A gray-eyed slave with an iron ring on her ankle, wise in sorcery, who plans freedom for herself and Walter.
- The Lady
- The dazzling mistress of the Golden House, who lures young men to her land and wants Walter for herself.
- Otto, the King's Son
- A handsome, cowardly prisoner of the Lady who has grown tired of her and desires the Maid.
- The Dwarf
- A hairy, shrieking servant in a yellow coat who guards the land's gate and hates the Maid.
- The Old Man
- A white-bearded hermit by the shore who knows the land beyond the cliffs and will not tell all he knows.
- Bartholomew Golden
- Walter's father, a rich merchant who lets his son go and sends him away with trusted men.
- Arnold Penstrong
- Bartholomew's clerk, who finds Walter in a far city with news of a feud at home.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 51,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 20 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Le Bois au-delà du monde
What is The Wood beyond the World about?
It follows Golden Walter, a merchant's son who sees three strangers board a ship, sails from Langton after a failed marriage, and reaches an enchanted land where he meets a captive Maid and a powerful Lady.
Who is the Maid in The Wood beyond the World?
She is a slave of the Lady, marked by an iron ring on her ankle. She is clever and skilled in sorcery, and she becomes Walter's companion, guiding him through the dangers of the forest.
Is The Wood beyond the World a true story?
No. William Morris wrote it in 1894 as a prose romance in the style of medieval tales and sagas, with dwarfs, sorceresses, enchanted houses and a hidden land beyond the mountains.
Is The Wood beyond the World easy to read?
Its sentences are plain, and the story moves in clear scenes with short chapters. The old-tale voice, the many dialogues and the steady quest make it comfortable to follow by ear or on the page.
What is the main message of The Wood beyond the World?
The book suggests that true love rests on trust and freedom, not possession. It also shows that a lie told to protect the innocent differs from a lie told to trap them.
Cite this edition
Morris, William. The Wood Beyond the World. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wood-beyond-the-world.
Morris, W. (2026). The wood beyond the world. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wood-beyond-the-world (Original work published 1894)
Morris, William. The Wood Beyond the World. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wood-beyond-the-world.
@book{morris2026wood,
author = {Morris, William},
title = {The Wood Beyond the World},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wood-beyond-the-world},
note = {First published 1894}
}
