Summary
Summary of The Dryad: A Novel
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Simon enters an enchanted world
Simon of Rouen walks toward Athens hungry, broke and bitter, hoping to find a place with the duke. His rusty lantern is part of his search for an honest man, but his own behavior is hardly generous. After passing a young knight absorbed in a love story, he sends two robbers after him.
The wood answers this worldly cruelty with something unexpected. Simon wakes from sleep to find a strange woman standing over him, speaking words he somehow understands. Comedy and enchantment have met.
Key idea 2
Endless life has left Argathona alone
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Love makes immortality feel like loss
Start free to read
Key idea 4
Esclaramonde replaces love with a lie
Start free to read
Key idea 5
Argathona takes her love into the world
Start free to read
Key idea 6
The tournament opens a secret door
Start free to read
Key idea 7
A promise lets Rainouart hear the truth
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Duty and mortality threaten their reunion
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Honesty and loyalty matter beyond power
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love medieval pageantry, Greek myth and a lover's quest, and who enjoy a rogue with a good heart, a heroine who dresses as a knight, and a romance with real stakes.
What this book is
The Dryad is a romance by Justin H. McCarthy, who died in 1936. It was written for a dear friend and dated 1905 in its dedication. The story is set in Greece around the year 1308, when French lords rule Athens and the old gods are only a memory. It joins a medieval tale of chivalry to a Greek myth of a forest spirit who falls in love with a mortal.
You meet a soldier of fortune named Simon of Rouen, who carries a lantern to look for an honest man. You meet Rainouart, the bookish son of the Duke of Athens, who dreams of the mystic rose of love. And you meet Argathona, a dryad who has lived in the Eleusinian wood for over a thousand years. Their paths cross in a single May evening.
The book gives you a lively adventure with tournaments, love potions, mercenaries and a clever trap. It also asks what a deathless being would give up for one short human life. Let us begin with Simon, a hungry man with a grudge, walking into a haunted wood.
In this summary
- 1A rogue meets a spirit in the woodFree
- 2Argathona claims the wood as her home
- 3The bookish prince and the robbers
- 4Love at first sight in the greenwood
- 5Esclaramonde steals the prince
- 6A dryad dresses as a shepherd knight
- 7The tournament and the golden wreath
- 8A promise, a cup and a wedding night
- 9War, a trap and a hermit
- 10What the story is about and how it is told
Key point 1 of 10
A rogue meets a spirit in the wood
The story opens in May, near sunset, with Simon of Rouen crossing the Eleusinian wood on his way to Athens. He is a big, hungry soldier of fortune, broke and bitter, who carries a rusty lantern in the manner of Diogenes. He hopes to win a place with the Duke of Athens.
On the road he has passed a young knight lying in the shade and reading the Romance of the Rose. Simon scorns the man for wasting his life on love stories. In the wood he meets two cutthroats, Captain Fox and Captain Gander, and he cheerfully sends them after the young man in the cloth of gold coat.
Then he eats his onions, makes up verses about his own sad life, and falls asleep. He wakes to find a tall woman with yellow hair and shifting blue eyes standing over him. She greets him in a speech he understands without knowing why.
The opening sets the tone of the whole book. It is comic and worldly on one side and enchanted on the other, and Simon stands for the first while the wood stands for the second.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Check yourself
Why does Simon put out his lantern?
Right. “Simon, who has put out his lantern because he has found one honest soul, agrees to serve her.”Not quite. “Simon, who has put out his lantern because he has found one honest soul, agrees to serve her.”
How does Esclaramonde try to hold Rainouart?
Right. “Esclaramonde uses potions and lies to hold a man, and the author contrasts her with Argathona, who would let her lover go if it made him happy.”Not quite. “Esclaramonde uses potions and lies to hold a man, and the author contrasts her with Argathona, who would let her lover go if it made him happy.”
What choice does the hermit offer Argathona?
Right. “He tells her she may give up her endless life through baptism and share a mortal life with its hope of heaven.”Not quite. “He tells her she may give up her endless life through baptism and share a mortal life with its hope of heaven.”
Questions about The Dryad: A Novel
What is The Dryad by Justin H. McCarthy about?
It is a romance set in Greece around 1308. A dryad named Argathona falls in love with Rainouart, the son of the Duke of Athens, and must fight a scheming duchess to win him, with a rogue soldier named Simon at her side.
Who is Argathona in The Dryad?
Argathona is a forest spirit, the daughter of a tree dryad and a mortal man. She has lived more than a thousand years in the Eleusinian wood and has the strength of the old gods and a gift of endless youth.
Is The Dryad based on a true story?
No, the main tale is invented. It is set in a real period, when French lords ruled Athens and the Catalan Grand Company fought in Greece, and it uses real names such as Philip the Fair and Boniface.
What is the Romance of the Rose in The Dryad?
It is the medieval poem of love that Rainouart reads. Its mystic rose stands for the perfect beloved, and he thinks of it throughout the book as the image of the woman he hopes to find.
Why does Simon carry a lantern in The Dryad?
Simon follows the example of the Greek thinker Diogenes, who searched for an honest man with a lamp. Simon is looking for honest people because the world has cheated him, and the lantern also gives the book a running joke.
