At the Back of the North Wind, a children's fantasy novel by George Macdonald (1871), wrestles with philosophical-religious issues of good and evil, kindness and hatred. Already in Chapter I, for example, when the central characters (Diamond, a young boy, and North Wind, a personified force of Nature) meet:

"Well, please, North Wind, you are so beautiful, I am quite ready to go with you."

"You must not be ready to go with everything beautiful all at once, Diamond."

"But what's beautiful can't be bad. You're not bad, North Wind?"

"No; I'm not bad. But sometimes beautiful things grow bad by doing bad, and it takes some time for their badness to spoil their beauty. So little boys may be mistaken if they go after things because they are beautiful."

"Well, I will go with you because you are beautiful and good, too."

"Ah, but there's another thing, Diamond:–What if I should look ugly without being bad–look ugly myself because I am making ugly things beautiful?–What then?"

"I don't quite understand you, North Wind. You tell me what then."

"Well, I will tell you. If you see me with my face all black, don't be frightened. If you see me flapping wings like a bat's, as big as the whole sky, don't be frightened. ..."

... more lovely-poetic excerpt-quotes to follow.

(cf The Ugly Fallacy (2003-12-07), Beautiful Virtue (2003-12-15), Foul Is Fair (2004-07-13), Ladder of Life (2005-04-10), Siddhartha (2009-08-24), ...) - ^z - 2020-05-27