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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

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68c. The Story of the Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily: Lecture One 04 Apr 1904, Berlin
Tr. Unknown

Rudolf Steiner
But I am not speaking of the second part of “Faust,” but of the “Fairy Tale of the Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily,” in which Goethe spoke in an even more intimate way than in the former.
Goethe gave expression to this in his “West-Ostlichen Divan,” and this he tries to represent in all the different parts of the “Fairy Tale” of the “Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily!” The transition of man from one stage of existence to a higher one.
Till now one could only pass across the River in two ways. The one was when at noon the green Serpent laid itself across the River and formed a bridge, so that at the mid-day hour it was possible to go across the River.
68c. The Story of the Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily: Lecture Two 27 Nov 1904, Cologne
Tr. Unknown

Rudolf Steiner
But he leads us furthest of all in his Fairy Tale of the “Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily”. Therein we find represented the three kingdoms in which man lives, the physical, the soul-world or Astral world, and the Spirit-world.
68c. Goethe's Standard of the Soul: The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Into a deep cleft between two rocks, he threw the gold, and returned to his dwelling. This cleft was inhabited by a beautiful green snake, who was awakened from her sleep by the sound of the falling money. At the very first appearance of the glittering coins, she devoured them greedily, then searched about carefully in hopes of finding such other coins as might have fallen accidentally amongst the briers, or between the fissures of the rocks.
She found no one; but she became lost in admiration of herself, and of the brilliant light which illumined her path through the thick underwood, and shed its rays over the surrounding green. The leaves of the trees glittered like emeralds, and the flowers shone with wondrous hues. In vain did she penetrate the lonely wilderness, but hope dawned when she reached the plains, and saw, some way off, a light resembling her own.
Scarcely had they reached the opposite bank, when the bridge began to sway slowly from side to side, and sank gradually to the level of the water, when the Green Snake assumed her accustomed shape, and followed the travellers to the shore. The latter thanked her for her condescension in allowing them a passage across the stream, perceiving at the same time, that there were evidently more persons present than were actually visible.
68c. Goethe and the Present: The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily 04 Apr 1904, Berlin

Rudolf Steiner
I do not wish to speak about the second part of Faust, but rather about the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, in which Goethe expressed himself even more intimately than in the second part of Faust.
Goethe expressed this in the “West-Eastern Divan” and he also seeks to depict this vividly in the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily. The transformation of man from one level of existence to a higher level was the puzzle he wanted to solve.
Now the will-o'-the-wisps continue in this world, that is, the human being seeks to continue on his path in life. In this world he finds the green snake, the symbol of human striving, of human knowledge. This snake has had a strange experience.
68c. Goethe and the Present: The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily 27 Nov 1904, Cologne

Rudolf Steiner
He speaks openly of the masters when he speaks intimately to his fellow masons. But it is the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily that most profoundly introduces us to his view. In it, we find a depiction of the three realms in which human beings live: the physical, the soul or astral world, and the spiritual world.
68c. Goethe and the Present: Goethe's Enigmatic Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily 07 Dec 1904, Weimar

Rudolf Steiner
Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of December 9, 1904 On Wednesday the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society organized a lecture in the Erbprinzen on Goethe's fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily. As we were informed, Dr. Rudolf Steiner showed that this little poem contains the secret of Goethe's world view in a magnificent artistic image.
Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture at the Erbprinzen on Goethe's riddle fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, which the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society had organized. The lecturer showed how Goethe expressed his deepest thoughts about the nature of man and the meaning of life in this small poem.
291. Colour: Colour-Experience 06 May 1921, Dornach
Tr. Harry Collison

Rudolf Steiner
They suit the meadow everywhere; they have no inner connection with the green meadow. We pass on to the third; we look at the blue figures in the green meadow. That does not last long, for the blue figures deaden the green meadow to us.
What this means can best be realized by looking at a man in whom the psychic nature is withdrawn somewhat and does not ensoul the outer form. What colour does he then become? Green; he becomes green. Life is there, but he becomes green. We speak of green men; we know the peculiar green of the complexion when the soul is withdrawn; we can see this very well by the colour of the complexion.
The living, however, if it appear as a living being, must appear green, it must image itself in green; that is something objective.
68c. Goethe and the Present: Introduction to Goethe's Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily 29 Mar 1904, Berlin

Rudolf Steiner
This fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily contains Goethe's world view and philosophy of life in their depths.
But he spoke even more in this sense in the fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily. In 1794, he described how he had once again set out to solve for himself the problem that occupied the minds of the time.
Therefore, all of this must be taken into account in order to somehow solve this Goethean fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, which is so rich in content. People already tried to solve it during Goethe's lifetime.
68c. Goethe and the Present: The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily by Goethe 08 Jan 1905, Munich

Rudolf Steiner
In this crevice [was] the beautiful green snake, — the higher Manas — which was awakened from its slumber by the coin falling down.
This bored her and she recommended herself, saying that she had to hurry to cross the river via the green snake and deliver her husband's gift to the beautiful lily. When the young man hears this, he takes courage and runs after the woman.
They now come to the bridge, are amazed at the splendor of the green snake, which sparkles with jewels all over; high arched, it swings over the river. Once across, they notice that several other travelers have crossed over with them – the will-o'-the-wisps, which they cannot see, but whose presence is betrayed by their hissing with the snake, which joins them after the crossing.
291. Colour: The Luminous and Pictorial Nature of Colours 07 May 1921, Dornach
Tr. Harry Collison

Rudolf Steiner
Taking the colours we found yesterday, we may say as follows: By its own nature green always allows us to make it with definite limits. Green can be enclosed or limited: in other words it is not unpleasant to us if we paint a surface green and give is a circumscribed area.
If you have a sense of colour, you can feel that. If, for instance, you think of a green—you can easily think of green card-tables. Because a game is a limited pedantic activity, something very Philistine, one can think of such an arrangement—a room with card-tables covered in green.
It would promptly dissolve the lumps, for it always strives for uniformity. If you have an extra green on green, that is a different matter; green has to be applied evenly and has to be outlined. We cannot imagine a radiating green.

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