The authors interpret the deep psychological insights imbedded in ancient stories, in this instance a Russian folktale about bringing feminine energy back into the world. The Maiden King tells of an absent father, a possessive stepmother, a false tutor, and a young man overwhelmed by a beautiful maiden and her thirty sisters, sailing toward him on thirty boats. His weak response sends her retreating in anger, and to find her once again he must go on a quest that leads to Baba Yaga, the fierce old woman of Russian folk tradition who represents not life in service of death, but death in service of life. The male tendency to go to sleep in the face of feminine magnificence, female fear of power and of abandonment that leads to rage, the need to get beyond oppositional thinking en route to the Divine, these are issues the book addresses.
