The Good Little Sister and The Seven Ravens

Arthur Rackham’s illustrations for “The Seven Ravens” is a soft, dream-like illustration, with hypnotic churning waves and a peaceful, star-filled sky. Even the Good Little Sister, who in this image is in the process of using her own severed finger to open a lock, exists with an air of peaceful curiosity. The environment is icy and cold, but not uncomfortable to its subject or the reader. This illustration, which is one of countless beautiful images tucked in a copy of “The Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm,” holds an unsuspecting history to it, one that deals not with fairy tales and far-off lands, but rather with real-world exploration and discovery. 

In this watercolor painting, The Good Little Sister is depicted at the edge of the world, which Rackham decided to illustrate as an ocean full of ice. To modern audiences, this isn’t much of a shock, but the concept of an icy world far far away was still relatively new to audiences in the early 20th century when this illustration was created. 

Sir James Clark Ross, who lived from 1800 to 1862, was a renowned sailor, known to be the first person to stand at the magnetic north pole. His research on the magnetism of Earth led him to explore both the Arctic and Antarctic. While he did not see the Southern Pole during his original journey, his journals and writings influenced and inspired explorers and scientists for generations to come. Alongside his scientific notes, Ross described the cold, barren landscape he encountered–particularly about the seemingly impenetrable walls of ice marking the edge of their exploration. 

It was Sir James Clark Ross’s writings that then inspired some Samuel Rowbotham to write “Zetetic Astronomy. Earth Not a Globe!” in 1865 under the pseudonym “Parallax.” In his writing, Rowbotham speculates that the southern pole, as described by Ross, was actually the edge of a flat world. Page 21 of the pamphlet illustrates what is thought to be the first-ever map depicting a flat world specifically and purposefully surrounded by ice. Rowbotham’s theories were not unpopular, either, and he now exists as an important figure for the modern Flat Earth Society. That is to say, his depiction of the edge of the world as an icy wasteland had a rather large impact. 

It can’t be said for sure why Arthur Rackham decided to depict the edge of the world as icy in this illustration, however, it is an interesting example of the interaction between scientific exploration, artistic endeavors, and how they can last for generations in rather unexpected ways.