Falling Up Into the Sky

Have you ever been scared of falling up?

When I was a kid, I loved to climb trees as high as I could. I didn’t have a fear of heights so I never looked down and worried about falling. It’s the same with anything else high up: towers, skyscrapers, airplanes. Looking down has always felt peaceful.

But I had a strange fear growing up: floating away. In my kid-brain, I reasoned something along the lines of, “Whatever is holding us down could suddenly vanish.” I didn’t really understand the concept of gravity. I just thought that it could be turned off at any moment. And the problem with falling upward is there would be no end to it. You would “fall” forever––unless, of course, you could grab ahold of something quickly.

I’m not sure where this fear came from, but last year I read a book that I wonder whether I read in childhood. It’s a fairy tale by George MacDonald called The Light Princess. In this story, a king and queen finally have a child after waiting years, perhaps decades, for an heir. But at her christening, the princess is cursed with a spell that removes her gravity.

She floats all over the castle and is often blown about by the wind. Anything she wears also loses its gravity. Only by grabbing hold of toads, stones, and pine cones can she temporarily drift back to the ground. The royal servants have to tie her down with silk cords. They’re constantly worried she will float away forever.

Worse, as she grows up, the king and queen realize the princess’s curse is twofold. She’s not only physically weightless but emotionally hollow. News of war gives her no concern. Poverty evokes no empathy. Pain causes no sadness. She only has an empty laugh for every situation. The king and queen realize she can never take the throne. But if she doesn’t, the king’s evil sister is next in line. It’s a lose-lose situation.

MacDonald wrote this story as a lighthearted fairy tale, but the more I read it the more I feel a sharp edge to the tale. How many ways have I tried to shut out my emotions and just float through life? How often have I just wanted to hover, detach? Living without a heavy heart doesn’t sound so bad sometimes. And MacDonald’s genius is getting you to see what a disaster this would make of things. Maybe a kingdom won’t crumble into ruin, but something will.

If you’ve ever thought about these things, then I hope you’ll follow along as I adapt this fairy tale into a musical.

Why a musical?

I’ll explore that in an upcoming post.