George MacDonald - will you help me please?

[Veronica79]

Hello,
I'm reading some of George MacDonald's works now - they are not available in Polish, so I read them in English, which is better anyway, as reading in original language is always better than any translation :)

But I have a question about some thing I cannot understand or find in any dictionary, and I think it is an important one if you want to fully understand meaning of the text.

It's about "The Golden Key".
When Tangle meets Old Man of the Fire and talks to him, it is said: "He had no smile, but the love in his large gray eyes was deep as the centre".

My problem is: what does that mean? What is "the centre"? Is it some phrase "deep as the centre"? Because "centre" meaning "middle point" does not make sense in here, does it?

I will by very grateful if you're so kind and help me with this one. Thanks in advance :)

[Dreamwoven]

I can see your problem, but I was fascinated by his long text. I have remembered the website: http://www.george-macdonald.com/index.html where the text is located. I will try to unravel this conundrum, and if I succeed I will get back on this webpage. Just don't hold your breath while I look. Even if I can't solve it I will get back to you.

[Veronica79]

Thank you! :)

[Dreamwoven]

Below are the main links I have found. The Golden Key has no search function that I could find.

Links:
http://www.george-macdonald.com/index.html

http://www.george-macdonald.com/etexts/the_golden_key.html This is the tex of the whole piece as far as I was able to ascertain. If you know where in the tale your quote is found, it might be easier for you to find it than for me. I have done a couple of preliminary reads of the tale but not found your quoted text.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald

https://georgemacdonald.wordpress.com/2016/06/ This is a wordpress blog, so you can "Re-blog" individual posts from it to your own wordpress blog.

https://georgemacdonald.wordpress.com/about/

http://www.george-macdonald.com/macdonaldsociety/about.html This is the George MacDonald Society website. If you are a member you could try asking your question there? Meanwhile I will keep searching.

[Whifflingpin]

"as deep as the centre of the universe" in this case. After one quick reading, I think the tale is an allegory of the passage from this life to Heaven. The Old Man of the Fire appears to stand for Christ. I might be wrong.

[Dreamwoven]

I think Whifflingpin is right. It is certainly allegoric. And at the very least it is also christian.