The Strange Little Girl: A Story for Children

In Short

The Strange Little Girl: A Story for Children is a mystical allegorical narrative that translates core Theosophical concepts into a fairy tale framework for young readers. Driven by a deep resolve to aid suffering humanity, the Princess Eline leaves her father’s peaceful palace and travels across a symbolic sea to be born into the material world. As she grows, she faces disbelief, opens a young boy's spiritual sight, and leads children to build a grand temple of harmony. Despite the eventual betrayal of faithless guardians, Eline’s enduring vow to return offers an uplifting vision of cyclic rebirth and spiritual hope.

The Story

In the flawless palace of a wise king, the young Princess Eline hears echoes of an unknown world beyond the horizon. While her royal siblings remain content in their bliss, Eline notices mysterious silences in the tales of traveling visitors and senses a deep personal promise calling her to return to a land of trial. When a traveler arrives playing a seven-stringed harp, its wordless music confirms the existence of an earth bound in sorrow. Obtaining her father's reluctant permission to depart, Eline journeys westward with the harper across untrodden pine forests and mountains. At a crystal-clear river, she drinks water from a lotus-leaf cup, glimpsing her past lives and her eternal commitment to help humanity before forgetting her divine origin.

Eline sails across a dark ocean for nine months and enters the mortal world as an ordinary child. Though her companions mistake her spiritual memories for idle dreams, her grandfather grants her freedom to wander outdoors. She finds solace in nature, speaking to birds, streams, and flora. Schoolteachers marvel when she inherently understands the deeper, spiritual meanings of numbers and music. Realizing that adults reject direct spiritual truths, Eline begins teaching children through symbolic stories, communal play, and shared tasks.

She leads the local children in clearing a boulder-strewn plain to build a grand garden and temple. Using a strong rope woven from dried flax stalks—a task made joyful when Eline temporarily grants a young boy the ability to see nature spirits—the children move the stones. Guided by kingly strangers who join their efforts, they construct a magnificent temple surrounded by rare flowers from Eline's former home. Within its walls, Eline teaches that all life is an interconnected harmony.

When distress calls arrive from distant, war-torn lands, Eline charges her followers to guard the temple's sacred flame and departs to help. In her absence, arrogant guardians become boastful, neglect their duty, and exile the single faithful follower who defends her legacy on a small ship. Evil forces attack the unprotected temple, destroying it and extinguishing the light. Uttering a sacred name, Eline summons a mighty natural upheaval that submerges the corrupted land to preserve its subterranean vault of sacred records for the future. Reunited with the exiled faithful follower on his ship, Eline surveys the submerged ruins and vows once again to return and guide humanity to final victory.

How It Unfolds

The call from beyond Princess Eline senses that the stories told by travelers in her father’s joyful palace hide a world of suffering. Listening to a seven-stringed harp, she resolves to leave her heavenly home to aid humanity.

The river of forgetfulness Traveling west with the harper, Eline drinks magic water from a lotus leaf that reveals her past lives and her vow to help the earth. The draft wipes away her divine memories, preparing her to be born in human form.

A dreamer in the world After a nine-month sea voyage, Eline grows up as an misunderstood child whose quiet nature and talks with forest creatures are dismissed as dreaming. Her grandfather protects her, allowing her to find joy in nature.

The lesson of the flax To clear a rocky plain, Eline instructs the children to weave a strong rope out of dried flax. She opens a young boy's spiritual eyes, allowing him to converse with nature spirits who gladly sacrifice their plant bodies to assist the noble work.

Building the sanctuary With the help of kingly strangers and local citizens, the children move massive boulders to build a radiant temple. Eline teaches them that all life is connected like notes in a great musical harmony.

The temple's fall and promise Eline leaves to answer a plea from distant lands, charging her followers to guard the sacred light. Arrogant guardians neglect the flame and cast out the one faithful disciple, leading to the temple's destruction and its submergence beneath the sea until Eline's eventual return.

The People

• Eline: A princess of divine origin who longs to alleviate human suffering. She repeatedly chooses to leave blissful realms, facing mortal misunderstanding to teach children the laws of harmony, brotherhood, and spiritual duty.
• The King: Eline’s loving father who governs the palace of delight. Though he cautions Eline about the hardships of the outside world, he grants his children the freedom to leave, knowing they will eventually return.
• The Harper: A mysterious musician carrying a harp of seven strings. His wordless melodies convey the sorrow of the mortal world to Eline and guide her on her journey to the river of forgetfulness.
• The Grandfather: An old man who acts as Eline's earthly guardian. He instinctively trusts her quiet wisdom and protects her from those who wish to suppress her nature walks and visionary dreams.
• The Young Boy: A thoughtful child helper who worries about picking wild flax. After Eline touches his forehead to grant him spiritual vision, he learns that nature spirits willingly cooperate in noble endeavors.
• The Faithful Disciple: The single temple guardian who remains loyal to Eline’s teachings during her absence. Cast adrift by treacherous companions, he survives at sea and rejoins Eline at the ruined temple site.

In Its Own Voice

"Joy unto you, men of the underworld! Joy unto you, children of sorrow! Joy unto you, sons of forgetfulness! Joy unto all beings!"

Eline's departure from her father's palace releases a wave of heavenly harmony into the human realm.

"They must know, as we know, that all things sleep awhile and then take new bodies like dresses woven while they worked in their last awaking which men call life."

A little flax-fairy explains the nature of reincarnation to a young boy who fears harming the plants.

"Each by himself can do much, but all working together can move the world..."

Eline instructs the children on the spiritual power of unity as they labor to build the temple.

What It's Really About

Beneath its surface as an enchanting fairy tale, The Strange Little Girl serves as a deliberate parable illustrating core Theosophical doctrines. The story uses allegorical figures to detail the soul's journey, describing how divine beings voluntarily descend into physical matter to serve as teachers for developing humanity. Through Eline's efforts to build a temple with children, the book argues that true progress relies on total unity, selfless cooperation, and an understanding of nature's interconnectedness rather than individual ambition. It presents the physical world as a temporary, cyclical classroom where destruction and loss are merely stepping stones toward spiritual evolution, assuring readers that wisdom and truth can never be permanently extinguished.

Why Read It Today

The Strange Little Girl offers a gentle entry point for readers interested in early twentieth-century Esoteric literature, child-centered allegories, and the history of Point Loma's Aryan Theosophical Press. Written with earnest sincerity, the narrative avoids heavy academic terminology, relying instead on imaginative imagery like harp music, nature spirits, and hidden vaults beneath the ocean.

Readers accustomed to modern pacing may find the story's episodic structure simple, and its explicit moralizing reflects the distinct instructional style of period children's literature. However, the book's gentle tone, vivid descriptions of the natural world, and peaceful message of global unity make it a charming, historical curiosity that leaves a lasting impression of quiet hope.