The Twelve Dancing Princesses: Restoration and the Wedding Supper of the Lord. Part 2

I’m sorry for the delay. First it was the holidays, and then I caught a really bad cold. I’m much better now, so let’s get back to our story.

Our Hero follows the Twelve Princesses into an underground realm of mystery. To his surprise, they descend and pass through a series of forests. First they pass through a forest with leaves that sparkle and glitter like the stars. Next, they pass a forest with leaves silver as the moon. Finally, they pass through a forest with leaves that are golden, like the sun.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it.

Always, our hero is behind the youngest of the daughters, and her he watches most. Once through the forest, they come to a dark lake. At the shore is a small peer where wait twelve boats. Each princess gets in a boat and is ferried across the lake to a great palace on an island in the middle of the lake. This is where they go night after night, dancing at a ball with young men who seem to be in a trance, their hearts as cold as ice. It turns out these young men, these princes, are the very young men who had followed the princesses into this dark realm in an effort to solve the mystery, and have been trapped there.

The young Hero learns all this, wearing his cloak of invisibility. He watches the princesses and when dawn nears, he follows them back the way they came. Armed with truth, he is now ready to mount a rescue.

Europe was not the only area of the world which fell into a dark age. It was almost universal around the globe. In reading accounts of pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas, it’s agreed by some scholars that the golden era was between the First and Third Centuries A.D. and then everything sank into obscurity and darkness shortly after that. It seemed to be true everywhere. Mohammad rose up with light in a country plagued with idol worship in the 5th century. Asia’s history is shrouded in war and obscurity. Poverty of knowledge seemed to be everywhere. It was like the whole world fell asleep. And the place of sleep is where the Princesses go. In Jungian Psychology dream analysis, waters represent the subconscious, the place of dreams and sleep. Instead of one sleeping beauty, we have twelve. It isn’t just the ten tribes of Israel that are lost. All are lost, shrouded in ignorance and sleep.

Knowing the truth, on the last night of this three day trial, the Hero allows the princesses, fully visible now, to lead him into the underground realm. There he dances with each princess in turn, but his attention is mostly on the youngest, who seems to be equally interested in him. After the dancing, there is a feast. He is offered a special drink - one that will entrance him like all the other young men in the dark realm. As he is about to put it to his lips, the youngest princess stops him and dashes the goblet from his lips. This one act breaks the horrible spell that had not only shrouded the princesses, but all the young men who had followed them into this realm.

Everyone woke up. They came to their senses. The underground realm is broken and the palace begins to fall apart. With haste, they get out of the palace, out of the dark realm and up into the light.

As a reward for solving the mystery, the Hero is allowed to select one of the princesses as his bride. Surprisingly, he selects the youngest.

In part one, we likened the Twelve Dancing Princesses to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. I said this was a story of restoration and redemption - and it is. It is all about the restoration of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Everything in the Book of Revelation is about restoration and redemption, bringing the woman out of obscurity - and a marriage, the wedding supper of the Lord. In fact the restoration of Israel is one of the greatest of the signs leading to the Second Coming of the Lord. Yet, who is looking for the return of Israel? I’ll tell you who, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Doctrine & Covenants is full of information about the restoration of Israel and her Twelve Tribes. In fact, our patriarchal blessings give us first thing, revelation about our lineage. The vast majority of the early membership of the Church were told they were of the house and lineage of Ephraim. Of all the tribes of Israel, who’s the youngest?

The two sons of Joseph of Egypt were named Manassah and Ephraim, Ephraim being the younger of the two, yet when Jacob blessed the boys, he gave the birthright blessing to the younger Ephraim. When the twelve tribes were brought out of Egypt, there were actually thirteen tribes. Twelve of these tribes were given land grants, while the tribe of Levi was given priesthood and administrative responsibilities among the rest of the tribes. Ephraim and Manassah had equal standing as a tribe with all the other tribes of Israel. So the tribe of Ephraim is the youngest - and - according to the doctrine and history of the Church, the first to be gathered into the restored gospel.

The Hero marries the youngest princess.

Next Week: Part 3 - The Wedding Supper of the Lord.