“Ayesha turned towards it, and stretched her arms to greet it.” (headpiece); in volume: “One and all of us, save She, who stood up and stretched her hands towards the fire, sank down before it, and hid our faces in the sand.” (page 289), composite woodblock illustration by Edward Killingworth Johnson, R. W. S., in H. Rider Haggard's "SHE:" A History of Adventure, 7 ⅛ by 9 inches (17.9 cm high by 22.9 cm wide); the scale is much reduced in the volume: 3 ½ by 5 ⅜ inches (8.8 cm high by 13.7 cm wide); The Graphic (25 December 1886): Volume XXXIV, p. 685, framed; page 289 in volume. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Ayesha Welcomes the Flame of Life in the Cave of Noot
Maurice Greiffenhagen's first-volume illustration of the scene in Chapter XXVI: I saw the fire run up her form (1888).
Then, suddenly, whilst I rejoiced in this splendid vigour of a new-found self, from far, far away there came a dreadful muttering noise, that grew and grew to a crash and a roar, which combined in itself all that is terrible and yet splendid in the possibilities of sound. Nearer it came, and nearer yet, till it was close upon us, rolling down like all the thunder-wheels of heaven behind the horses of the lightning. On it came, and with it came the glorious blinding cloud of many-coloured light, and stood before us for a space, turning, as it seemed to us, slowly round and round, and then, accompanied by its attendant pomp of sound, passed away I know not whither.
So astonishing was the wondrous sight that one and all of us, save She, who stood up and stretched her hands towards the fire, sank down before it, and hid our faces in the sand.
When it was gone, Ayesha spoke. [Chapter XXV, "The Spirit of Life," 686; pp. 286-287 in volume]
Commentary: Reversal of Expectation
What the illustration at the head of the 25 December 1886 number shows, and the curtain that it anticipates, do not happen at all. Far from transforming Leo into a suitably divine mate for the supernatural Ayesha, the fire from the Fountain and Heart of Life destroys her. She is reduced from a goddess to a shrivelled-up money in the novel's most gruesome but compelling transformation scene. The fire literally reverses the Darwinian process of evolution. Thus, Johnson's intention here is not merely to create a supernatural moment, but to utterly mislead readers as to what will happen in the final number for 1886 in Chapter XXVI, "What We Saw."
Possible Explanations for Ayesha's Transformation and Death
There, too, lay the hideous little monkey frame, covered with crinkled yellow parchment, that once had been the glorious She. Alas! it was no hideous dream — it was an awful and unparalleled fact! What had happened to bring this shocking change about? Had the nature of the life-giving Fire changed? Did it, perhaps, from time to time send forth an essence of Death instead of an essence of Life? Or was it that the frame once charged with its marvellous virtue could bear no more, so that were the process repeated — it mattered not at what lapse of time — the two impregnations neutralised each other, and left the body on which they acted as it was before it ever came into contact with the very essence of Life? This, and this alone, would account for the sudden and terrible ageing of Ayesha, as the whole length of her two thousand years took effect upon her. I have not the slightest doubt myself but that the frame now lying before me was just what the frame of a woman would be if by any extraordinary means life could be preserved in her till she at length died at the age of two-and-twenty centuries. [Chapter XXVI, "What We Saw," pp. 294-295 in volume]
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Haggard, H. Rider. "SHE:" A History of Adventure. Illustrated by E. K. Johnson. The Graphic Magazine, Vols. XXXIV and XXXV. 2 October 1886 to 8 January 1887.
Haggard, H. Rider. She: A History of Adventure. Illustrated by E. K. Johnson. New York: Harper & Bros., 1887.
Haggard, H. Rider. She: A History of Adventure. Illustrated by Maurice Greiffenhagen and Charles H. M. Kerr. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1888, rpt. 1927.
"Johnson, Edward Killingworth." Haynes Fine Art. Web. Accessed 8 April 2025. https://www.haynesfineart.com/artists/edward-killingworth-johnson-uk
Created 20 May 2025