The wood beyond the world

Imagine a brave guy named Walter who lives in a busy city but runs away by boat because his wife is mean and cheats on him. He washes up in a spooky land with an evil lady called the Mistress who keeps a pretty girl named Birdalone locked up. Walter and Birdalone team up, escape using magic clothes, fight scary monsters, and hike through a magic forest to find a super happy place called the Wood Beyond the World where everyone shares everything and lives happily ever after without bosses or fights.

In William Morris's 'The Wood Beyond the World,' published in 1894, the protagonist Walter, son of a wealthy merchant in the bustling city of Langton, flees his homeland after discovering his wife's infidelity with a local champion. Setting sail on a merchant voyage, his ship is driven to a mysterious foreign shore dominated by a sinister castle ruled by an enchantress known only as the Mistress. There, Walter encounters a diminutive servant and glimpses the captive Maid, Birdalone, one of three beautiful women held by the Mistress; Birdalone escapes her captivity using magical garments provided by her foster mother, the wise woman Habundia, and seeks refuge with Walter. Together, Walter and Birdalone embark on a perilous journey through enchanted landscapes, evading the Mistress's wrath and her monstrous champions. Their path leads them across a deadly causeway, into the shadowy Black Valley, and ultimately to the idyllic Wood Beyond the World—a utopian realm where society thrives in harmony under a benevolent king. Here, free from tyranny and desire's corruptions, the lovers reunite with companions and establish a life of communal bliss, embodying Morris's vision of a pre-industrial, egalitarian paradise redolent of medieval romance and socialist ideals.