Dr van Dijk is indignant at the criticism of René Doumic, who, in an article on Maeterlinck, dismisses _Les Sept Princesses_ with these few words: "As for _The Seven Princesses_, the devout themselves confess they can find no appreciable sense in the play. All that I can say of it, now that I have read it, is that it is a thin volume published in Brussels, by Lacomblez."[1] "Let me have this French critic in my tuition six months," continues Dr van Dijk. "My curriculum would then be as follows: The first month he should learn by heart, in Greek and French, Plato's myth concerning _The Chariot of the Soul_, with the obligation of course to ponder on it. The following month he should learn by heart, in Greek and French, Plato's myth of _The Cave_, with the obligation of course to ponder on it. Then he should impress the well-known fable of _Amor and Psyche_ on his mind, so as to accustom himself to the atmosphere of fables. Then he should ponder for a month on the sovereign freedom of a poet to remould a fable wholly or in part. Another month he should spend in reflecting over the fact that in order to understand a whole one does not need to know all the parts. And the last month he should be left to himself to try and find whether there was anything in his own soul which in any way could be said to resemble unfulfilled longing."
Another plausible interpretation is that of another Dutch critic, G. Hulsman, in his _Karakters en Ideeën_. He quotes the following poem from Paul Bourget's _Espoir d'aimer_:
"Notre âme est le palais des légendes, où dort Une jeune princesse en robe nuptiale, Immobile et si calme!... On dirait que la Mort A touché son visage pâle.
Elle dort, elle rêve et soupire en rêvant; Une larme a roulé lentement sur sa joue. Elle se rêve errante en barque au gré du vent Sur l'Océan, qui gronde et joue.
"Elle ne le voit pas, le beau Prince Charmant Qui chevauche, parmi les plaines éloignées Et s'en vient éveiller sa belle au bois dormant De son sommeil de cent années"--
"Our heart is this palace, and in this palace lies our soul, a beautiful sleeper. It sleeps, and dreams, and waits for the coming of the ideal hero, who shall awaken it out of its slumber and cherish it with the warmth of his love. And these seven princesses are the different qualities of the human soul."