The Princess and the Goblin / Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald

Upon the goblins' retreat, Irene is believed a captive, but Curdie follows the magic thread to her refuge at his own house, and restores her to the king. Meanwhile, the goblins break through the palace floor and come to abduct the princess, but Curdie escapes from his prison room and stamps on the goblins' feet. Curdie warns the palace guards about this, but is imprisoned instead and contracts a fever through a wound in his leg, until Irene's great-great-grandmother heals the wound. Curdie later learns that the goblins are digging a tunnel in the mines towards the king's palace, where they plan to abduct the Princess and marry her to goblin prince Harelip. Irene takes Curdie to see her great-great-grandmother and be introduced, but she is visible only to Irene. The goblins imprison Curdie, thinking he will die of starvation but Irene's magic thread leads her to his rescue, and Curdie steals one of the goblin queen's stone shoes. When Curdie explores the goblins' domain, he is discovered by the goblins and stamps on their feet with great success but when he tries to stamp on the Queen's feet she is uninjured due to her stone shoes.

A week later Irene is about to see her great-great-grandmother again, but is frightened by a long-legged cat and escapes up the mountain whereupon the light from her great-great-grandmother's tower leads her home, where her great-great-grandmother gives Irene a ring attached to a thread invisible except to herself, which thereafter connects her constantly to home. In the palace, Princess Irene injures her hand, which her great-great-grandmother heals. He later conveys this news to his father. Curdie sneaks into the Great Hall of the goblin palace to eavesdrop on their general meeting, and hears that the goblins intend to flood the mine if a certain other part of their plan should fail. At work with the rest of the miners, Curdie overhears the goblins talking, and their conversation reveals to Curdie the secret weakness of goblin anatomy: they have very soft, vulnerable feet. After dark they are chased by goblins and rescued by a young miner, Curdie, whom Irene befriends. The next day, Princess Irene persuades her nursemaid to take her outside. One rainy day, the princess explores the castle and discovers a beautiful, mysterious lady, who identifies herself as Irene's namesake and great-great-grandmother. Unknown to her, the nearby mines are inhabited by a race of goblins, long banished from the kingdom and now anxious to take revenge on their human neighbours. Her father, the king, is normally absent, and her mother is dead.

From The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1920 Summary Įight-year-old Princess Irene lives a lonely life in a castle in a wild, desolate, mountainous kingdom, with only her nursemaid, Lootie, for company.

The Princess and the Goblin / Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald