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The Princess and the Goblin
When I was seventeen, my best friend bought me a gift, a lamp with a milky white globe. I was happy to get a gift given in friendship but added to that was the fact that it reminded me of the moon globe in The Princess and the Goblin. I have that lamp still today at my bedside. So I reread MacDonald's book for the first time since childhood. The volume I have is a children's version with plenty of colored illustrations. It is the story of Irene an eight year old princess whose mother has always been absent though it is not clear that she is dead. She is sent to live with caretakers in a remote country house. MacDonald has lovely prose: "these mountains were full of hollow places underneath; huge caverns, and winding ways, some with water running through them, and some shining with all colors of the rainbow when a light was taken in." (p. 2). In the caverns live goblins. Some ancient ancestor of Irene's father had offended the goblins and now they sought every opportunity to be troublesome to people. Nearby also live miners who are less afraid of the goblins than most. One of them a twelve year old named Curdie has discovered that the goblins hate singing and since Curdie is good at making up new rhymes and at remembering old ones Curdie is very bold. A princess is just going to be bored. She is not allowed to go outside much and when it rains one day Irene begins to explore the upper levels of the old house. Up a "curious old stair of worm-eaten oak" (p. 7) she goes. She finds an old lady spinning. The lady is dressed in black velvet with white hair that shines like silver. The lady says that she is Irene's great-great-grandmother. Irene is full of a child's questions like why does no one know you are here and what do you eat for breakfast. Irene's nurse does not believe the grandmother story when she hears it and here begins a string of Nurse is afraid of getting in trouble because Irene got away stories.
The copyright of the article The Princess and the Goblin in Psychology & Fiction is owned by . Permission to republish The Princess and the Goblin in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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