The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald

To equip him for this mission, Curdie has to thrust his hands into a furnace glowing with red and white roses. He is to help save the King and his kingdom that is besieged by dishonest and treacherous officials and servants. Queen Irene, the fairy godmother figure, has a mission for Curdie. ‘A gloom fell upon the mountain, and the miners when she was gone and Curdie did not whistle for a whole week.’ A year has passed, and unbeknownst to the King, Princess Irene and Curdie, all is not well in the palace. However, the country folks and Curdie missed the princess. For defeating the goblins, Curdie was offered a job in the palace but turned it down in order to continue living with his parents. When I last met them, the princess had returned to the palace with her papa-king. I tarried a while in fantasy land to spend more time with Princess Irene and Curdie, the miner boy. “Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.” Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had 'made a difference to my whole existence.'Įlizabeth Yates wrote of Sir Gibbie, 'It moved me the way books did when, as a child, the great gates of literature began to open and first encounters with noble thoughts and utterances were unspeakably thrilling.'Įven Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald. A few hours later,' said Lewis, 'I knew that I had crossed a great frontier.' G. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his 'master': 'Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, MacDonald inspired many authors, such as G.K. He was educated at Aberdeen University and after a short and stormy career as a minister at Arundel, where his unorthodox views led to his dismissal, he turned to fiction as a means of earning a living. George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.

The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald