Customer Reviews

Princess and the Goblin and the Princess and Curdie

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The last time I read these books was perhaps 20 years ago, when I was 40, shortly before I handed them into the keeping of one of my daughters, who was a lover and respecter of books, and who was raising her daughter to be the same. Elizabeth had tried for several years before to find copies, only to give up and buy a condensed version, which has now gone by the wayside. A few years ago, a cartoon movie version of The Princess and the Goblin was around for a while. None of us wanted to see it, ever! This gives you an idea of the intensity with which we love these books.

Why? The plotline is simple, a little girl named Irene, whose mother died when she was much younger, lives in a huge, drafty old castle with no one to play with. Her father, the king, often goes off on journeys. She does have servants... Well, one day she manages to open a door she's never been through, behind which are stairs, which she climbs to find a tower room, and there is the beginning of her adventures.

There's an old, old woman-- but she's also young and beautiful, and there's a magic fire that glows like roses, and a magic globe that glows like the moon. And there's Curdie, a miner's boy, who also works in the mines, and one night Irene is out of doors-- no one is supposed to be out and about after dark, for the goblins, who are bitterly angry that humans are mining their precious metals and stones from the earth, are likely to get you. And she hears a whistling coming closer, and it's Curdie-- who as everyone knows is whistling to keep the goblins away because they just hate whistling.

In The Princess and Curdie, the companion book, Irene and Curdie grow up, but not before even more magical adventures, with an army of animal-like creatures who were humans in their former lives, featuring Lena, who is somewhat like a panther, but... and who becomes the children's friend. Here, too, are even scarier times in the caverns under the earth with the goblins.

May be a bit scary for very young children, especially the second book, but the best books to introduce a true sense of wonder and magic and romance of the deepest kind into any child's life, as well as true friendship, grand adventure, tolerance of the differences between human beings. I read these books maybe 10 times before I had my own children, and read them to my children. Even 20 years after the last reading, they are the first books I looked up the first time I visited this site, and imagine my delight to find that they were, indeed, reprinted-- in the '90s! Can you imagine? Scenes from the books still appear in my mind's eye when I think about them.

Make sure you get the complete original versions, and if you're very lucky, you might find copies of the editions I had, with gold leaf decorations and lovely color illustrations tipped onto some of the pages. Also check out George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind and some of his short stories. And after you've read all of these, and are frustrated because he didn't write more books, try the rest of the Oz series-- Tick Tock, the talking flowers, the hobby horse, Jack Pumpkinhead, Ozma of Oz-- immersing one's self in Baum's extended alternative universe will help soothe the pain of having to leave MacDonald's so soon.

It is so hard to find unabridged copies of George MacDonald's work. This one is hacked to bits. If you want an abridged copy, it is fine. Nice illustrations and such... but the rich descriptions and nuances that make MacDonald's work so wonderful, in my eyes, are missing from this title.

This book is one few that are able to reach out to the reader and grab your attention. I hope to pass this book on to my daughter someday.