Review: The Princess and the Goblin

The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald, is a wonderful story that was required reading for my Children's Literature course. Irene is a young princess, who the majority of the story focuses on, who lives in a wonderful house by the mountains, under the care of a nurse, and many other caregivers and servants. Due to the terrible goblins that live under the mountains, Princess Irene isn't permitted to be outside after the sun goes down. The one day that Irene and her nurse stay out too late walking along a road outside of the residence, the goblins try to appear. Luckily, miner Curdie was walking the same road, and knew how to keep the goblins at bay (who knew that goblins didn't like music, particularly singing?).

Curdie is the other main character in this story. One night, while staying late in the mines to earn enough money to buy his mother a new red petticoat, Curdie overhears the nasty plans that the goblins are concocting. Unfortunately, this leads to Curdie's capture.

Princess Irene has a grandmother who lives in the top towers of the residence, who gave Irene a magic ring. Whenever she's scared, Irene is to place the ring under her pillow, and the spider-web string that the grandmother spun will lead Irene off to safety. Such a string, due to a magic ring, is also capable of bringing forth a spur-of-the-moment rescue of Curdie too.

The Princess and the Goblin, though a simple book, was quite engaging, and entertaining. It was a child-friendly fantasy novel that will make you feel like a little kid yourself all over again.