Publisher's Synopsis
The Princess and the Goblin
George MacDonald
Princess Irene lives with her nurse, Lootie, and other servants in a large, old castle/farm house on a mountainside. Irene and Lootie stay out after dark while out walking and Curdie rescues them from goblins with his songs, for goblins are repulsed by music and rhymes. Irene succeeds in finding her grandmother the next time she tries and receives from her the ball of thread she has been spinning. Curdie discovers by working late the goblins' plot to kidnap the princess, wedding her to the goblin prince. He also discovers that the goblins' weakness is their feet, unprotected by shoes. Curdie is captured while learning all this. Following the thread that her grandmother has woven, Irene reaches Curdie in the goblins' cave and frees him. He cannot see the thread that guides Irene, nor does he see her grandmother when they eventually reach the castle. He leaves in anger because he thinks she is making a fool of him. He talks with his parents about this and his mother cautions him that just because he does not understand something is no reason to say that it isn't true. The goblins' attack is defeated by Curdie and the King's guards while Irene sleeps soundly at Curdie's house where her grandmother's thread has led her.
