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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre Buch 1"

Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska. - "The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James"

Don Marquis - "Danny's Own Story, by Don Marquis"

Theophilus G. Pinches - "The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria"

The Princess and the Goblin

G >> George MacDonald >> The Princess and the Goblin




'Oh, how dreadful' cried the princess, shuddering.

'But you needn't be afraid, you know. Your grandmother takes care
of you.'

'Ah! you do believe in my grandmother, then? I'm so glad! She
made me think you would some day.'

All at once Curdie remembered his dream, and was silent, thinking.

'But how did you come to be in my house, and me not know it?' asked
the princess.

Then Curdie had to explain everything - how he had watched for her
sake, how he had been wounded and shut up by the soldiers, how he
heard the noises and could not rise, and how the beautiful old lady
had come to him, and all that followed.

'Poor Curdie! to lie there hurt and ill, and me never to know it!'
exclaimed the princess, stroking his rough hand. 'I would have
come and nursed you, if they had told me.'

'I didn't see you were lame,' said his mother.

'Am I, mother? Oh - yes - I suppose I ought to be! I declare I've
never thought of it since I got up to go down amongst the cobs!'

'Let me see the wound,' said his mother.

He pulled down his stocking - when behold, except a great scar, his
leg was perfectly sound!

Curdie and his mother gazed in each other's eyes, full of wonder,
but Irene called out:

'I thought so, Curdie! I was sure it wasn't a dream. I was sure
my grandmother had been to see you. Don't you smell the roses? It
was my grandmother healed your leg, and sent you to help me.'

'No, Princess Irene,' said Curdie; 'I wasn't good enough to be
allowed to help you: I didn't believe you. Your grandmother took
care of you without me.'

'She sent you to help my people, anyhow. I wish my king-papa would
come. I do want so to tell him how good you have been!'

'But,' said the mother, 'we are forgetting how frightened your
people must be. You must take the princess home at once, Curdie -
or at least go and tell them where she is.'

'Yes, mother. Only I'm dreadfully hungry. Do let me have some
breakfast first. They ought to have listened to me, and then they
wouldn't have been taken by surprise as they were.'

'That is true, Curdie; but it is not for you to blame them much.
You remember?'

'Yes, mother, I do. Only I must really have something to eat.'

'You shall, my boy - as fast as I can get it,' said his mother,
rising and setting the princess on her chair.

But before his breakfast was ready, Curdie jumped up so suddenly as
to startle both his companions.

'Mother, mother!' he cried, 'I was forgetting. You must take the
princess home yourself. I must go and wake my father.'

Without a word of explanation, he rushed to the place where his
father was sleeping. Having thoroughly roused him with what he
told him he darted out of the cottage.



CHAPTER 29
Masonwork


He had all at once remembered the resolution of the goblins to
carry out their second plan upon the failure of the first. No
doubt they were already busy, and the mine was therefore in the
greatest danger of being flooded and rendered useless - not to
speak of the lives of the miners.
When he reached the mouth of the mine, after rousing all the miners
within reach, he found his father and a good many more just
entering. They all hurried to the gang by which he had found a way
into the goblin country. There the foresight of Peter had already
collected a great many blocks of stone, with cement, ready for
building up the weak place - well enough known to the goblins.
Although there was not room for more than two to be actually
building at once, they managed, by setting all the rest to work in
preparing the cement and passing the stones, to finish in the
course of the day a huge buttress filling the whole gang, and
supported everywhere by the live rock. Before the hour when they
usually dropped work, they were satisfied the mine was secure.

They had heard goblin hammers and pickaxes busy all the time, and
at length fancied they heard sounds of water they had never heard
before. But that was otherwise accounted for when they left the
mine, for they stepped out into a tremendous storm which was raging
all over the mountain. The thunder was bellowing, and the
lightning lancing out of a huge black cloud which lay above it and
hung down its edges of thick mist over its sides. The lightning
was breaking out of the mountain, too, and flashing up into the
cloud. From the state of the brooks, now swollen into raging
torrents, it was evident that the storm had been storming all day.

The wind was blowing as if it would blow him off the mountain, but,
anxious about his mother and the princess, Curdie darted up through
the thick of the tempest. Even if they had not set out before the
storm came on, he did not judge them safe, for in such a storm even
their poor little house was in danger. Indeed he soon found that
but for a huge rock against which it was built, and which protected
it both from the blasts and the waters, it must have been swept if
it was not blown away; for the two torrents into which this rock
parted the rush of water behind it united again in front of the
cottage - two roaring and dangerous streams, which his mother and
the princess could not possibly have passed. It was with great
difficulty that he forced his way through one of them, and up to
the door.

The moment his hand fell on the latch, through all the uproar of
winds and Waters came the joyous cry of the princess:

'There's Curdie! Curdie! Curdie!'

She was sitting wrapped in blankets on the bed, his mother trying
for the hundredth time to light the fire which had been drowned by
the rain that came down the chimney. The clay floor was one mass
of mud, and the whole place looked wretched. But the faces of the
mother and the princess shone as if their troubles only made them
the merrier. Curdie burst out laughing at the sight of them.

'I never had such fun!' said the princess, her eyes twinkling and
her pretty teeth shining. 'How nice it must be to live in a
cottage on the mountain!'

'It all depends on what kind your inside house is,' said the
mother.

'I know what you mean,' said Irene. 'That's the kind of thing my
grandmother says.'

By the time Peter returned the storm was nearly over, but the
streams were so fierce and so swollen that it was not only out of
the question for the princess to go down the mountain, but most
dangerous for Peter even or Curdie to make the attempt in the
gathering darkness.

'They will be dreadfully frightened about you,' said Peter to the
princess, 'but we cannot help it. We must wait till the morning.'

With Curdie's help, the fire was lighted at last, and the mother
set about making their supper; and after supper they all told the
princess stories till she grew sleepy. Then Curdie's mother laid
her in Curdie's bed, which was in a tiny little garret-room. As
soon as she was in bed, through a little window low down in the
roof she caught sight of her grandmother's lamp shining far away
beneath, and she gazed at the beautiful silvery globe until she
fell asleep.



CHAPTER 30
The King an the Kiss


The next morning the sun rose so bright that Irene said the rain
had washed his face and let the light out clean. The torrents were
still roaring down the side of the mountain, but they were so much
smaller as not to be dangerous in the daylight. After an early
breakfast, Peter went to his work and Curdie and his mother set out
to take the princess home. They had difficulty in getting her dry
across the streams, and Curdie had again and again to carry her,
but at last they got safe on the broader part of the road, and
walked gently down towards the king's house. And what should they
see as they turned the last corner but the last of the king's troop
riding through the gate!

'Oh, Curdie!' cried Irene, clapping her hands right joyfully,'my
king-papa is come.'

The moment Curdie heard that, he caught her up in his arms, and set
off at full speed, crying:

come on, mother dear! The king may break his heart before he knows
that she is safe.'

Irene clung round his neck and he ran with her like a deer. When
he entered the gate into the court, there sat the king on his
horse, with all the people of the house about him, weeping and
hanging their heads. The king was not weeping, but his face was
white as a dead man's, and he looked as if the life had gone out of
him. The men-at-arms he had brought with him sat with
horror-stricken faces, but eyes flashing with rage, waiting only
for the word of the king to do something - they did not know what,
and nobody knew what.
The day before, the men-at-arms belonging to the house, as soon as
they were satisfied the princess had been carried away, rushed
after the goblins into the hole, but found that they had already so
skilfully blockaded the narrowest part, not many feet below the
cellar, that without miners and their tools they could do nothing.
Not one of them knew where the mouth of the mine lay, and some of
those who had set out to find it had been overtaken by the storm
and had not even yet returned. Poor Sir Walter was especially
filled with shame, and almost hoped the king would order his head
to be cut off, for to think of that sweet little face down amongst
the goblins was unendurable.

When Curdie ran in at the gate with the princess in his arms, they
were all so absorbed in their own misery and awed by the king's
presence and grief, that no one observed his arrival. He went
straight up to the king, where he sat on his horse.

'Papa! papa!' the princess cried, stretching out her arms to him;
'here I am!'

The king started. The colour rushed to his face. He gave an
inarticulate cry. Curdie held up the princess, and the king bent
down and took her from his arms. As he clasped her to his bosom,
the big tears went dropping down his cheeks and his beard. And
such a shout arose from all the bystanders that the startled horses
pranced and capered, and the armour rang and clattered, and the
rocks of the mountain echoed back the noises. The princess greeted
them all as she nestled in her father's bosom, and the king did not
set her down until she had told them all the story. But she had
more to tell about Curdie than about herself, and what she did tell
about herself none of them could understand - except the king and
Curdie, who stood by the king's knee stroking the neck of the great
white horse. And still as she told what Curdie had done, Sir
Walter and others added to what she told, even Lootie joining in
the praises of his courage and energy.

Curdie held his peace, looking quietly up in the king's face. And
his mother stood on the outskirts of the crowd listening with
delight, for her son's deeds were pleasant in her ears, until the
princess caught sight of her.

'And there is his mother, king-papa!' she said. 'See - there. She
is such a nice mother, and has been so kind to me!'

They all parted asunder as the king made a sign to her to come
forward. She obeyed, and he gave her his hand, but could not
speak.

'And now, king-papa,' the princess went on, 'I must tell you
another thing. One night long ago Curdie drove the goblins away
and brought Lootie and me safe from the mountain. And I promised
him a kiss when we got home, but Lootie wouldn't let me give it
him. I don't want you to scold Lootie, but I want you to tell her
that a princess must do as she promises.'
'Indeed she must, my child - except it be wrong,' said the king.
'There, give Curdie a kiss.'

And as he spoke he held her towards him.

The princess reached down, threw her arms round Curdie's neck, and
kissed him on the mouth, saying: 'There, Curdie! There's the kiss
I promised you!'

Then they all went into the house, and the cook rushed to the
kitchen and the servants to their work. Lootie dressed Irene in
her shiningest clothes, and the king put off his armour, and put on
purple and gold; and a messenger was sent for Peter and all the
miners, and there was a great and a grand feast, which continued
long after the princess was put to bed.



CHAPTER 31
The Subterranean Waters


The king's harper, who always formed a part of his escort, was
chanting a ballad which he made as he went on playing on his
instrument - about the princess and the goblins, and the prowess of
Curdie, when all at once he ceased, with his eyes on one of the
doors of the hall. Thereupon the eyes of the king and his guests
turned thitherward also. The next moment, through the open doorway
came the princess Irene. She went straight up to her father, with
her right hand stretched out a little sideways, and her forefinger,
as her father and Curdie understood, feeling its way along the
invisible thread. The king took her on his knee, and she said in
his ear:

'King-papa, do you hear that noise?'

'I hear nothing,' said the king.

'Listen,' she said, holding up her forefinger.

The king listened, and a great stillness fell upon the company.
Each man, seeing that the king listened, listened also, and the
harper sat with his harp between his arms, and his finger silent
upon the strings.

'I do hear a noise,' said the king at length - 'a noise as of
distant thunder. It is coming nearer and nearer. What can it be?'

They all heard it now, and each seemed ready to start to his feet
as he listened. Yet all sat perfectly still. The noise came
rapidly nearer.

'What can it be?' said the king again.

'I think it must be another storm coming over the mountain,' said
Sir Walter.

Then Curdie, who at the first word of the king had slipped from his
seat, and laid his ear to the ground, rose up quickly, and
approaching the king said, speaking very fast:

'Please, Your Majesty, I think I know what it is. I have no time
to explain, for that might make it too late for some of us. Will
Your Majesty give orders that everybody leave the house as quickly
as possible and get up the mountain?'

The king, who was the wisest man in the kingdom, knew well there
was a time when things must be done and questions left till
afterwards. He had faith in Curdie, and rose instantly, with Irene
in his arms. 'Every man and woman follow me,' he said, and strode
out into the darkness.

Before he had reached the gate, the noise had grown to a great
thundering roar, and the ground trembled beneath their feet, and
before the last of them had crossed the court, out after them from
the great hall door came a huge rush of turbid water, and almost
swept them away. But they got safe out of the gate and up the
mountain, while the torrent went roaring down the road into the
valley beneath.

Curdie had left the king and the princess to look after his mother,
whom he and his father, one on each side, caught up when the stream
overtook them and carried safe and dry.

When the king had got out of the way of the water, a little up the
mountain, he stood with the princess in his arms, looking back with
amazement on the issuing torrent, which glimmered fierce and foamy
through the night. There Curdie rejoined them.

'Now, Curdie,' said the king, 'what does it mean? Is this what you
expected?'

'It is, Your Majesty,' said Curdie; and proceeded to tell him about
the second scheme of the goblins, who, fancying the miners of more
importance to the upper world than they were, had resolved, if they
should fail in carrying off the king's daughter, to flood the mine
and drown the miners. Then he explained what the miners had done
to prevent it. The goblins had, in pursuance of their design, let
loose all the underground reservoirs and streams, expecting the
water to run down into the mine, which was lower than their part of
the mountain, for they had, as they supposed, not knowing of the
solid wall close behind, broken a passage through into it. But the
readiest outlet the water could find had turned out to be the
tunnel they had made to the king's house, the possibility of which
catastrophe had not occurred to the young miner until he had laid
his ear to the floor of the hall.

What was then to be done? The house appeared in danger of falling,
and every moment the torrent was increasing.

'We must set out at once,' said the king. 'But how to get at the
horses!'

'Shall I see if we can manage that?' said Curdie.

'Do,' said the king.

Curdie gathered the men-at-arms, and took them over the garden
wall, and so to the stables. They found their horses in terror;
the water was rising fast around them, and it was quite time they
were got out. But there was no way to get them out, except by
riding them through the stream, which was now pouring from the
lower windows as well as the door. As one horse was quite enough
for any man to manage through such a torrent, Curdie got on the
king's white charger and, leading the way, brought them all in
safety to the rising ground.

'Look, look, Curdie!' cried Irene, the moment that, having
dismounted, he led the horse up to the king.

Curdie did look, and saw, high in the air, somewhere about the top
of the king's house, a great globe of light shining like the purest
silver.

'Oh!' he cried in some consternation, 'that is your grandmother's
lamp! We must get her out. I will go an find her. The house may
fall, you know.'

'My grandmother is in no danger,' said Irene, smiling.

'Here, Curdie, take the princess while I get on my horse,' said the
king.

Curdie took the princess again, and both turned their eyes to the
globe of light. The same moment there shot from it a white bird,
which, descending with outstretched wings, made one circle round
the king an Curdie and the princess, and then glided up again. The
light and the pigeon vanished together.

'Now, Curdie!' said the princess, as he lifted her to her father's
arms, 'you see my grandmother knows all about it, and isn't
frightened. I believe she could walk through that water and it
wouldn't wet her a bit.'

'But, my child,' said the king, 'you will be cold if you haven't
Something more on. Run, Curdie, my boy, and fetch anything you can
lay your hands on, to keep the princess warm. We have a long ride
before us.'

Curdie was gone in a moment, and soon returned with a great rich
fur, and the news that dead goblins were tossing about in the
current through the house. They had been caught in their own
snare; instead of the mine they had flooded their own country,
whence they were now swept up drowned. Irene shuddered, but the
king held her close to his bosom. Then he turned to Sir Walter,
and said:

'Bring Curdie's father and mother here.'

'I wish,' said the king, when they stood before him, 'to take your
son with me. He shall enter my bodyguard at once, and wait further
promotion.'

Peter and his wife, overcome, only murmured almost inaudible
thanks. But Curdie spoke aloud.

'Please, Your Majesty,' he said, 'I cannot leave my father and
mother.'

'That's right, Curdie!' cried the princess. 'I wouldn't if I was
you.'

The king looked at the princess and then at Curdie with a glow of
satisfaction on his countenance.

'I too think you are right, Curdie,' he said, 'and I will not ask
you again. But I shall have a chance of doing something for you
some time.'

'Your Majesty has already allowed me to serve you,' said Curdie.

'But, Curdie,' said his mother, 'why shouldn't you go with the
king? We can get on very well without you.'

'But I can't get on very well without you,' said Curdie. 'The king
is very kind, but I could not be half the use to him that I am to
you. Please, Your Majesty, if you wouldn't mind giving my mother
a red petticoat! I should have got her one long ago, but for the
goblins.'

'As soon as we get home,' said the king, 'Irene and I will search
out the warmest one to be found, and send it by one of the
gentlemen.'

'Yes, that we will, Curdie!' said the princess. 'And next summer
we'll come back and see you wear it, Curdie's mother,' she added.
'Shan't we, king-papa?'

'Yes, my love; I hope so,' said the king.

Then turning to the miners, he said:

'Will you do the best you can for my servants tonight? I hope they
will be able to return to the house tomorrow.'

The miners with one voice promised their hospitality.
Then the king commanded his servants to mind whatever Curdie should
say to them, and after shaking hands with him and his father and
mother, the king and the princess and all their company rode away
down the side of the new stream, which had already devoured half
the road, into the starry night.



CHAPTER 32
The Last Chapter


All the rest went up the mountain, and separated in groups to the
homes of the miners. Curdie and his father and mother took Lootie
with them. And the whole way a light, of which all but Lootie
understood the origin, shone upon their path. But when they looked
round they could see nothing of the silvery globe.

For days and days the water continued to rush from the doors and
windows of the king's house, and a few goblin bodies were swept out
into the road.

Curdie saw that something must be done. He spoke to his father and
the rest of the miners, and they at once proceeded to make another
outlet for the waters. By setting all hands to the work,
tunnelling here and building there, they soon succeeded; and having
also made a little tunnel to drain the water away from under the
king's house, they were soon able to get into the wine cellar,
where they found a multitude of dead goblins - among the rest the
queen, with the skin-shoe gone, and the stone one fast to her ankle
- for the water had swept away the barricade, which prevented the
men-at-arms from following the goblins, and had greatly widened the
passage. They built it securely up, and then went back to their
labours in the mine.

A good many of the goblins with their creatures escaped from the
inundation out upon the mountain. But most of them soon left that
part of the country, and most of those who remained grew milder in
character, and indeed became very much like the Scotch brownies.
Their skulls became softer as well as their hearts, and their feet
grew harder, and by degrees they became friendly with the
inhabitants of the mountain and even with the miners. But the
latter were merciless to any of the cobs' creatures that came in
their way, until at length they all but disappeared.

The rest of the history of The Princess and Curdie must be kept for
another volume.

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