 Cover of the 1911Blackie and Son edition, illustrator uncredited[a] | |
| Author | George MacDonald |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Arthur Hughes (serial and 1872 book) |
| Genre | Children'sfantasy novel |
| Publisher | Strahan & Co. |
Publication date | 1872 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 308, 12 plates (1911, Blackie and Son, above)[a] |
| Followed by | The Princess and Curdie |
| Text | The Princess and the Goblin atWikisource |
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The Princess and the Goblin is a children'sfantasy novel byGeorge MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co., with black-and-white illustrations byArthur Hughes. Strahan had published the story and illustrations as a serial in the monthly magazineGood Words for the Young, beginning November 1870.
Anne Thaxter Eaton writes inA Critical History of Children's Literature thatThe Princess and the Goblin andits sequel both "quietly suggest in every incident ideas of courage and honor".[1] Jeffrey Holdaway, in theNew Zealand Art Monthly, said that both books start out as "normalfairytales, but slowly become stranger", and that they contain layers of symbolism similar to that ofLewis Carroll's work.[2]
Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives a lonely life in a castle in a desolate, mountainous kingdom, with only her nursemaid for company. Her father, the king, is normally absent, and her mother is dead. Unknown to her, the nearby mines are inhabited by a race ofgoblins, long banished from the kingdom and anxious to take revenge on their human neighbours.
One rainy day, the princess explores the castle and discovers a mysterious and very old lady who identifies herself as Irene's great-great-grandmother and namesake. The next day, Princess Irene heads outside but is chased by goblins and rescued by a young miner, Curdie. Irene is on her way to meet with her great-great-grandmother again, but is frightened by a cat and escapes up the mountain. There, she sees the light from her great-great-grandmother's tower window that leads her back. Her great-great-grandmother gives Irene a ring attached to an invisible thread, which connects her constantly to home.
Working in the mines, Curdie overhears the goblins talking and learns their weakness: They have very soft, vulnerable feet. He also hears that the goblins intend to flood the mine.When Curdie explores the goblins' domain, he is discovered by the goblins and stamps on their feet with great success; however, when he tries to stamp on the Goblin Queen's feet, she is protected by her stone shoes and captures him. The goblins put Curdie in their prison, and while imprisoned, he overhears that the goblins are digging a tunnel under the king's palace, where they plan to abduct the Princess and marry her to their Queen's son, Prince Harelip.
Irene's magic thread leads her safely to Curdie's rescue; during their escape, he steals one of the Goblin Queen's stone shoes. Irene takes Curdie to meet her great-great-grandmother but he cannot see her: She is only visible to Irene. Curdie warns the palace guards about the goblins' plans to tunnel into the palace, but the guards imprison him instead of heeding his warning. While imprisoned a second time, in the palace, Curdie contracts a fever through a wound in his leg, until Irene's great-great-grandmother heals him.
The goblins come to abduct the princess, but Curdie escapes from the palace prison and stamps on the invading goblins' feet. He follows the magic thread to Irene's refuge at his own house, and restores her to the king. When the goblins flood their tunnels, the water enters the palace, but Curdie warns the people inside and they are able to leave safely. Back-flow of the floodwater drowns the goblins.
In recognition of his protection of Irene and the people in the palace, the grateful king asks Curdie to serve as a bodyguard, but he refuses, saying he cannot leave his mother and father. Instead, he accepts a gift of a new red petticoat for his mother.
The Princess and the Goblin was first serialised in the children’s periodicalGood Words for the Young, where it appeared between November 1870 and June 1871. This was accompanied by a series of 30 illustrations byArthur Hughes.[3]: 48–52 In a letter George MacDonald wrote to his wife, dated to the 25th February 1871, he stated that “I know it is as good a work of the kind as I can do, and I think it will be the most complete thing I have done.” Despite this, sales ofGood Words for the Young began to slow, which the story was blamed for. Strahan, his publisher, stated that it had “too much of the fairy element” in it.[4] It was published separately in novel form by Strahan & Co in December 1871, although the publication date was listed as 1872. The first American publication also came in 1871 through Routledge, New York.[3]: 48
MacDonald’s depiction of the goblins portray them as descendants of individuals who had fled underground to escape from the strict laws of society. Within the opening of the novel, MacDonald states that
This synthesis of folkloric and anthropological elements reflected a persistent evolutionary theory in contemporary Victorian society, which conflated mythological tales of fairies with folk memories of a primordial race.[6]
The conclusion of the novel, in which Curdie tricks the goblins into flooding their underground kingdom in an extended reference of theBiblical Flood, can therefore be read as an act of God in excising the goblins, who are depicted as morally and physically degenerate. This is MacDonald’s attempt to synthesise scientific, pagan, and Christian elements into a single unified system of ethics and morals. It has been observed, however, that this final sequence is both shocking and disturbing, depicting as it does the extermination of innocent animals alongside the “evil” goblins.[7]
In the 1960s, the novel was adapted in animated form byJay Ward for hisFractured Fairy Tales series. This version involved a race of innocent goblins who are forced to live underground. The ugly goblin king falls in love with a beautiful princess, but a prince saves her by reciting poetry (because goblins hate poetry).
Afull-length animated adaptation of the book, directed by József Gémes, was released in 1992 in the United Kingdom, and in June 1994 in the United States. ThisHungary / Wales / Japanco-production, created atBudapest'sPannóniaFilm, Japan'sNHK, andS4C andSiriol Productions in Great Britain, starred the voices ofJoss Ackland,Claire Bloom,William Hootkins andRik Mayall.[8] Robin Lyonsproduced the film, wrote itsscreenplay, andvoiced the Goblin King character.
| Language | National film title | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch | De Prinses van het Zonnevolk | The Princess of the Sun-people |
| Icelandic | Prinsessan og durtarnir | The Princess and the Trolls |
| French | La princesse et la forêt magique | The Princess and the Magic Forest |
The animated film was released in the United States byHemdale Film Corporation in Summer 1994, but was poorly received both critically and commercially (compared to Disney's very successfulThe Lion King that was released in the U.S. in the same month). After receiving mainly negative reviews it reportedly[according to whom?] only grossed $1.8 million domestically.[citation needed]
The sequel to this book isThe Princess and Curdie.
I for one can really testify to a book that has made a difference to my whole existence, which helped me to see things in a certain way from the start; a vision of things which even so real a revolution as a change of religious allegiance has substantially only crowned and confirmed. Of all the stories I have read, including even all the novels of the same novelist, it remains the most real, the most realistic, in the exact sense of the phrase the most like life. It is calledThe Princess and the Goblin, and is by George MacDonald, the man who is the subject of this book.[11]
— G. K. Chesterton, "Introduction" toGeorge MacDonald and His Wife (1924), page 1
The Princess and the Goblin public domain audiobook atLibriVox| International | |
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| Other | |
