The Princess and the Goblin

Presented by Blackstone

By: George MacDonald

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Admired by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, and considered by W. H. Auden to be "the only English children's book in the same class as the Alice books", The Princess and the Goblin is a classic example of 19th-century children's literary fairy tales. This is an ageless story of courage and loyalty, beauty and honor, mystery and divinity, and above all, the conflict of good and evil.

The discovery of a secret stairway running to the top of the castle leads Princess Irene to a revelation even more weighty than the fiendish plans of the goblin community that miner boy Curdie has discovered. Will the Princess and Curdie understand the significance of what they have found, or will Harelip and the goblins successfully execute their evil plan?

Recommended for children aged 4 to 94.

(P)1988 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Sweet and deep

A sweet story with much philosophical and theological interest. (I needed five more words.)

Filled with character building lessons...

Honestly, integrity, bravery, the value of truth and friendship are some of the lessons that shine through in this excellently written story. Our family wholly enjoyed this tale.

wonderful l

I loved it! George McDonald is amazing! I can't wait to read the next one!

Adventure and Excitement

I really enjoyed the story! It made me feel very adventurous! It gave me excitement through and through! E, age 11

Great listen

I had first heard of this story when I was a little kid and my parents went on vacation without me. I cried so hard with person who was taking care of me. She decided to let me watch this movie and I stopped crying because I was so enthralled by the story. It’s so good to see the movie is just like the book! I can’t wait to read it to my kids 👑 📕

delightful

I absolutely love this story and I'm looking forward to the princess and Curdie. I was a bit sad to finish

lovely morality tale

I am so surprised I never read this book before. Lovely as a small child'

Terrific children's book, poor audio

The narrator himself was perfect, but it is quite evident it's from the 1980s, as you can every now and again hear other people in the background. The story was quite charming, albeit outdated in some ways (there was the usual sexism and racism found in older stories).

a classic tale

loved this fairy tale, as an adult. glad to have discovered it. innocence is powerful.

Seems a lot younger than 150 years old

Yes, this is a children’s book, but I remember reading it to my children many years ago and I thought it worth now reading to myself. As C. S. Lewis said, “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.”

In fact, Lewis considered MacDonald to be the master storyteller and you will find that Lewis imitated a lot of MacDonald’s style and tone in his own writings to children and even to adults. George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish Congregationalist minister who had trouble fitting in with the strict intolerance of his denomination and thus became a writer.  Today, he is most remembered for his children’s books but interestingly, he was also given Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” stories to read to his children (11 of them) before they were published. 

This book may seem a bit old to a modern reader and it is. It was published 150 years ago, in 1872. It is really a type of fairy tale though the characters will seem a bit naive and too black and white for modern readers. But, that is just right for young readers. There is a princess, Irene, who is 8 years old and sounds like a very typical, though wiser and virtuous version of an 8-year-old. There are obviously goblins who are very materialistic and both jealous of the “sun people” (those who live above ground) while gloating about their own supposed superiority over them. There is magic and a mysterious great great great grandmother (let’s just call her grandmother) whom others can see or hear but in whom Irene develops a strong bond of trust. Of course, her father, the King, is a very responsible and good king, a true servant of his people with absolute love for Irene. And there is a hero, a commoner, the son of a miner, Curdie, though there is a hint that possibly he too is of long-forgotten noble descent. 

The story is quite typical in that there is a grave threat that only the children know about and a resulting adventure. Irene and Curdie are both very brave and yet most of the adults do not believe in their warnings. No one believes, including Curdie, that her grandmother is in a room upstairs. No one believes in the gossamer thread that her grandmother has tied to her ring and which Irene can follow to find her grandmother when there is danger. No one, that is, except her father, though he tells Irene nothing about her. Curdie and Irene both save each other at separate times and them save the rest of the adults from the goblins.

The story is told by a narrator and the little asides that occur at intervals make it sound as if this is a tale being told off the cuff, not from print. 

And, there are little things that one can use to broach difficult subjects with children, such as death. We never hear anything about the queen except in one short section when Irene is speaking to her father who has just returned from some distant part of the kingdom. She asks her father about the ring that she wears, wondering where she got it from. 

“The king looked at it. A strange beautiful smile spread like sunshine over his face, and an answering smile, but at the same time a questioning one, spread like moonlight over Irene's. "It was your queen-mamma's once," he said. "And why isn't it hers now?" asked Irene. "She does not want it now," said the king, looking grave. "Why doesn’t she want it now?" "Because she's gone where all those rings are made." "And when shall I see her?" asked the princess. "Not for some time yet," answered the king, and the tears came into his eyes.”

It’s a book that teaches about faith, but also teaches one to be gracious when others don’t have the same faith that you have. In fact, it’s more than faith. It’s trust. Irene’s grandmother states that she does nto allow herself to be seen by those who don’t believe that she exists because even if they saw her, they would not believe. They would just blink their eyes and assume they had been dreaming. And, when she tells Irene that she must come back to see her on a certain day, she says that, if she believes that it was all just a dream, she will not be able to find her. And yet, she allows for some doubt as well, as long as one acts in faith even when they are not sure, she will still be there to take care of her. 

There are stereotypical class distinctions. When Curdie shows manners and integrity, there is a comment that possibly he has noble blood. Goblins are ugly and grotesque. They are almost as broad as they are tall and they are not very tall, around 4 feet (1.3 meters). The princess is beautiful with eyes “each with a star dissolved in blue.”

It’s a book worth reading for adults as well as children and it has a sequel called “The Princess and Curdie,” but that’s for another time.