The Princess and the Goblin

by George MacDonald

Category: Fiction

Status: Available

Source: Public Domain — Project Gutenberg

About This Book

"The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald is a children's fantasy novel published in 1872. Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives isolated in a mountain castle, unaware that vengeful goblins inhabit the mines below, plotting against the kingdom. When she discovers a mysterious great-great-grandmother in the castle tower and befriends a brave young miner named Curdie, she finds herself drawn into a dangerous conflict. With magical guidance and unexpected courage, they must face an ancient threat emerging from beneath the earth. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN

GEORGE MACDONALD

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

Why the Princess Has a Story About Her

There was once a little princess whose father was king over a great country full of mountains and valleys. His palace was built upon one of the mountains, and was very grand and beautiful. The princess, whose name was Irene, was born there, but she was sent soon after her birth, because her mother was not very strong, to be brought up by country people in a large house, half castle, half farmhouse, on the side of another mountain, about half-way between its base and its peak.

The princess was a sweet little creature, and at the time my story begins was about eight years old, I think, but she got older very fast. Her face was fair

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About This Edition

This edition of The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald is catalogued on Libreya under Fiction and runs approximately 50,813 words — about 254 minutes of reading at an average pace. It is sourced from Project Gutenberg, the world's oldest digital library of public domain literature, founded in 1971 by Michael Hart, and every text on Libreya has been verified to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. You can view the original Project Gutenberg edition here.

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About Classic Fiction

Classic fiction represents the highest achievements of literary imagination. The novels in this genre have shaped how generations of readers understand human nature, society, and the fundamental questions of existence. Reading 19th and early 20th-century novels offers far more than historical interest: these stories explore love, ambition, morality, and identity with an insight that remains startlingly relevant today. Authors like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Austen, Hardy, and Dickens wrote for readers much like us — people trying to make sense of a complicated world — and their observations on class, relationships, power, and conscience carry across centuries with barely diminished force. Classic fiction is also where the novel as an art form reached some of its greatest heights: innovative narrative structures, deeply realized characters, and prose styles that reward slow, attentive reading. These are not museum pieces. They are living works that continue to be discussed, adapted, and argued over because they capture something essential and enduring about human experience.