The Light Princess

By George MacDonald

A princess is cursed to a life without gravity in George MacDonald’s whimsical fairy tale

After years of being childless, the king and queen finally welcome a beautiful daughter into the world. But at the young princess’s christening, the king’s wicked sister curses the girl to a life without gravity. Doomed to float above the ground, unable to bring her feet to earth, the princess grows up unlike any other child. Inspired by “Sleeping Beauty,” The Light Princess is George MacDonald’s “lightest” fairy tale, indulging in skillful wordplay and unrepentant puns—the kind of story made to charm children and delight adults.
 
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504017329

George MacDonald

George MacDonald (1824 – 1905) was a Scottish-born novelist and poet. He grew up in a religious home influenced by various sects of Christianity. He attended University of Aberdeen, where he graduated with a degree in chemistry and physics. After experiencing a crisis of faith, he began theological training and became minister of Trinity Congregational Church. Later, he gained success as a writer penning fantasy tales such as Lilith, The Light Princess and At the Back of the North Wind. MacDonald became a well-known lecturer and mentor to various creatives including Lewis Carroll who famously wrote, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland fame.

Book preview

The Light Princess

TitlePage

George MacDonald

1. What! No Children?

Ch1

ONCE UPON A TIME, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date, there lived a king and queen who had no children.

And the king said to himself, All the queens of my acquaintance have children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and my queen has not one. I feel ill-used. So he made up his mind to be cross with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patient queen as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. But the queen pretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too.

Why don’t you have any daughters, at least? said he. I don’t say sons; that might be too much to expect.

I am sure, dear king, I am very sorry, said the queen.

So you ought to be, retorted the king; you are not going to make a virtue of that, surely.

But he was not an ill-tempered king, and in any matter of less moment would have let the queen have her own way with all his heart. This, however, was an affair of state.

The queen smiled.

You must have patience with a lady, you know, dear king, said she.

She was, indeed, a very nice queen, and heartily sorry that she could not oblige the king immediately.

2. Won’t I, Just?

Ch2

THE KING TRIED TO have patience, but he succeeded very badly. It was more than he deserved, therefore, when, at last, the queen gave him a daughter—as lovely a little princess as ever cried.

The day drew near when the infant must be christened. The king wrote all the invitations with his own hand. Of course somebody was forgotten. Now it does not generally matter if somebody is forgotten, only you must mind who. Unfortunately, the king forgot without intending to forget; and so the chance fell upon the Princess Makemnoit, which was awkward. For the princess was the king’s own sister; and he ought not to have forgotten her. But she had made herself so disagreeable to the old king, their father, that he had forgotten her in making his will; and so it was no wonder that her brother forgot her in writing his invitations. But poor relations don’t do anything to keep you in mind of them. Why don’t they? The king could not see into the garret she lived in, could he?

She was a sour, spiteful creature. The wrinkles of contempt crossed the wrinkles of peevishness, and made her face as full of wrinkles as a pat of butter. If ever a king could be justified in forgetting anybody, this king was justified in forgetting his sister, even at a christening. She looked very odd, too. Her forehead was as large as all the rest of her face, and projected over it like a precipice. When she was angry, her little eyes flashed blue. When she hated anybody, they shone yellow and green. What they looked like when she loved anybody, I do not know; for I never heard of her loving anybody but herself, and I do not think she could have managed that if she had not somehow gotten used to herself. But what made it highly imprudent in the king to forget her was that she was awfully clever. In fact, she was a witch; and when she bewitched anybody, he very soon had enough of it; for she beat all the wicked fairies in wickedness, and all the clever ones in cleverness. She despised all the modes we read of in history, in which offended fairies and witches have taken their revenges; and therefore, after waiting and waiting in vain for an invitation, she made up her mind at last to go without one, and make the whole family miserable, like a princess as she was.

So she put on her best gown, went to the palace, was kindly received by the happy monarch, who forgot that he had forgotten her, and took her place in the procession to the royal chapel. When they were all gathered about the font, she contrived to get next to it, and throw something into the

Reviews for The Light Princess

[bexaplex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Puns ahoy!I have read (and listened to an audio recording of) this book many times since I was younger, and this is the first time I bothered to look up George MacDonald, who turns out to have been a major influence on C.S. Lewis, and a friend of Lewis Carroll.The Light Princess is a standard princess/evil older woman relative fairy tale, with some metaphysics thrown in. The story makes much of the double meaning of gravity (mind and body), and the transformative power of the mind on the world. It reads like a fractured fairy tale, but with a more thoughtful moral.I assume this edition is unabridged, since there are no notes to the contrary.

[davegregg_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great story about a princess who couldn't fall! ...in more than one way. Neither gravity in body, nor gravity in heart seem to affect this girl!In due course, the princess' hapless condition and curse is mended by the simple, giving love of one heroic prince. Seeing in her who she truly is (and not who she appears to all to be), he falls madly and unexpectedly in love with this strange young woman and tries to teach her what love is--"this beehive of honey and stings," as MacDonald puts it.The prince would but give his beloved what makes her--even in her sad, enchanted stupidity and infant-like self-interest--the happiest, and to let that be all the good he needs for himself: hers. In the end, his giving of himself, because of his love, displacing what was amiss in her heart, heals the "light" princess......and the girl who once couldn't fall, has suddenly fallen in love!"The Light Princess" is delightful, imaginative, and inspiring, though I can't say that I'm at all surprised--George MacDonald is the author. MacDonald always has a way of sparking wonder, creativity, and thought. Deep, unique, mystical, and endlessly insightful, MacDonald is my, and C.S. Lewis', favorite author for good reason. G.K. Chesterton once said that he counted George MacDonald as one of the three or four greatest men of the 19th century. Read him.

[cpotter_8 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

For a young audience, full of puns and word plays on light and gravity.

[mosesbasket-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a fun story this was! We enjoyed reading it aloud because the characters and dialogue were so humorous. Lovely illustrations in this edition, too.

[alaina.loescher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a very standard fairy tale book. This would be a good book to use for a lesson on fairy tales and folklore to act as an example and to compare to other works. I like that the princess has some spunk, but I find the gender roles to be problematic.

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are actually three stories in this ebook. "The Light Princess" is surprisingly charming; it reads like a Victorianization of a Grimm story. "The Giant's Heart" is pretty saccharine, although it does have a couple of good moments. "The Golden Key" is probably saturated in symbolism from some kind of secret society or another, but I loved it anyway.

[jillrhudy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite fairy tale of ALL TIME. It is only worth owning, however, in the Maurice-Sendak-illustrated printing, so don't bother with anything less!

[picardyrose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have a badly illustrated edition; want a better one.

[christianr_899499 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enchanting story about a princess who is cursed at her christening so that she is light as air -- gravity does not affect her. This would be a good read-aloud.