The Light Princess

By George MacDonald

Now a Musical with Music from Tori Amos!

“One day [the prince] lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes. In this they have the advantage of the princesses, who are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our princesses got lost in a forest sometimes.” ― George MacDonald, The Light Princess

When a princess is cursed to lose her "gravity" she loses both her wit and her ability to keep her feet on the ground. This short (43 page) novel makes an enjoyable read for children and adults alike. In this book, a familiar fairy tale (Sleeping Beauty) is twisted into a funny, lyrical and wise story about a young princess who saves the prince.
This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xist Publishing
• Release date: Jun 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781681950303

George MacDonald

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a popular Scottish lecturer and writer of novels, poetry, and fairy tales. Born in Aberdeenshire, he was briefly a clergyman, then a professor of English literature at Bedford and King's College in London. W. H. Auden called him "one of the most remarkable writers of the nineteenth century."

Book preview

1. What! No Children?

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?

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 got 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 water; after which she maintained a very respectful demeanour till the water was applied to the child's face. But at that moment she turned round in her place three times, and muttered the following words, loud enough for those beside her to hear:—

"Light of spirit, by my charms,

Light of body, every part,

Never weary human arms—

Only crush thy parents' heart!"

They all thought she had lost her wits, and was repeating some foolish nursery rhyme; but a shudder went through the whole of them notwithstanding. The baby, on the contrary, began to laugh and crow; while the nurse gave a start and a smothered cry, for she thought she was struck with paralysis: she could not feel the baby in her arms. But she clasped it tight and said nothing. The mischief was done.

3. She Can't Be Ours.

Her atrocious aunt had deprived the child of all her gravity. If you ask me how this was effected, I answer, In the easiest way in the world. She had only to destroy gravitation. For the princess was a philosopher, and knew all the ins and outs of the laws of gravitation as well as the ins and outs of her boot-lace. And being a witch as well, she could abrogate those laws in a moment; or at least so clog their wheels and rust their bearings, that they would not work at all. But we have more to do with what followed than with how it was done.

The first awkwardness that resulted from this unhappy privation was, that the moment the nurse began to float the baby up and down, she flew from her arms towards the ceiling. Happily, the resistance

Reviews for The Light Princess

[classyhomemaker · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One thing I love about British literature---and just British culture, in general---is the quirky sense of humor we often see in their books and entertainment. Those in the British Empire have a way with words, and it often takes some deeper thinking about words to understand their puns and symbolism. I'll test the waters here a bit by saying that I think they've got "proper" English down, and reading something written by a British writer always challenges my vocabulary.

George MacDonald's, The Light Princess, is such a fun little book to read because it's just full of puns and nonsensical things and wonderful plays on words that make all the nonsensical things ok because the whole thing is brilliantly written. MacDonald seems to me to be a fantastic mixture of his contemporary and student, Lewis Carroll, and our more modern Roald Dahl.

MacDonald was a Scottish writer and Christian minister who lived from 1824-1905. He was a major literary influence on some of our favorite authors like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. He was the author of over 60 published works, including poetry, fantasy, realistic fiction and nonfiction.

Inspired by the tale of Sleeping Beauty, The Light Princess tells the story of a princess who was cursed at birth and lost her "gravity". Throughout the story, she deals with issues of gravity---both as a state of being and in the sense of physics. When someone is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for her comfort, good overcomes evil and she learns lessons in true love.

There are so many fun literary elements in, The Light Princess. Readers will encounter allusions to nursery rhymes, as well as laugh-out-loud jokes that only an adult would understand. "The King told stories and the Queen listened to them," is one of my favorite lines! Symbolism and witticisms abound. It's such a great story because it's obvious how much fun MacDonald had writing it.

Whether you are a youth, studying the book as an assignment, or an adult, reading and researching for fun, there's neat things to be found for everyone in this short story that's long on character.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[picardyrose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.