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015 - Chapters 24-25 · Princess and the Goblin

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  Speaker 1: Section fifteen of The Princess and the Goblin. This is
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  Speaker 1: the LibriVox recording. A LibriVox recordings are in the public
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  Speaker 1: domain from our information not a volunteer, Please visit LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: dot org. Recording by Lizzie Driver. The Princess and the
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  Speaker 1: Goblin by George mac donald, chapters twenty four to twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four, Irene behaves like a princess. When the
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  Speaker 1: Princess awoke from the sweetest of sleeps, she found her
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  Speaker 1: nurse bending over her, the housekeeper looking over the nurses shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: and the laundry made to look in over the housekeepers.
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  Speaker 1: The room was full of women's servants, and the gentlemen
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  Speaker 1: at arms, with a long column of servants behind them,
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  Speaker 1: were peeping or trying to peep in at the door
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  Speaker 1: of the nursery. Are those horrid creatures gone? Asked the princess,
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  Speaker 1: remembering first what had terrified her in the morning. You naughty,
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  Speaker 1: naughty little princess, cried Lootie. Her face was very pale,
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  Speaker 1: with red streaks in it, and she looked as if
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  Speaker 1: she were going to shake her. But Irene said nothing,
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  Speaker 1: only waited to hear what should come next. How could
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  Speaker 1: you get under the clothes like that and make us
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  Speaker 1: all fency you were lost? And keep it up all
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  Speaker 1: day too. You are the most obstinate child. It's anything
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  Speaker 1: but fun for us. I can tell you it was
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  Speaker 1: the only way the nurse could account for a disappearance.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't do that, Lootie, said Irene, very quietly. Don't
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  Speaker 1: tell stories, cried her nurse, quite rudely. I shall tell
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  Speaker 1: you nothing at all, said Irene. That's just as bad,
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  Speaker 1: said the nurse. Just as bad to say nothing at
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  Speaker 1: all as to tell stories, exclaimed the princess. I will
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  Speaker 1: ask my Papa about that. He won't say so, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't think he will like you to say so.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me, may directly what you mean by it, screamed
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  Speaker 1: the nurse, half wild with anger at the princess and
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  Speaker 1: fright at the possible consequences to herself. When I tell
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  Speaker 1: you the truth, Lootie, said the princess, who somehow did
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  Speaker 1: not feel at all angry. You say to me, don't
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  Speaker 1: tell stories. It seems I must tell stories before you
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  Speaker 1: will believe me. You are very rude, princess, said the nurse.
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  Speaker 1: You are so rude, Lootie, that I will not speak
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  Speaker 1: to you again till you are sorry. Why should I
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  Speaker 1: when I know you will not believe me, returned the princess,
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  Speaker 1: for she did know perfectly well that if she were
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  Speaker 1: to tell Lootie what she had been about, the more
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  Speaker 1: she went on to tell her, the less would she
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  Speaker 1: believe her. You are the most provoking child, cried the nurse.
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  Speaker 1: You deserve to be punished for your wicked behavior. Please, missus, housekeeper,
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  Speaker 1: said the princess. Will you take me to your room
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  Speaker 1: and keep me till my king Papa comes. I will
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  Speaker 1: ask him to come as soon as he can. Everyone
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  Speaker 1: stared at these words. Up to this moment, they had
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  Speaker 1: all regarded her as little more than a baby. But
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  Speaker 1: the housekeeper was afraid of the nurse and sought to
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  Speaker 1: patch matters up, saying, I am sure, Princess nurse, he
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  Speaker 1: did not mean to be rude to you. I do
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  Speaker 1: not think my Papa would wish me to have a
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  Speaker 1: nurse who spoke to me as Lootie does. If she
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  Speaker 1: thinks I tell lies, she had better either say so
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  Speaker 1: to my papa or go away. Sir Walter, will you
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  Speaker 1: take charge of me with the greatest a pleasure princess,
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  Speaker 1: answered the captain of the Gentleman at arms, walking with
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  Speaker 1: his great stride into the room. The crowd of servants
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  Speaker 1: made eager way for him, and he bowed low before
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  Speaker 1: the little princess's bed. I shall send my servant at
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  Speaker 1: once on the fastest horse in the stable to tell
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  Speaker 1: your King Papa that your Royal Highness desires is presents.
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  Speaker 1: When you have chosen one of these underservants to wait
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  Speaker 1: upon you, I shall order the room to be cleared.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Sir Walter, said the princess, and
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  Speaker 1: her eye glanced towards a rosy cheeked girl who had
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  Speaker 1: lately come to the house as a scullery maid. But
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  Speaker 1: when Loutie saw the eyes of her dear Princess going
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  Speaker 1: in search of another instead of her, she fell upon
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  Speaker 1: her knees by the bedside and burst into a great
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  Speaker 1: cry of distress. I think, Sir Walter, said the princess.
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  Speaker 1: I will keep Lootie, but I put myself under your care,
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  Speaker 1: and you need not trouble my King Papa until I
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  Speaker 1: speak to you again. Will you all please to go away.
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  Speaker 1: I am quite safe and well, and I did not
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  Speaker 1: hide myself for the sake either of amusing myself or
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  Speaker 1: of troubling my people. Lootie, will you please to dress me?
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five, Curdie comes to grief. Everything was for
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  Speaker 1: some time quiet above ground. The king was still away
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  Speaker 1: in a distant part of his dominions. The men at
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  Speaker 1: arms kept watching about the house. They had been considerably
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  Speaker 1: astonished by finding at the foot of the rock in
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  Speaker 1: the garden the hideous body of the goblin creature killed
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  Speaker 1: by Curdie, But they came to the conclusion that it
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  Speaker 1: had been slain in the mines and had crept out
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  Speaker 1: there to die, And except an occasional glimpse of a
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  Speaker 1: live one, they saw nothing to cause alarm. Curdie kept
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  Speaker 1: watching in the mountain. Curdie kept watching in the mountain,
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  Speaker 1: and the goblins kept burrowing deeper into the earth. As
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  Speaker 1: long as they went deeper there was, Curdie judged no
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  Speaker 1: immediate danger to Irene. The summer was as full of
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  Speaker 1: pleasure as ever, and for a long time. Although she
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  Speaker 1: often thought of her grandmother during the day and often
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  Speaker 1: dreamed about her at night, she did not see her.
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  Speaker 1: The kids and the flowers were as much her delight
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  Speaker 1: as ever, and she made as much friendship with the
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  Speaker 1: miner's children she met on the mountain as Lootie would permit.
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  Speaker 1: But Lootie had very foolish notions concerning the dignity of
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  Speaker 1: a princess, not understanding that the truest princess is just
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  Speaker 1: the one who loves all her brothers and sisters best,
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  Speaker 1: and who is most able to do them good by
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  Speaker 1: being humble towards them. At the same time, she was
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  Speaker 1: considerably altered for the better in her behavior to the princess.
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  Speaker 1: She could not help seeing that she was no longer
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  Speaker 1: a mere child, but wiser than an age woul account for.
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  Speaker 1: She kept foolishly whispering to the servants, however, sometimes that
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  Speaker 1: the princess was not right in her mind, sometimes that
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  Speaker 1: she was too good to live, and other nonsense of
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  Speaker 1: the same sort. All this time Curdie had to be sorry,
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  Speaker 1: without a chance of confessing that he had behaved so
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  Speaker 1: unkindly to the prince. This perhaps made him the more
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  Speaker 1: diligent in his endeavors to serve her. His mother and
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  Speaker 1: he often talked on the subject, and she comforted him
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  Speaker 1: and told him she was sure he would some day
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  Speaker 1: have the opportunity he so much desired here, I should
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  Speaker 1: like to remark, for the sake of princes and princesses
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  Speaker 1: in general, that it is a low and contemptible thing
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  Speaker 1: to refuse to confess a fault or even an error.
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  Speaker 1: If a true princess has done wrong, she is always
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  Speaker 1: uneasy until she has had an opportunity of throwing the
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  Speaker 1: wrongness away from her by saying I did it, and
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  Speaker 1: I wish I had not, and I am sorry for
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  Speaker 1: having done it. So you see, there is some ground
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  Speaker 1: for supposing that Curdie was not a miner only, but
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  Speaker 1: a prince as well. Many such instances have been known
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  Speaker 1: in the world's history. At length, however, he began to
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  Speaker 1: see signs of a change in the proceedings of the
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  Speaker 1: Gobin excavators. They were going no deeper, but had commenced
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  Speaker 1: running on a level, and he watched them therefore more
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  Speaker 1: closely than ever. All at once one night, coming to
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  Speaker 1: a slope of very hard rock, they began to ascend
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  Speaker 1: along the inclined plane of its surface. Having reached its top,
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  Speaker 1: they went again on a level for a night or two,
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  Speaker 1: after which they began to ascend once more, and kept
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  Speaker 1: on at a pretty steep angle. At length, Kerd judged
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  Speaker 1: it time to transfer his observation to another quarter, and
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  Speaker 1: the next night he did not go to the mine
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  Speaker 1: at all, but, leaving his pickaxe and clue at home,
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  Speaker 1: and taking only his usual lumps of bread and peas pudding,
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  Speaker 1: went down the mountain to the king's house. He climbed
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  Speaker 1: over the wall and remained in the garden the whole night,
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  Speaker 1: creeping on hands and knees from one spot to the other,
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  Speaker 1: and lying at full length with his ear to the ground, listening.
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  Speaker 1: But he heard nothing except the tread of the men
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  Speaker 1: at arms as they marched about whose observation. As the
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  Speaker 1: night was cloudy and there was no moon, he had
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  Speaker 1: little difficulty in avoiding. For several following nights he continued
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  Speaker 1: to haunt the garden and listen, but with no success.
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  Speaker 1: At length, early one evening, whether it was that he
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  Speaker 1: had got careless of his own safety, or that the
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  Speaker 1: growing moon had become strong enough to expose him, his
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  Speaker 1: watching came to a sudden end. He was creeping from
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  Speaker 1: behind the rock where the stream ran out, for he
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  Speaker 1: had been listening all round it in the hope it
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  Speaker 1: might convey to his ear some indication of the whereabouts
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  Speaker 1: of the Goblin miners, when, just as he came into
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  Speaker 1: the moonlight on the lawn, a whiz in his ear
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  Speaker 1: and a blow upon his legs startled him. He instantly
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  Speaker 1: squatted in the hope of eluding further notice, but when
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  Speaker 1: he heard the sound of running feet, he jumped up
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  Speaker 1: to take the chance of escape by flight. He fell, however,
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  Speaker 1: with a keen shout of pain, for the bolt of
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  Speaker 1: a crossbow had wounded his leg, and the blood was
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  Speaker 1: now streaming from it. He was instantly laid hold of
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  Speaker 1: by two or three of the men at arms. It
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  Speaker 1: was useless to struggle, and he submitted in silence. It's
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  Speaker 1: a boy, cried several of them together in a tone
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  Speaker 1: of amazement. I thought it was one of those demons.
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  Speaker 1: What are you about here? Going to have a little
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  Speaker 1: rough usage, apparently, said Curdie, laughing as the men shook him.
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  Speaker 1: Impertinence will do you no good. Ye've no business here
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  Speaker 1: in the king's ground. And if you don't give a
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  Speaker 1: true account of yourself, you shall fare as a thief.
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  Speaker 1: Why what else could he be? Said one? He might
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  Speaker 1: have been after a lost kid, you know, suggested another.
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  Speaker 1: I see no good in trying to excuse him. He
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  Speaker 1: has no business here anyhow. Let me go away, then,
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  Speaker 1: if you please, said Curdie. But we don't please, not
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  Speaker 1: except you give a good account of yourself. I don't
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  Speaker 1: feel quite sure whether I can trust you, said Curdie.
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  Speaker 1: We are the king's own men at arms, said the
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  Speaker 1: captain courteously, for he was taken with Curdie's appearance and courage. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I will tell you all about it if you will
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  Speaker 1: promise to listen to me and not do anything rash.
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  Speaker 1: I call that call, said one of the party, laughing.
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  Speaker 1: He will tell us what mischief he was about, if
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  Speaker 1: we promise to do as pleases him. I was about
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  Speaker 1: no mischief, said Curdie. But ere he could say more,
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  Speaker 1: he turned faint and fell senseless on the grass. Then
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  Speaker 1: first they discovered that the bolt they had shot taking
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  Speaker 1: him from one of the goblin creatures had wounded him.
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  Speaker 1: They carried him into the house and laid him down
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  Speaker 1: in the hall. The report spread that they had caught
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  Speaker 1: a robber, and the servants crowded in to see the villain.
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  Speaker 1: Among the rest came the nurse. The moment she saw him,
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  Speaker 1: she exclaimed with indignation, I declare, it's the same young
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  Speaker 1: rascal of a miner that was rude to me and
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  Speaker 1: the princess on the mountain. He actually wanted to kiss
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  Speaker 1: the princess. I took good care of that, the wretch,
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  Speaker 1: and he was prowling about. Was he just like his impudence?
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  Speaker 1: The princess being fast asleep, she could misinterpret at her pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: When he heard this, the captain, although he had considerable
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  Speaker 1: doubt of its truth, resolved to keep Curdie a prisoner
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  Speaker 1: until they could search into the affair. So, after they
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  Speaker 1: had brought him round a little and attended to his wound,
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  Speaker 1: which was rather a bad one, they laid him, still
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  Speaker 1: exhausted from the loss of blood, upon a mattress in
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  Speaker 1: a disused room, one of those already so often mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: and locked the door and left him. He passed a
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  Speaker 1: troubled night, and in the morning they found him talking wildly.
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  Speaker 1: In the evening, he came to himself, but felt very
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  Speaker 1: weak and his leg was exceedingly painful. Wondering where he was,
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  Speaker 1: and seeing one of the men at arms in the room,
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  Speaker 1: he began to question him, and soon recalled the events
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  Speaker 1: of the preceding night. As he was himself unable to
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  Speaker 1: watch any more, He told the soldier all he knew
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  Speaker 1: about the goblins, and begged him to tell his companions
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  Speaker 1: and stir them up to watch with tenfold vigilance. But
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  Speaker 1: whether it was that he did not talk quite coherently,
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  Speaker 1: or that the whole thing appeared incredible, certainly the man
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  Speaker 1: concluded that Curdie was only raving still and tried to
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  Speaker 1: coax him into holding his tongue. This, of course annoyed
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  Speaker 1: Curdie dreadfully, who now felt in his turn what it
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  Speaker 1: was not to be believed, And the consequence was that
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  Speaker 1: his fever returned, and by the time when at his
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  Speaker 1: persistent entreaties the captain was called, there could be no
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  Speaker 1: doubt that he was raving. They did for him what
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  Speaker 1: they could, and promised everything he wanted, but with no
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  Speaker 1: intention of fulfillment. At last he went to sleep, and
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  Speaker 1: when at length his sleep grew profound and peaceful, they
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  Speaker 1: left him, locked the door again and withdrew, intending to
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  Speaker 1: revisit him early in the morning. End of Section fifteen