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009 - Chapters 16-17 · Princess and the Goblin

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  Speaker 1: Section nine of The Princess and the Goblin. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings from the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: From more information not a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Lizzie Driver. The Princess Sends the Goblin by
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  Speaker 1: George mac donald, Chapter sixteen seventeen, Chapter sixteen The Ring.
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  Speaker 1: The same moment, her nurse came into the room, sobbing.
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  Speaker 1: When she saw her sitting there, she started back with
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  Speaker 1: a loud cry of amazement and joy. Then running to her,
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  Speaker 1: she caught her in her arms and covered her with kisses.
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  Speaker 1: My precious darling, princess, where have you been? What has
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  Speaker 1: happened to you? We've all been crying our eyes out
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  Speaker 1: and searching the house from top to bottom for you.
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  Speaker 1: Not quite from the top, thought Irene to herself, And
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  Speaker 1: she might have added not quite to the bottom perhaps
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  Speaker 1: if she had known all, But the one she would not,
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  Speaker 1: and the other she could not. Say. Oh, looty, I've
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  Speaker 1: had such a dreadful adventure, she replied, and told her
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  Speaker 1: all about the cat with the long legs, and how
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  Speaker 1: she ran out upon the mountain and came back again.
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  Speaker 1: But she said nothing of her grandmother or her lamp.
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  Speaker 1: And there we've been searching for you all over the
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  Speaker 1: house for more than an hour and a half, exclaimed
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  Speaker 1: the nurse. But that's no matter. Now we've got you,
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  Speaker 1: only princess, I must say, she added, her mood changing.
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  Speaker 1: What you ought to have done was to call for
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  Speaker 1: your own looty to come up and help you, instead
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  Speaker 1: of running out of the house and up the mountain
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  Speaker 1: in that wild I must say, foolish fashion, well, Looty,
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  Speaker 1: said Irene quietly. Perhaps if you had a big cat
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  Speaker 1: with all leggs running at you, you might not exactly
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  Speaker 1: know what was the wisest thing to do at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't run up the mountain anyhow, returned Lootie, Not
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  Speaker 1: if you had time to think about it. But when
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  Speaker 1: those creatures came at you that night on the mountain,
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  Speaker 1: you were so frightened yourself that you lost your way home.
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  Speaker 1: This put a stop to Lootie's reproaches. She had been
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  Speaker 1: on the point of saying that the long legged cat
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  Speaker 1: must have been a twilight fancy of the princesses. But
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  Speaker 1: the memory of the horrors of that night, and of
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  Speaker 1: the talk into which the king had given her, in consequence,
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  Speaker 1: prevented her from saying what. After all, she did not
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  Speaker 1: half believe, having a strong suspicion that the cat was
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  Speaker 1: a goblin, for she knew nothing of the differences between
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  Speaker 1: the goblins and their creatures. She counted them all just goblins.
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  Speaker 1: Without another word, she went and got some fresh tea
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  Speaker 1: and bread and butter for the princess. Before she returned,
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  Speaker 1: the whole household, headed by the housekeeper, burst into the
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  Speaker 1: nursery to exult over their darling. The gentleman at arms
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  Speaker 1: followed and were ready enough to believe all she told
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  Speaker 1: them about the long legged cat. Indeed, though wise enough
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  Speaker 1: to say nothing about it, they remembered with no little
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  Speaker 1: horror just such a creature amongst those they had surprised
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  Speaker 1: at their gambols upon the princess's lawn. In their own hearts,
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  Speaker 1: they blamed themselves for not having kept better watch, and
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  Speaker 1: their captain gave orders that from this night, the front
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  Speaker 1: door and all the windows on the ground floor should
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  Speaker 1: be locked immediately the sunset, and open after upon no
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  Speaker 1: pretense whatever. The men at arms redoubled their vigilance, and
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  Speaker 1: for some time there was no further cause of alarm.
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  Speaker 1: When the princess worked the next morning, her nurse was
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  Speaker 1: bending over her. How your ring does low this morning, Princess,
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  Speaker 1: just like a fiery rose, she said, does it? Lootie?
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  Speaker 1: Returned Irene, who gave me the ring, Lootie. I know
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  Speaker 1: I've had it a long time, But where did I
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  Speaker 1: get it? I don't remember. I think it must have
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  Speaker 1: been your mother gave it to you, Princess. But really,
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  Speaker 1: for as long as you have worn it, I don't
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  Speaker 1: remember that ever I heard, answered the nurse. I will
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  Speaker 1: ask my King Papa the next time he comes, said Irene.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen. Springtime. The spring so dear to all creatures
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  Speaker 1: young and old, came at last, and before the first
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  Speaker 1: few days of it had gone, the king rode through
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  Speaker 1: its budding valleys to see his little daughter. He had
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  Speaker 1: been in the distant part of his dominions all the winter,
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  Speaker 1: for he was not in the habit of stopping in
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  Speaker 1: one great city, or of visiting only his favorite country houses.
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  Speaker 1: But he moved from place to place that all his
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  Speaker 1: people might know him. Wherever he journeyed, he kept a
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  Speaker 1: constant lookout for the a blessed and best men to
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  Speaker 1: put into office, and wherever he found himself mistaken, and
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  Speaker 1: those he had appointed in capable or in just, he
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  Speaker 1: removed them at once. Hence, you see, it was his
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  Speaker 1: care of the people that kept him from seeing his
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  Speaker 1: princess so often as he would have liked. You may
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  Speaker 1: wonder why he did not take her about with him,
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  Speaker 1: but there were several reasons against his doing so, and
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  Speaker 1: I suspect her great great grandmother had had a principal
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  Speaker 1: hand in preventing it. Once more, irenely heard the bugle blast,
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  Speaker 1: and once more she was at the gate to meet
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  Speaker 1: her father as he rode up on his great white horse.
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  Speaker 1: After they had been alone for a little while, she
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  Speaker 1: thought of what she had resolved to ask him. Please,
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  Speaker 1: King Papa, she asked, will you tell me where I
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  Speaker 1: got this pretty ring? I can't remember? The King looked
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  Speaker 1: at it, a strange, beautiful smile spread like sunshine over
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  Speaker 1: his face, and an answering smile, but at the same time,
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  Speaker 1: a questioning one spread like moonlight over Irene's It was
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  Speaker 1: your queen Mamma's, once, he said, And why isn't it
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  Speaker 1: hers now, asked Irene. She does not want it now,
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  Speaker 1: said the king, looking grave Why doesn't she want it now,
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  Speaker 1: because she's gone where all those rings are made? And
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  Speaker 1: when shall I see her, asked the princess. Not for
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  Speaker 1: some time yet, answered the king, and the tears came
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  Speaker 1: into his eyes. Irene did not remember her mother, and
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  Speaker 1: did not know why her father looked so and why
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  Speaker 1: the tears came in his eyes. But she put her
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  Speaker 1: arms round his neck and kissed him, and asked no
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  Speaker 1: more questions. The King was much disturbed on hearing the
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  Speaker 1: report of the gentlemen at arms concerning the creatures they
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  Speaker 1: had seen, and I presume would have taken Irene with
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  Speaker 1: him that very day, but for what the presence of
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  Speaker 1: the ring on her finger a sharing tawed him of.
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  Speaker 1: About an hour before he left, Irene saw him go
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  Speaker 1: up the old stair, and he did not come down
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  Speaker 1: again till they were just ready to start, and she
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  Speaker 1: thought with herself that he had been up to see
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  Speaker 1: the old lady. When he went away, he left other
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  Speaker 1: six gentlemen behind him, that there might be six of
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  Speaker 1: them always on guard. And now, in the lovely spring weather,
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  Speaker 1: Irene was out on the mountain the greater part of
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  Speaker 1: the day. In the warmer hollows. There were lovely primroses,
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  Speaker 1: and not so many that she ever got tired of them.
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  Speaker 1: As often as she saw a new one opening an
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  Speaker 1: eye of light in the blind earth, she would clap
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  Speaker 1: her hands with gladness, and unlike some children I know,
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  Speaker 1: instead of pulling it, would touch it as tenderly as
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  Speaker 1: if it had been a new baby, and having made
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  Speaker 1: its acquaintance, would leave it as happy as she found it.
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  Speaker 1: She treated the plants on which they grew like birds.
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  Speaker 1: Every fresh flower was like a new little bird to her.
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  Speaker 1: She would pay visits to all the flower nests she knew,
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  Speaker 1: remembering each by itself. She would go down on her
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  Speaker 1: hands and knees besides one, and say, good morning, are
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  Speaker 1: your smelling very sweet this morning? Goodbye? And then she
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  Speaker 1: would go to another nest and say the same. It
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  Speaker 1: was a favorite amusement with her. There were many flowers
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  Speaker 1: up and down, and she loved them all, but the
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  Speaker 1: primroses were a favorites. They are not too shy, and
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  Speaker 1: they are not a bit forward, she would say to Lootie.
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  Speaker 1: There were goats too about over the mountain, and when
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  Speaker 1: the little kids came, she was as pleased with them
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  Speaker 1: as with the flowers. The goats belonged to the miners,
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  Speaker 1: mostly a few of them to Curdie's mother, but there
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  Speaker 1: were a good many wild ones that seemed to belong
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  Speaker 1: to nobody. These the goblins counted theirs, and it was
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  Speaker 1: upon them partially that they lived. They sit snares and
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  Speaker 1: dug pits for them, and did not scruple to take
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  Speaker 1: what tame ones happened to be caught, but they did
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  Speaker 1: not try to steal them in any other manner, because
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  Speaker 1: they were afraid of the dogs. The hill people kept
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  Speaker 1: to watch them, for the knowing dogs always tried to
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  Speaker 1: bite their feet. But the goblins had a kind of
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  Speaker 1: sheep of their own, very queer creatures, which they drove
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  Speaker 1: out to feed at night, And the other goblin creatures
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  Speaker 1: were wise enough to keep good watch over them, for
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  Speaker 1: they knew they should have their bones by and by
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  Speaker 1: end of Section nine,