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017 - Chapters 28-30 · Princess and the Goblin

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  Speaker 1: Section seventeen of The Princess and the Goblin. This is
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  Speaker 1: the LibriVox recording. All 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, Chapter twenty eight thirty Chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight Curdie's Guide. Just as the consolation of this
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  Speaker 1: resolve dawned upon his mind, and he was turning away
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  Speaker 1: for the cellar to follow the goblins into their hole,
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  Speaker 1: something touched his hand. It was the slightest touch, and
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  Speaker 1: when he looked he could see nothing. Feeling and peering
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  Speaker 1: about in the gray of the dawn, his fingers came
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  Speaker 1: upon a tight thread. He looked again and narrowly, but
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  Speaker 1: still could see nothing. It flashed upon him that this
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  Speaker 1: must be the Princess's thread. Without saying a word, for
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  Speaker 1: he knew no one would believe ma any more than
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  Speaker 1: he had believed the Princess. He followed the thread with
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  Speaker 1: his finger, contrived to give Lootie the slip, and was
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  Speaker 1: soon out of the house and on the mountain side.
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  Speaker 1: Surprised that if the thread were indeed the grandmother's messenger.
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  Speaker 1: It should have led the princess, as he supposed it must,
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  Speaker 1: into the mountain, where she would be certain to meet
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  Speaker 1: the goblins rushing backing, raged from their defeat. But he
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  Speaker 1: hurried on in the hope of overtaking her first. When
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  Speaker 1: he arrived, however, at the place where the path turned
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  Speaker 1: off for the mine, he found that the thread did
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  Speaker 1: not turn with it, but went straight up the mountain.
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  Speaker 1: Could it be that the thread was leading him home
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  Speaker 1: to his mother's cottage? Could the princess be there? He
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  Speaker 1: bounded up the mountain like one of its own goats,
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  Speaker 1: and before the sun was up, the thread had brought
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  Speaker 1: him indeed to his mother's door. There it vanished from
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  Speaker 1: his fingers, and he could not find it such as
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  Speaker 1: he might. The door was on the latch, and he entered.
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  Speaker 1: There sat his mother by the fire, and in her
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  Speaker 1: arms lay the princess, fast asleep. Hush, Curdie said his mother,
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  Speaker 1: do not wake her. I am so glad you'll come.
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  Speaker 1: I thought the cobs must have got you again. With
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  Speaker 1: a heart full of delight, Curdie sat down at a
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  Speaker 1: corner of the hearth, on a stool opposite his mother's
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  Speaker 1: chair and gazed at the princess, who slept as peacefully
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  Speaker 1: as if she had been in her own bed. All
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  Speaker 1: at once, she opened her eyes and fixed them on him. Oh, Curdie,
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  Speaker 1: you'll come, she said quietly. I thought you would. Curdie
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  Speaker 1: rose and stood before her with downcast eyes. Irene, He said,
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  Speaker 1: I am very sorry. I did not believe you. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: never mind, Curdie answered the princess. You could. You know
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  Speaker 1: you do believe me, now, don't you. I can't help
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  Speaker 1: it now. I ought to have helped it before. Why
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  Speaker 1: can't you help it now? Because just as I was
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  Speaker 1: going into the mountain to look for you, I got
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  Speaker 1: hold of your thread and it brought me here. Then
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  Speaker 1: you've come from my house, have you? Yes? I have.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know you were there. I've been there two
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  Speaker 1: or three days, I believe, and I never knew it.
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  Speaker 1: Then perhaps you can tell me why my grandmother has
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  Speaker 1: brought me here. I can't think. Something woke me. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what, but I was frightened and I felt
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  Speaker 1: for the thread, and there it was. I was more
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  Speaker 1: frightened still when it brought me out on the mountain,
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  Speaker 1: for I thought it was going to take me into
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  Speaker 1: it again, and I like the outside of it best.
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  Speaker 1: I supposed you were in trouble again and I had
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  Speaker 1: to get you out, but it brought me here instead.
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  Speaker 1: And oh, Curdie, your mother has been so kind to me,
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  Speaker 1: just like my own grandmother. Here, Curdie's mother gave the
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  Speaker 1: princess a hug, and the princess turned and gave her
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  Speaker 1: a sweet smile and held up her mouth to kiss her.
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  Speaker 1: Then you didn't see the cobs, asked Curdie. No, I
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  Speaker 1: haven't been into the mountain. I told you, Curdie. But
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  Speaker 1: the cobs have been into your house, all over it
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  Speaker 1: and into your bedroom. Make it such a row. What
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  Speaker 1: did they want there? It was very rude of them.
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  Speaker 1: They wanted you to carry you off into the mountain
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  Speaker 1: with them for a wife to their prince Harelip. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: how dreadful, cried the princess, shuddering. But you needn't be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: You know your grandmother takes care of you. Ah, you
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  Speaker 1: do believe in my grandmother. Then, I'm so glad she
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  Speaker 1: made me think you would some day. All at once,
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  Speaker 1: Curdie remembered his dream and was silent and thinking, But
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  Speaker 1: how did you come to be in my house and
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  Speaker 1: me not know it, asked the princess. Then Curdie had
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  Speaker 1: to explain everything, how he had watched for her sake,
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  Speaker 1: how he had been wounded and shut up by the soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: how he heard the noises and could not rise, and
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  Speaker 1: how the beautiful old lady had come to him and
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  Speaker 1: all that followed poor Curdie to lie their hurt and
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  Speaker 1: ill and me never to know it, exclaimed the princess,
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  Speaker 1: stroking his rough hand. I would have come and nursed
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  Speaker 1: you if they had told me. I didn't see you, elame,
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  Speaker 1: said his mother. Am I mother, Oh yes, I suppose
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  Speaker 1: I ought to be. I declare I never thought of
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  Speaker 1: it since I got up to go down against the cobs.
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  Speaker 1: Let me see the wound, said his mother. He pulled
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  Speaker 1: down his stocking when behold, except a great scar, his
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  Speaker 1: leg was perfect sound. Curdie and his mother gazed in
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  Speaker 1: each other's eyes, full of wonder. But Irene called out,
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  Speaker 1: I thought so, Curdie. I was sure it wasn't a dream.
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  Speaker 1: I was sure my grandmother had been to see you.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't you smile the roses? It was my grandmother healed
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  Speaker 1: your leg and send you to help me. No, Princess, Irene,
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  Speaker 1: said Curdie. I wasn't good enough to be allowed to
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  Speaker 1: help you. I didn't believe you. Your grandmother took care
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  Speaker 1: of you without me. She sent you to help my people. Anyhow,
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  Speaker 1: I wish my king Papa would come. I do so
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  Speaker 1: want to tell him how good you have been. But
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  Speaker 1: said the mother, we are forgetting, how frightened your people
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  Speaker 1: must be. You must take the princess at home at once, Curdie,
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  Speaker 1: or at least go and tell them where she is. Yes, mother, only,
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  Speaker 1: I'm dreadfully hungry. Do let me have some breakfast. First.
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  Speaker 1: They ought to have listened to me, and then they
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't have been taken by surprise as they were. This
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  Speaker 1: is true, Curdie, But it is not for you to
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  Speaker 1: blame them much, you remember, Yes, mother, I do only
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  Speaker 1: I must really have something to eat. You shall, my boy,
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  Speaker 1: as fast as I can get it, said his mother,
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  Speaker 1: rising and setting the princess on her chair. But before
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  Speaker 1: his breakfast was ready, Curdie jumped up so suddenly as
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  Speaker 1: to startle both his companions. Mother. Mother, he cried, I
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  Speaker 1: was forgetting. You must take the princess home yourself. I
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  Speaker 1: must go and wake my father. Without a word of explanation,
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  Speaker 1: he rushed to the place where his father was sleeping.
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  Speaker 1: Having thoroughly roused him with what he told him, he
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  Speaker 1: darted out of the cottage Chapter twenty nine Mason Work.
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  Speaker 1: He had all at once remembered the resolution the goblins
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  Speaker 1: to carry out their second plan upon the failure of
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  Speaker 1: the first. No doubt they were already and the mine
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  Speaker 1: was therefore in the greatest danger of being flooded and
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  Speaker 1: rendered useless, not to speak of the lives of the miners.
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  Speaker 1: When he reached the mouth of the mine, after rousing
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  Speaker 1: all the miners within reach, he found his father in
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  Speaker 1: a good many more just entering. They all hurried to
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  Speaker 1: the gang by which he had found a way into
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  Speaker 1: the Goblin country. There, the foresight of Peter had already
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  Speaker 1: collected a great many blocks of stone with cement, ready
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  Speaker 1: for building up the weak place well enough known to
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  Speaker 1: the goblins. Although there was not room for more than
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  Speaker 1: two to be actually building at once, they managed by
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  Speaker 1: setting all the rest to work in preparing the cement
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  Speaker 1: and passing the stones, to finish in the course of
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  Speaker 1: the day. A huge buttress filling the whole gang and
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  Speaker 1: supported everywhere by the live rock. Before the hour when
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  Speaker 1: they usually dropped work, they were satisfied the mine was secure.
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  Speaker 1: They had heard goblin hammers and pickaxes busy all the time,
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  Speaker 1: and at length fancied. They heard the sounds of water
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  Speaker 1: they had never heard before. But that was otherwise accounted
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  Speaker 1: for when they left the mine, for they stepped out
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  Speaker 1: into a tremendous storm which was raging all over the mountain.
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  Speaker 1: The thunder was bellowing, and the lightning glancing out of
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  Speaker 1: a huge black cloud which lay above it and hung
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  Speaker 1: down its edges of thick mist over its sides. The
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  Speaker 1: lightning was breaking out of the mountain too, and flashing
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  Speaker 1: up into the cloud. From the state of the brooks
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  Speaker 1: now swirling into raging torrents. It was evident that the
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  Speaker 1: storm had been storming all day. The wind was blowing
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  Speaker 1: as if it would blow him off the mountain. But
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  Speaker 1: anxious about his mother and the Princess, Curdie darted up
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  Speaker 1: through the thick of the tempest. Even if they had
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  Speaker 1: not set out before the storm came on, he did
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  Speaker 1: not judge them safe, for in such a storm even
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  Speaker 1: their poor li house was in danger. Indeed, he soon
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  Speaker 1: found that but for a huge rock against which it
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  Speaker 1: was built, and which protected it both from the blasts
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  Speaker 1: and the waters, it must have been swept away. If
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  Speaker 1: it was not blown away, for the two torrents into
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  Speaker 1: which this rock parted, the rush of water behind it
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  Speaker 1: united again in front of the cottage, two roaring and
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  Speaker 1: dangerous streams, which his mother and the princess could not
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  Speaker 1: possibly have passed. It was with great difficulty that he
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  Speaker 1: forced his way through one of them and up to
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  Speaker 1: the door. The moment his hand fell on the latch,
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  Speaker 1: through all the uproar of winds and waters came the
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  Speaker 1: joyous cry of the princess. There's Curdie Curdy Curdy. She
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  Speaker 1: was sitting wrapped in blankets on the bed his mother,
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  Speaker 1: trying for the hundredth time to light the fire, which
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  Speaker 1: had been drowned by the rain that came down the chimney.
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  Speaker 1: The clay floor was one mass of mud, and the
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  Speaker 1: whole place looked wretched, But the faces of the mother
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  Speaker 1: and the princess shone as if their troubles only made
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  Speaker 1: them the merrier. Curdie burst out laughing at the sight
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  Speaker 1: of them. I've never had such fun, said the princess,
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  Speaker 1: her eyes twinkling and her pretty teeth shining. How nice
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  Speaker 1: it must be to live on a cottage on the mountain.
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  Speaker 1: It all depends on what kind your inside houses, said
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  Speaker 1: the mother. I know what you mean, said Irene. That's
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  Speaker 1: the kind of thing my grandmother says. By the time
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  Speaker 1: Peter returned, the storm was nearly over, but the streams
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  Speaker 1: were so fierce and so swollen that it was not
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  Speaker 1: only out of the question for the princess to go
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  Speaker 1: down the mountain, but most dangerous for Peter even or
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  Speaker 1: Curdie to make the attempt. In the gathering darkness. They
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  Speaker 1: will be dreadfully frightened about you, said Peter to the princess.
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  Speaker 1: But we cannot help it. We must wait till the morning.
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  Speaker 1: With Curdie's help, the fire was lighted at last, and
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  Speaker 1: the mother set about making their supper. And after supper
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  Speaker 1: they all told the princess stories till she grew sleepy.
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  Speaker 1: Then Curdie's mother laid her in Curdie's bed, which was
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  Speaker 1: in a tiny little garret room. As soon as she
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  Speaker 1: was in bed, through a little window low down in
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  Speaker 1: the roof, she caught sight of her grandmother's lamp shining
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  Speaker 1: far away beneath, and she gazed at the beautiful, silvery
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  Speaker 1: globe until she fell asleep, Chapter thirty, The King and
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  Speaker 1: the Kiss. The next morning, the sun rose so bright
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  Speaker 1: that Irene said the rain had washed his face and
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  Speaker 1: let the light out clean. The torrents were still roaring
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  Speaker 1: down the side of the mountain, but they were so
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  Speaker 1: much smaller as not to be dangerous in the daylight.
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  Speaker 1: After an early breakfast, Peter went to his work, and
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  Speaker 1: Curdie and his mother set out to take the princess home.
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  Speaker 1: They had difficulty in getting her dry across the streams,
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  Speaker 1: and Curdie had again and again to carry her, But
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  Speaker 1: at last they got safe on the broader part of
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  Speaker 1: the road and walked gently down towards the King's house.
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  Speaker 1: And what should they see as they turned the last
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  Speaker 1: corner but the last of the King's troop riding through
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  Speaker 1: the gate. Oh, Curdie, cried Irene, clapping her hands right joyfully,
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  Speaker 1: My king Papa is come. The moment Curdie heard that,
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  Speaker 1: he caught her up in his arms and set off
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  Speaker 1: at full speed, crying, come on, mother, dear. The King
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  Speaker 1: may break his heart before he knows that she is safe.
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  Speaker 1: Irene clung round his neck, and he ran with her
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  Speaker 1: like a deer. When he entered the gate into the court,
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  Speaker 1: there sat the King on his horse, with all the
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  Speaker 1: people of the house about him, weeping and hanging their heads.
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  Speaker 1: The King was not weeping, but his face was white
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  Speaker 1: as the dead man's, and he looked as if the
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  Speaker 1: life had gone out of him. The men at arms
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  Speaker 1: he had brought with him sat with horror stricken faces,
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  Speaker 1: but eyes flashing with rage, waiting only for the word
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  Speaker 1: of the king to do something. They did not know what,
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  Speaker 1: and nobody knew what. The day before, the men at
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  Speaker 1: arms belonging to the house, as soon as they were
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  Speaker 1: satisfied the princess had been carried away, rushed after the
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  Speaker 1: goblins into the hole, but found that they had already
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  Speaker 1: so skillfully blockaded the narrowest part, not many feet below
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  Speaker 1: the cellar, that without miners and their tools they could
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  Speaker 1: do nothing. Not one of them knew where the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the mine lay, and some of those who had
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  Speaker 1: set out to find it had been overtaken by the
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  Speaker 1: storm and had not even yet returned. Poor Sir Walter
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  Speaker 1: was especially filled with shame, and almost hoped the King
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  Speaker 1: would order his head to be cut off, for to
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  Speaker 1: think of that sweet little face down amongst the goblins
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  Speaker 1: was unendurable. When Curdie ran in at the gate with
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  Speaker 1: the princess in his arms, they were all so absorbed
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  Speaker 1: in their own misery and awed by the king's presence
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  Speaker 1: and grief, that no one observed his arrival. He went
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  Speaker 1: straight up to the king, where he sat on his horse. Papa, Papa,
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  Speaker 1: the princess cried, stretching out her arms to him. Here
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  Speaker 1: I am, the king started, The color rushed to his face.
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  Speaker 1: He gave an inarticulate cry. Curdie held up the princess,
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  Speaker 1: and the king bent down and took her from his arms.
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  Speaker 1: As he clasped her to his bosom, the big tears
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  Speaker 1: went trooping down his cheeks and his beard, and such
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  Speaker 1: a shout arose from all the bystanders that the startled
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  Speaker 1: horses pranced and capered, and the armor rang and clattered,
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  Speaker 1: and the rocks of the mountains echoed back the noises.
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  Speaker 1: The princess greeted them all as she nestled in her
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  Speaker 1: father's bosom, and the king did not set her down
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  Speaker 1: until she had told them all the story. But she
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  Speaker 1: had more to tell about Curdie than about herself, and
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  Speaker 1: what she did tell about herself, none of them could understand,
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  Speaker 1: except the King and Curdie, who stood by the King's knee,
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  Speaker 1: stroking the neck of the great white horse, and still
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  Speaker 1: as she told what Curdie had done. Sir Walter and
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  Speaker 1: the others added to what she told, even Lootie joining
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  Speaker 1: in the praises of his courage and energy. Curdie held
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  Speaker 1: his peace, looking quietly up in the King's face, and
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  Speaker 1: his mother stood on the outskirts of the crowd, listening
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  Speaker 1: with delight, for her son's deeds were pleasant in her ears.
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  Speaker 1: Until the princess caught sight of her. And there is
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  Speaker 1: his mother, King Papa, She said, see there, she's such
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  Speaker 1: a nice mother and has been so kind to me.
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  Speaker 1: They all parted asunder. As the King made a sign
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  Speaker 1: to her to come forward. She obeyed, and he gave
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  Speaker 1: her his hand, but could not speak. And now King Papa,
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  Speaker 1: the princess went on, I must tell you another thing.
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  Speaker 1: One night ago, Curdie drove the goblins away and brought
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  Speaker 1: Lottie and me safe from the mountain, and I promised
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  Speaker 1: him a kiss when we got home. But Lootie wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: let me give it him. I don't want you to
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  Speaker 1: scold Lottie, but I want you to tell her that
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  Speaker 1: a princess must do as she promises. Indeed, she must,
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  Speaker 1: my child, except it be wrong, said the king. There
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  Speaker 1: give Curdie a kiss. And as he spoke, he held
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  Speaker 1: her towards him. The princess reached down, threw her arms
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  Speaker 1: round Curdie's neck, and kissed him on the mouth, saying, there, Curdie,
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  Speaker 1: there's the kiss I promised you. Then they all went
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  Speaker 1: into the house, and the cook rushed to the kitchen,
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  Speaker 1: and the servants to their work. Lootie dressed Irene in
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  Speaker 1: her shining his clothes, and the king put off his
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  Speaker 1: armor and put on purple and gold. And a messenger
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  Speaker 1: was sent for Peter and all the miners. And there
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  Speaker 1: was a great and grand feast which continued along after
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  Speaker 1: the princess was put to bed. End of Section seventeen