Project Gutenberg's The Princess and the Curdie, by George MacDonald

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Title: The Princess and the Curdie

Author: George MacDonald

Posting Date: September 27, 2008 [EBook #709]
Release Date: November, 1996

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCESS AND THE CURDIE ***

Produced by Jo Churcher. HTML version by Al Haines.

The Princess and Curdie

by

George MacDonald

CONTENTS

1 The Mountain
2 The White Pigeon
3 The Mistress of the Silver Moon
4 Curdie's Father and Mother
5 The Miners
6 The Emerald
7 What Is in a Name?
8 Curdie's Mission
9 Hands
10 The Heath
11 Lina
12 More Creatures
13 The Baker's Wife
14 The Dogs of Gwyntystorm
15 Derba and Barbara
16 The Mattock
17 The Wine Cellar
18 The King's Kitchen
19 The King's Chamber
20 Counterplotting
21 The Loaf
22 The Lord Chamberlain
23 Dr Kelman
24 The Prophecy
25 The Avengers
26 The Vengeance
27 More Vengeance
28 The Preacher
29 Barbara
30 Peter
31 The Sacrifice
32 The King's Army
33 The Battle
34 Judgement
35 The End

CHAPTER 1

The Mountain

Curdie was the son of Peter the miner. He lived with his father and
mother in a cottage built on a mountain, and he worked with his father
inside the mountain.

A mountain is a strange and awful thing. In old times, without knowing
so much of their strangeness and awfulness as we do, people were yet
more afraid of mountains. But then somehow they had not come to see
how beautiful they are as well as awful, and they hated them--and what
people hate they must fear. Now that we have learned to look at them
with admiration, perhaps we do not feel quite awe enough of them. To
me they are beautiful terrors.

I will try to tell you what they are. They are portions of the heart
of the earth that have escaped from the dungeon down below, and rushed
up and out. For the heart of the earth is a great wallowing mass, not
of blood, as in the hearts of men and animals, but of glowing hot,
melted metals and stones. And as our hearts keep us alive, so that
great lump