1 h 42 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 1 h 42 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a princess can float above the ground, yet cannot feel the weight of anything?
A long-awaited daughter brings joy to a king and queen, but a forgotten christening guest turns celebration into trouble. The king's sister, Princess Makemnoit, lays a curse on the baby. Now the princess floats, laughs at everything, and cannot cry. Her anxious parents seek a cure, while the court's learned men offer theories that do not help.
In George MacDonald's The Light Princess, gravity means both physical weight and depth of feeling. Only in the lake does the princess find ease. But Makemnoit watches the place that gives her joy, and her anger remains. A prince from elsewhere wants to reach the princess, taking her seriously when she cannot take anything seriously herself.
What you’ll discover
- A curse with wit Follow a floating princess through a fairy tale built around the double meaning of gravity.
- Laughter without tears Meet a girl whose constant laughter hides an inability to feel deeply.
- A court of theories Enjoy MacDonald's playful treatment of learned men who cannot solve the king's problem.
- The lake's quiet promise Discover the water where the princess finds the ease that land cannot give her.
- Someone who takes her seriously Meet a prince who wants to reach the girl beyond her laughter.
Who will love it
For anyone who loves fairy tales with wit, wordplay and a hidden moral, and for parents who enjoy reading stories aloud.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A forgotten guest brings a curse
- A princess who floats and cannot feel
- The court tries cures and fails
- Only the water gives her weight
- The witch plots and a stranger appears
- What the tale means and how it is told
Who’s who
- The PrincessA king's daughter cursed to float and laugh at everything, who cannot cry and who finds her only ease in swimming.
- The KingA loving and anxious father who forgot one guest and now struggles to find a cure for his daughter.
- The QueenThe princess's mother, devoted and worried, who shares the king's helplessness before the curse.
- Princess MakemnoitThe king's sister, a witch who feels slighted by the forgotten invitation and who lays the curse on the baby.
- The PrinceA young man from elsewhere who takes the princess seriously and wants to reach her.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 1 h 42 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Light Princess
by George MacDonald · 1864
A witch steals a princess's gravity, leaving her floating and laughing, while a prince tries to reach her.
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In short
The Light Princess is a fairy tale by the Scottish writer George MacDonald, first published in 1864. MacDonald was a minister and a storyteller, and he wrote for children and grown-ups at once.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A forgotten guest brings a curse
The story begins in a kingdom where a king and queen have waited a long time for a child. At last a daughter is born, and the king prepares a grand christening. He sends invitations to everyone of note. But in his joy he forgets one person, his own sister, the Princess Makemnoit.
Makemnoit is a witch, and she is not a gentle one. She lives apart from the court, and she feels the slight deeply. In the fairy tales that MacDonald is playing with, an uninvited relative has a long history of turning up at a christening and doing harm. He knows his readers expect it, and he tells it with a wink.
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What is The Light Princess about?
It is a fairy tale about a princess whose witch aunt takes away her gravity, so she floats and laughs at everything but cannot cry. The story asks what weight, in body and in feeling, gives to a life.
When was The Light Princess written?
George MacDonald published it in 1864. It later appeared in a collection of his fairy stories. It is an invented fairy tale, not a true story, though it plays with old folk tale patterns.
What does gravity mean in The Light Princess?
Gravity has two meanings in the tale. It is the pull that holds us to the ground, and it is seriousness and depth of feeling. The princess loses both, and MacDonald plays on that double sense throughout.
The author
George MacDonald
1824–1905 · Scottish fantasy novelist and minister
George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish writer and Christian minister. Born in Huntly, Scotland, he later lived in England and Italy. He wrote novels, fairy tales, poetry and sermons. His books include Phantastes (1858), At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and Lilith (1895).
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