# Short Fiction — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Short Fiction by George MacDonald.

- [A Double Story](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/a-double-story.md): A tale of two children, Rosamond and Agnes, who are taken from their homes by a wise woman and subjected to contrasting treatments that reveal the nature of their true character. Rosamond, a spoiled princess, is humbled 
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i.md): The chapter introduces a strange country where a princess is born. She is spoiled by her parents, becoming increasingly peevish and destructive. The king and queen seek help from a wise woman, who blames them for their p
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii.md): The wise woman kidnaps the princess, carrying her away from the palace and across a heath. The princess, terrified and misunderstanding kindness, believes the wise woman is an ogress. After a journey through a wolf-infes
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii.md): The princess, alone on the heath, struggles with fear and loneliness as the moon stares down at her. She attempts to find the wise woman's cottage but discovers no door, leading to frustration and rage. After a storm and
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv.md): The wise woman cares for the princess Rosamond, who suspects her of being an ogress intent on fattening her to eat her. The wise woman leaves instructions for Rosamond to clean the cottage and keep the fire, but Rosamond
- [V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/v.md): The wise woman returns to find the cottage in disarray and confronts Princess Rosamond about her neglect. She forces Rosamond to clean the room, but the princess rebels, breaks a mirror, and later discovers a hidden door
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vi.md): This chapter introduces Agnes, a shepherd's daughter who has been spoiled by her parents' excessive praise, leading to a deep-seated self-conceit. The wise woman observes her and recognizes the danger of her vanity, whic
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vii.md): The chapter contrasts the princess Rosamond and Agnes, both self-centered but in different ways. The wise woman punishes Agnes by placing her naked inside a hollow sphere where she is confronted with a hideous double of 
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/viii.md): Agnes, left alone in the wise woman's cottage, begins to tidy and dust, but soon her old conceited disposition returns. She becomes captivated by a picture of a grand palace and a king's proclamation offering refuge to s
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ix.md): The shepherdess takes Rosamond home, bathes and feeds her, but expects her to work. Rosamond initially refuses, claiming her royalty, but after being disciplined by the sheepdog Prince, she begins to obey. Over time, she
- [Agnes in the Palace](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/x.md): Agnes, having run away from the wise woman, arrives in the city and is brought before the king and queen as a lost child. They reject her as ugly and conceited, and she is sent to work in the scullery. Her conceit grows 
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xi.md): After Prince leaves, the princess relapses into her old bad temper, becoming so unendurable that the shepherdess insists she leave. Rosamond sets out to find her way home, but her injured foot and cross disposition lead 
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xii.md): The wise woman subjects Princess Rosamond to a series of moral trials designed to test her self-control and virtue. In the first trial, Rosamond fails by losing her temper and striking her nurse with a rabbit; in the sec
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiii.md): The wise woman takes Rosamond through another trial in a magical forest where a child grows flowers from her lap. Rosamond struggles with her temper and learns that true possession does not involve destruction. The child
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiv.md): The king's soldiers capture Agnes's parents and bring them to the palace. The princess Rosamond arrives in rags and is initially mocked by a sentry, but she persists and enters the throne room. The king and queen fail to
- [Cross Purposes](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/cross-purposes.md): A tale of mistaken intentions and conflicting desires, where characters pursue their own ends only to find themselves entangled in a web of misunderstanding and irony.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i.md): The Queen of Fairyland, bored with her well-behaved subjects, decides to bring a mortal girl and boy to her Court. Peaseblossom, the prime-minister's daughter, volunteers to bring the girl, and the goblin Toadstool volun
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii.md): Alice, a squire's daughter, is invited by the fairy Peaseblossom to journey into a magical underwater world where she experiences a dreamlike landscape and eventually falls asleep at the bottom of a pool, dreaming of hom
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii.md): Richard, a poor widow's son, encounters a strange little man selling umbrellas that transform into geese. He follows the man, who is revealed to be a goblin named Toadstool, through a series of magical events, including 
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv.md): Richard and Alice navigate a dark, perilous fairy realm, crossing black waters teeming with creatures and escaping a hostile old man through a hearthstone. They become separated and reunited, then find themselves on a la
- [Far Above Rubies](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/far-above-rubies.md): Hector Macintosh, a young man of Celtic descent and idealistic temperament, lives with his parents and works as a clerk in his father's bank, but his true passion is writing poetry in private. He is distant from his moth
- [Port in a Storm](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/port-in-a-storm.md): The narrator recounts a Christmas story from his youth at Culverwood, where his uncle the admiral anxiously awaits a shipment of port for his guests. A snowstorm threatens to block the roads, and the uncle's distress lea
- [Stephen Archer](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/stephen-archer.md): Stephen Archer, a Christian deacon, attempts to reform the wayward Charley, the brother of the impoverished Sara Coulter, by giving him a job. Despite Charley's repeated misdeeds, Stephen's growing admiration for Sara's 
- [The Broken Swords](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-broken-swords.md): A young ensign, sensitive and introspective, leaves his home and sisters to join his regiment in war. He struggles with the moral weight of killing and the chaos of battle, while later, after a disgrace, he enlists as a 
- [Husband and Wife](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i-husband-and-wife.md): This chapter explores the strained marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Dempster, focusing on the conflict over household accounts. Mrs. Dempster's lack of precision and procrastination in bookkeeping frustrates her husband, who val
- [An Astonishment](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii-an-astonishment.md): Mr. Duncan Dempster is astonished to learn that after eight years of childless marriage, his wife has suddenly given birth to a son. He grapples with bewilderment and a sense of being made a spectacle by nature, yet feel
- [III: Another Astonishment](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii-another-astonishment.md): Mr. Dempster, after his wife's disappearance, is consumed by suspicion and misery. He interprets her flight and the butcher's bills as proof of infidelity, and resolves to abandon her and raise their child in a trade. Ye
- [IV: What It Meant](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv-what-it-meant.md): Mrs. Dempster, driven by guilt over unpaid bills and fear of her husband, leaves her home and baby to seek a situation as a nurse. After failing to find work, a kind coffee-shop woman helps her, but she must provide a re
- [V: What Came of It](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/v-what-came-of-it.md): Duncan Dempster struggles with the aftermath of his wife's disappearance, feeling a dullness in his life and a growing dissatisfaction. He begins to doubt his earlier certainty of her infidelity and considers the possibi
- [The Carasoyn](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-carasoyn.md): A tale of enchantment and transformation, where the mysterious Carasoyn—a magical being or force—intervenes in the lives of characters, leading to moments of moral reckoning and change.
- [I: The Mountain Stream](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i-the-mountain-stream.md): Colin, a twelve-year-old shepherd's son living in a Scottish valley, diverts a mountain stream through his family's clay cottage to save it from being defiled by the cowhouse and pigsty. His father initially surprised, a
- [II: The Fairy Fleet](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii-the-fairy-fleet.md): Colin wakes to find a fairy fleet has arrived on the brook beside his bed. The Fairy Queen offers him a reward for clearing the stream, and he asks for a stolen little girl. The Queen sets him a new task—to fetch a bottl
- [III: The Old Woman and Her Hen](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii-the-old-woman-and-her-hen.md): Colin, seeking the Carasoyn, recalls a blind old woman who once helped him when he was lost. He finds her hut on the moor, and she instructs him that he must dream three days without sleeping, work three days without dre
- [IV: The Goblin Blacksmith](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv-the-goblin-blacksmith.md): Colin follows a dim light to a goblin smithy, where a humpbacked smith works furiously with two forehammers. The smith calls out his goblin children, who torment Colin until he delivers a message from the old woman with 
- [V: The Moss Vineyard](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/v-the-moss-vineyard.md): Colin follows the smith's instructions, climbs Stonestarvit Moss, finds Jenny's egg, and spends three happy days digging a trench and understanding nature. He harvests grapes, returns home, and tells his father the story
- [VI: The Consequences](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vi-the-consequences.md): Colin bargains with the Fairy Queen for the return of the little girl, but the queen tries to trick him by transforming the child into various animals. Colin holds fast, and when the queen opens the bottle of Carasoyn, i
- [VII: The Banished Fairies](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vii-the-banished-fairies.md): This chapter describes the moral decline of a tribe of fairies who engaged in wicked deeds, including stealing children and breaking promises. Their queen sought the Carasoyn, a magical remedy, but when Colin obtained it
- [VIII: Their Revenge](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/viii-their-revenge.md): The fairies, discovering that Colin and his wife have settled nearby, plot revenge but the queen hesitates, suggesting they observe first. They frequently visit the house but initially fail to harm the children. Eventual
- [The Fairy Fiddler](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ix-the-fairy-fiddler.md): Colin wakes at midnight to see grotesque fairy figures dancing in his room. One fiddler, Peterkin, and another, Silversnout, sing a taunting song about having mutilated and salted his missing child. Colin recognizes them
- [The Old Woman and Her Hen](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/x-the-old-woman-and-her-hen.md): Colin seeks the old woman on the moor to rescue his child from the fairies. He loses himself, finds her hut, and learns that the fairies lied about mutilating his child. The old woman spins a story over seven days, then 
- [The Goblin Cobbler](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xi-the-goblin-cobbler.md): Colin awakens on the moor after losing his way and realizes he has only one day left to rescue his boy. He wanders until he finds a hut full of goblin cobblers who threaten to use his body for leather. He invokes the old
- [The Wax and the Awl](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xii-the-wax-and-the-awl.md): Colin uses a cobbler's wax and awl to trap the fairies in the Kelpie's Pool and force the fairy queen to return his son, whom they had stolen. After draining the pool and sealing the fairies with wax, the queen swears by
- [The Castle](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-castle.md): The inhabitants of a grand castle rebel against their eldest brother, who seeks to guide them toward truth and higher pursuits. They bind and imprison him in a vault, then prepare a lavish, indiscriminate feast in sacred
- [The Cruel Painter](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-cruel-painter.md): Karl von Wolkenlicht, a gifted student at the University of Prague, becomes obsessed with Lilith, the beautiful but heartless daughter of the cruel painter Teufelsbürst. The painter creates works that distort beauty into
- [The Giant's Heart](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-giant-s-heart.md): Tricksey-Wee and Buffy-Bob, two children from the common country, accidentally wander into Giantland and enter the home of the giant Thunderthump and his wife Doodlem. While hiding in a broom, they overhear the giant rev
- [The Gifts of the Child Christ](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-gifts-of-the-child-christ.md): A story about a poor family and their Christmas experiences, focusing on the gifts brought by the Christ child and the moral lessons surrounding generosity, faith, and divine provision.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i.md): Augustus Greatorex, a merchant, is disappointed in his second marriage to Letty Merewether, a shallow woman who cannot match his intellectual interests. He neglects his daughter Sophy (Phosy), leaving her to the care of 
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii.md): Alice, a servant, gives notice to Mrs. Greatorex, citing class oppression and domestic slavery. Mrs. Greatorex is taken ill after a dance, and Alice's determination to leave is complicated by her inheritance from an uncl
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii.md): Alice, now an heiress, breaks off her relationship with John Jephson, a cabinetmaker, by treating him with disdain and insisting on being called 'Miss Cox.' John is bewildered and hurt, realizing that her newfound wealth
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv.md): Phosy, a deeply religious child, eagerly anticipates Christmas and the birth of Jesus, believing He is born anew each year. She goes to church alone, hoping to be chastened by the Lord. Meanwhile, her father Mr. Greatore
- [Chapter V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/v.md): Alice Hopwood's illegitimate birth is exposed, stripping her of her inheritance and social standing. Humiliated, she returns to the Greatorex household in disgrace. Little Phosy, observing her distress, attempts to under
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vi.md): On Christmas morning, the household awakens to the discovery that Phosy has taken her deceased baby brother from the spare room. She sits with him in a trance-like state, speaking of Jesus being dead, before her father c
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vii.md): On Christmas day, Phosy's father, moved by a newfound appreciation for his daughter's character and his own neglected duty, sets her beside him at dinner, initiating a new covenant. Through his interactions with Phosy, h
- [The Golden Key](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-golden-key.md): A boy learns from his great-aunt about a golden key at the end of the rainbow in Fairyland. He sees the rainbow's end in the forest and sets out to find it. Later, Tangle meets the Old Man of the Fire, a childlike figure
- [The Gray Wolf](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-gray-wolf.md): A young English student, caught in a storm on a remote Orkney island, takes shelter in a cave. He is led by a strange, barefoot woman to her mother's hut. The woman's appearance and behavior are unsettling, with glimpses
- [The History of Photogen and Nycteris](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-history-of-photogen-and-nycteris.md): A fairy tale contrasting the day-boy Photogen and the night-girl Nycteris, exploring their separate upbringings and eventual meeting.
- [I: Watho](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i-watho.md): Introduces the witch Watho, who desires to know everything and is driven by a wolf-like cruelty. She is tall, graceful, with white skin, red hair, and black eyes that hold a red fire, but occasionally she shudders and be
- [Aurora](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii-aurora.md): Watho hosts two ladies in her castle without their knowledge of each other: one from the court whose husband is away on an embassy, and a young blind widow. The Lady Aurora is lodged in a grand apartment with views, sunl
- [III: Vesper](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii-vesper.md): Watho lodges the blind lady Vesper in a series of tomb-like chambers behind the castle, accessible only through the northeastern tower. Vesper, with black eyes and a sad demeanor, is kept in an atmosphere of sweet sorrow
- [IV: Photogen](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv-photogen.md): Watho, having desired a splendid boy, takes the newborn son of Aurora and convinces the mother the child died at birth. She raises the boy, named Photogen, in complete isolation from darkness, training him to thrive only
- [V: Nycteris](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/v-nycteris.md): Nycteris is born to the dark lady Vesper in a windowless tomb, under lamplight, and is raised by Watho and Falca in total darkness. She has the dark features of her mother but the blue eyes of Aurora. Watho deliberately 
- [How Photogen Grew](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vi-how-photogen-grew.md): Photogen grows up under the care of the witch Watho and the huntsman Fargu, becoming a skilled hunter and archer. Watho forbids him from being outside at sundown, but Photogen, fearless and saturated with sunlight, does 
- [How Nycteris Grew](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vii-how-nycteris-grew.md): Nycteris, kept in darkness by Watho, secretly learns to read with Falca's help and finds joy in her musical instrument. She yearns for more space and is deeply moved by the lamp in her chamber, which stirs vague longings
- [VIII: The Lamp](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/viii-the-lamp.md): Nycteris, left alone by Falca, experiences an earthquake that shatters her lamp, plunging her into darkness for the first time. Mistaking the darkness for a living thing that has killed the lamp, she becomes determined t
- [IX: Out](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ix-out.md): Nycteris, having escaped her underground prison, experiences the moonlit night for the first time. She mistakes the moon for a lamp and the firefly for the spirit of her lamp. Overwhelmed by the beauty of the night, she 
- [X: The Great Lamp](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/x-the-great-lamp.md): Nycteris, having discovered the outside world, experiences the loss of the great lamp (the sun) and the appearance of the moon. She observes the changing phases of the moon, the wind, the trees, the river, and the clouds
- [XI: The Sunset](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xi-the-sunset.md): Photogen, a youth who has known only sunlight, experiences his first encounter with darkness and fear. After hunting all day, he ventures into the forest at sunset to confront a beast, but the onset of night overwhelms h
- [The Garden](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xii-the-garden.md): Nycteris, taking precautions to avoid detection, explores the garden for the first time after discovering a hidden passage. She revels in the sensory delights of the natural world—the soft grass, the trees, a fountain, a
- [Something Quite New](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiii-something-quite-new.md): Nycteris discovers Photogen lying by the river, terrified by the darkness. She comforts him, mistaking him for a girl, and he explains his fear of the night and his longing for the sun. Nycteris, who has only known the m
- [XIV: The Sun](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiv-the-sun.md): Nycteris watches over the sleeping Photogen through the night, but as dawn approaches and the sun rises, she is overwhelmed by the light, which she perceives as a terrifying death. Photogen awakens, dismisses her fear, a
- [The Coward Hero](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xv-the-coward-hero.md): Photogen, ashamed of his cowardice in the face of night, attempts repeatedly to conquer his fear of darkness but fails each time. His repeated failures lead to a loss of confidence, sleeplessness, and ultimately a physic
- [XVI: An Evil Nurse](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xvi-an-evil-nurse.md): Watho, ill and increasingly wicked, turns against both Photogen and Nycteris. She torments Photogen, who resolves to escape the castle. He reflects on the mysterious girl who nursed him in the dark, realizing she may be 
- [Watho's Wolf](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xvii-watho-s-wolf.md): Nycteris, still traumatized by her exposure to sudden light, is cruelly abandoned by Watho in the open plain under the midday sun. Watho watches from her tower, expecting Nycteris to die of sunstroke or be trampled by wi
- [Refuge](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xviii-refuge.md): Photogen, recovering from illness, resolves to flee Watho's castle at night despite his terror of darkness. Nycteris finds him on the plain, comforts him, and persuades him to leave immediately. She leads him through the
- [XIX: The Werewolf](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xix-the-werewolf.md): As Photogen carries Nycteris toward the forest, Watho transforms into a wolf and attacks them. Photogen shoots the wolf with two arrows, killing it. Upon retrieving his arrow, he discovers the wolf was actually Watho, wh
- [All Is Well](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xx-all-is-well.md): After Watho's death, Photogen and Nycteris marry and travel to the king to tell their story. There, Photogen's mother Aurora is reunited with him, and the king grants them Watho's castle and lands. They live happily, eac
- [The Light Princess](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-light-princess.md): A princess is cursed with lightness, floating away from gravity and emotional weight, leading to a tale of love and sacrifice.
- [What! No Children?](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/i-what-no-children.md): A king and queen, long ago, are distressed by their lack of children. The king grows cross with the queen, who bears his reproaches patiently. Eventually, the queen gives birth to a lovely princess.
- [II: Won’t I, Just?](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ii-won-t-i-just.md): The king forgets to invite his sister, Princess Makemnoit, to the infant's christening. She is a witch and attends uninvited, casting a curse on the baby during the ceremony that makes the child light of body and spirit,
- [She Can’t Be Ours](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iii-she-can-t-be-ours.md): The princess's aunt, a witch, has deprived the child of gravity, causing her to float away whenever held. The king and queen discover this when the baby floats to the ceiling, leading the king to doubt she is theirs, whi
- [IV: Where Is She?](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/iv-where-is-she.md): A month after her first adventures, the princess is taken by a mischievous fairy wind while sleeping in the queen's chamber. The palace panics when she goes missing, but she is found asleep under a rosebush. The chapter 
- [V: What Is to Be Done?](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/v-what-is-to-be-done.md): The king and queen, distressed by their daughter Rosamond's lightness, argue about her condition and seek advice from the princess, who denies knowledge of the spell and advises patience. The king worries about Rosamond'
- [She Laughs Too Much](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vi-she-laughs-too-much.md): The princess, now seventeen, continues to laugh at everything, including serious matters like war and her parents' distress. Her peculiar bounding run and lack of gravity lead to an awkward incident where she kisses a pa
- [VII: Try Metaphysics](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/vii-try-metaphysics.md): The king and queen, concerned about their daughter's peculiar lack of gravity, consult two Chinese philosophers, Hum-Drum and Kopy-Keck, who propose conflicting metaphysical and materialist explanations and cures. The pr
- [Try a Drop of Water](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/viii-try-a-drop-of-water.md): The princess, lacking gravity, finds solace and temporary normalcy in the lake, where she can swim and dive freely. Her love for water leads to attempts by philosophers and the king to make her cry, hoping tears might re
- [Put Me in Again](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/ix-put-me-in-again.md): A prince, searching for a worthy princess, encounters the bewitched princess who has lost her gravity. He rescues her from the lake, but she floats away in anger. After a quarrel, he agrees to put her back in the water, 
- [X: Look at the Moon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/x-look-at-the-moon.md): The prince, having found food at a forester's hut, returns to his watch-cave and observes the princess swimming in the lake with the king, queen, and a grand company. He sings a song to her, and she joins him on the rock
- [Hiss!](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xi-hiss.md): The princess's beloved lake begins to mysteriously sink, causing her great distress. The old witch-princess, seeking revenge, uses a White Snake of Darkness to drain the lake from beneath, and later curses all the spring
- [Where Is the Prince?](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xii-where-is-the-prince.md): The prince, unable to see the princess since she left him, disguises himself as a shoeblack to gain access to the palace and learn about her condition. The lake continues to dry up, and the princess wastes away, haunted 
- [XIII: Here I Am](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiii-here-i-am.md): The king despairs of finding a volunteer to sacrifice himself to save the princess, who lies dying. The prince, having been away, learns of the oracle and resolves to offer himself, bargaining that the princess may accom
- [XIV: This Is Very Kind of You](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xiv-this-is-very-kind-of-you.md): The prince offers to die in place of the princess to stop the hole in the lake. He sits in the hole as water rises, singing a song about love. The princess initially shows indifference but eventually feeds him, kisses hi
- [XV: Look at the Rain!](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/xv-look-at-the-rain.md): The princess finally releases her pent-up tears, discovering her gravity as a result. A miraculous rain of jewels falls, and the prince, also recovered, rejoices with her. The princess struggles to learn to walk, but fin
- [The Shadows](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-shadows.md): King Ralph Rinkelmann attends a spectral assembly of Shadows on a frozen lake, where they discuss their nature and petition him. He hears a Shadow's tale of a miser and his nurse, and another about a Christmas gathering.
- [The Wow o' Rivven](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/the-wow-o-rivven.md): Elsie Scott, a sensitive young woman, is distressed by local boys tormenting a harmless old man known as 'Feel Jock,' a foundling raised by the parish. Her own troubled past—orphaned young, raised by an insensitive broth
- [Uncle Cornelius His Story](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_21_se/chapters/uncle-cornelius-his-story.md): On a dreary November evening, Harry Heywood and his sisters Kate and Janet await a visit from their eccentric uncle, Cornelius Heywood, a gaunt scholar fascinated by the supernatural. The conversation turns to ghost stor

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