# X: The Heath explained — The Princess and Curdie > Chapter companion for The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. ## What happens Curdie travels through a desolate heath, facing mockery from villagers and enduring a strange, unsettling landscape. He stops to rest under an ancient hawthorn tree, where he encounters a mysterious creature emerging from the sunset, which approaches him in a threatening manner. ## Themes in this chapter ### Perception vs. Reality The heath's deceptive appearance and the mysterious creature challenge Curdie's perception of the world. ### The Natural World and the Divine The heath's wild, untamed nature and the strange phenomena suggest a world beyond human understanding. ## Character check-ins ### Curdie Travels through the heath, enduring mockery and facing a strange creature. ## Key lines > He had to go to the bottom of the hill to get into a country he could cross, for the mountains to the north were full of precipices, and it would have been losing time to go that way. Curdie had to descend the hill to find a passable route, as the northern mountains were too steep and dangerous to cross directly. _Describes Curdie's initial journey._ > Not until he had reached the king's house was it any use to turn northwards. He could only head north after passing the king's residence. _Indicates the direction of his journey._ > Many a look did he raise, as he passed it, to the dove-tower, and as long as it was in sight, but he saw nothing of the lady of the pigeons. He frequently glanced up at the dove-tower while passing, but saw no sign of the lady who kept the pigeons. _Curdie looks for the lady but does not see her._ > On and on he fared, and came in a few hours to a country where there were no mountains more—only hills, with great stretches of desolate heath. He continued and soon reached a region of hills and vast, barren heath, devoid of mountains. _Describes the landscape change._ > Here and there was a village, but that brought him little pleasure, for the people were rougher and worse-mannered than those in the mountains, and as he passed through, the children came behind and mocked him. Occasional villages offered no comfort, as the inhabitants were ruder than the mountain folk, and children would taunt him as he passed. _Curdie faces hostility from villagers._ > “There's a monkey running away from the mines!” they cried. The children shouted that he was a monkey fleeing the mines. _Example of the mockery Curdie endures._ > Sometimes their parents came out and encouraged them. At times, the parents would come out and egg the children on. _Adults also participate in the mockery._ > “He don't want to find gold for the king any longer—the lazybones!” they would say. They accused him of being lazy and no longer wanting to find gold for the king. _Villagers' false assumptions about Curdie._ > But it was little to Curdie that men who did not know what he was about should not approve of his proceedings. Curdie cared little that those ignorant of his mission disapproved of his actions. _Curdie's indifference to others' opinions._ > He gave them a merry answer now and then, and held diligently on his way. He occasionally responded cheerfully and continued steadfastly. _Curdie's response to the mockery._ > When they got so rude as nearly to make him angry, he would treat them as he used to treat the goblins, and sing his own songs to keep out their foolish noises. When they became too rude, he would sing his own songs to drown out their foolish noise, just as he had done with goblins. _Curdie uses singing as a coping mechanism._ > Once a child fell as he turned to run away after throwing a stone at him. A child who threw a stone at him fell while trying to run away. _An incident with a child._ > He picked him up, kissed him, and carried him to his mother. Curdie picked up the child, kissed him, and carried him to his mother. _Curdie's kindness despite provocation._ > The woman had run out in terror when she saw the strange miner about, as she thought, to take vengeance on her boy. The mother ran out in fear, thinking the strange miner intended to harm her son. _The mother's initial fear._ > When he put him in her arms, she blessed him, and Curdie went on his way rejoicing. When he handed the child back, she blessed him, and Curdie continued happily. _The mother's gratitude and Curdie's joy._ > And so the day went on, and the evening came, and in the middle of a great desolate heath he began to feel tired, and sat down under an ancient hawthorn, through which every now and then a lone wind that seemed to come from nowhere and to go nowhither sighed and hissed. As evening fell, he grew tired and sat under an old hawthorn tree, where a strange, aimless wind sighed and hissed. _Curdie rests under the hawthorn._ > It was very old and distorted. The tree was ancient and twisted. _Description of the hawthorn._ > There was not another tree for miles all around. No other trees were visible for miles. _Isolation of the tree._ > It seemed to have lived so long, and to have been so torn and tossed by the tempests on that moor, that it had at last gathered a wind of its own, which got up now and then, tumbled itself about, and lay down again. The tree had endured so many storms that it seemed to have its own wind, which would rise, tumble, and settle. _Personification of the tree and wind._ > Curdie had been so eager to get on that he had eaten nothing since his breakfast. He had been so eager to travel that he had not eaten since breakfast. _Curdie's hunger._ > But he had had plenty of water, for many little streams had crossed his path. He had drunk plenty of water from the many streams he crossed. _Curdie's hydration._ > He now opened the wallet his mother had given him, and began to eat his supper. He opened the bag his mother had given him and started eating his supper. _Curdie eats his supper._ > The sun was setting. The sun was going down. _Time of day._ > A few clouds had gathered about the west, but there was not a single cloud anywhere else to be seen. Some clouds were in the west, but the rest of the sky was clear. _Weather description._ > Now Curdie did not know that this was a part of the country very hard to get through. Curdie was unaware that this region was notoriously difficult to traverse. _Foreshadowing of danger._ > Nobody lived there, though many had tried to build in it. No one lived there, although many had attempted to settle. _The heath's inhospitable nature._ > Some died very soon. Some died quickly. _Consequences of staying._ > Some rushed out of it. Some fled in haste. _Reactions to the heath._ > Those who stayed longest went raving mad, and died a terrible death. Those who remained too long went insane and died horribly. _The heath's curse._ > Such as walked straight on, and did not spend a night there, got through well, and were nothing the worse. Those who passed through without staying overnight were unharmed. _The condition for safe passage._ > But those who slept even a single night in it were sure to meet with something they could never forget, and which often left a mark everybody could read. Anyone who slept even one night would encounter something unforgettable, often leaving a visible mark. _The danger of sleeping in the heath._ > And that old hawthorn might have been enough for a warning—it looked so like a human being dried up and distorted with age and suffering, with cares instead of loves, and things instead of thoughts. The old hawthorn itself was a warning, resembling a withered, suffering human, with cares instead of loves and objects instead of thoughts. _The tree as a symbol._ > Both it and the heath around it, which stretched on all sides as far as he could see, were so withered that it was impossible to say whether they were alive or not. The tree and the surrounding heath were so dried up that it was hard to tell if they were alive. _The desolation of the heath._ > And while Curdie ate there came a change. As Curdie ate, the weather changed. _Transition in the scene._ > Clouds had gathered over his head, and seemed drifting about in every direction, as if not “shepherded by the slow, unwilling wind,” but hunted in all directions by wolfish flaws across the plains of the sky. Clouds gathered overhead, moving erratically as if chased by predatory winds. _Turbulent sky._ > The sun was going down in a storm of lurid crimson, and out of the west came a wind that felt red and hot the one moment, and cold and pale the other. The sun set in a lurid red storm, and a wind from the west alternated between hot and cold. _Strange wind and sunset._ > And very strangely it sung in the dreary old hawthorn tree, and very cheerily it blew about Curdie, now making him creep close up to the tree for shelter from its shivery cold, now fan himself with his cap, it was so sultry and stifling. The wind sang strangely in the tree and blew around Curdie, alternately chilling and stifling him. _The wind's effect on Curdie._ > It seemed to come from the deathbed of the sun, dying in fever and ague. The wind seemed to originate from the dying sun, as if the sun were in a fever. _Personification of the sun._ > And as he gazed at the sun, now on the verge of the horizon, very large and very red and very dull—for though the clouds had broken away a dusty fog was spread all over him—Curdie saw something strange appear against him, moving about like a fly over his burning face. As he watched the large, red, dull sun, he saw a strange shape moving against it, like a fly on a burning face. _First sight of the creature._ > It looked as if it were coming out of his hot furnace-heart, and was a living creature of some kind surely; but its shape was very uncertain, because the dazzle of the light all around it melted its outlines. The creature seemed to emerge from the sun's fiery core, its shape blurred by the light. _The creature's origin and appearance._ > It was growing larger, it must be approaching! It was getting bigger, so it must be coming closer. _The creature approaches._ > It grew so rapidly that by the time the sun was half down its head reached the top of his arch, and presently nothing but its legs were to be seen, crossing and recrossing the face of the vanishing disc. It grew so fast that by sunset, only its legs were visible against the sun's disc. _The creature's size._ > When the sun was down he could see nothing of it more, but in a moment he heard its feet galloping over the dry crackling heather, and seeming to come straight for him. After sunset, he lost sight of it but heard it galloping toward him over the dry heather. _The creature's approach._ > He stood up, lifted his pickaxe, and threw the hammer end over his shoulder: he was going to have a fight for his life! He stood, raised his pickaxe, and prepared to fight for his life. _Curdie prepares to defend himself._ > And now it appeared again, vague, yet very awful, in the dim twilight the sun had left behind him. It reappeared, vague and terrifying, in the twilight. _The creature's reappearance._ > But just before it reached him, down from its four long legs it dropped flat on the ground, and came crawling towards him, wagging a huge tail as it came. Just before reaching him, it dropped to the ground and crawled toward him, wagging its huge tail. _The creature's unexpected behavior._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_princess_and_curdie_se/chapters/x-the-heath - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_princess_and_curdie_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_princess_and_curdie_se/chapters