The Princess and Curdie · Chapter
The Battle explained
The king commands a trumpet to be blown, and the youth sounds a warlike defiance.
What happens
The king commands a trumpet to be blown, and the youth sounds a warlike defiance. The butchers and the guard, who had gone over to the enemy, attack the king. Curdie, the page, Lina, and her pack of beasts fight them off. The king and the colonel engage the guard, while Curdie and his beasts join them. The enemy's forces advance, but a dense cloud of pigeons descends upon them, blinding and confusing them. The princess's pony takes fright, but her attendant stops it. The enemy's leaders see the maid waving her arm, which seems to control the pigeons, and they attack her. A miner, Peter, appears and defends her. The enemy is routed, and the pigeons pursue them as they flee. The battle is over, and the pigeons return to the palace.
Themes in this chapter
Good vs. Evil
The battle is a clear conflict between the king's forces and the invading enemy, with the king's side aided by supernatural forces.
The Natural World and the Divine
The pigeons are depicted as a 'white-winged army of heaven,' suggesting divine intervention in the battle.
Sacrifice and Service
The king and his companions risk their lives in battle, and the pigeons serve as instruments of a higher purpose.
Characters to notice
- Curdie
Fights with his mattock, commands the beasts, and pursues the enemy.
- Lina
Rages among the butchers and dogs, crushing legs with her jaws.
- Peter
Appears as a miner and defends the maid, striking down the general's horse.
- Princess Irene
Watches the battle from her pony, noting the strange behavior of the pigeons.
- The Colonel
Fights alongside the king, stabbing the captain in the throat.
- The Servants
The maid on the red horse who seems to control the pigeons with her arm.
Key passages
“He commanded the page to blow his trumpet; and, in the strength of the moment, the youth uttered a right warlike defiance.”
The king ordered the page to sound the trumpet, and the young man gave a bold war cry.
The start of the battle is signaled by a trumpet call.
“But the butchers and the guard, who had gone over armed to the enemy, thinking that the king had come to make his peace also, and that it might thereafter go hard with them, rushed at once to make short work with him, and both secure and commend themselves.”
The butchers and the guard, who had betrayed the king, attacked him immediately, fearing he would make peace with the enemy and punish them.
The traitors' motivation for attacking the king is explained.
“A dense cloud came over the sun, and sank rapidly towards the earth. The cloud moved “all together,” and yet the thousands of white flakes of which it was made up moved each for itself in ceaseless and rapid motion: those flakes were the wings of pigeons.”
A dark cloud descended from the sun, which turned out to be a massive flock of pigeons, each moving independently but as one unit.
The arrival of the pigeons is described as a natural phenomenon.
“Generally the bird would, with sharp-clapping wings, dart its whole body, with the swiftness of an arrow, against its singled mark, yet so as to glance aloft the same instant, and descend skimming; much as the thin stone, shot with horizontal cast of arm, having touched and torn the surface of the lake, ascends to skim, touch, and tear again.”
The pigeons would dive at their targets with great speed, then rise and swoop again, like a stone skipping across water.
The pigeons' attack tactics are compared to a skipping stone.
“But suddenly by her side stood a stalwart old man in the garb of a miner, who, as the general rode at her, sword in hand, heaved his swift mattock, and brought it down with such force on the forehead of his charger, that he fell to the ground like a log.”
A strong old miner appeared beside the maid and struck the general's horse with his mattock, killing it instantly.
Peter's sudden appearance and decisive action save the maid.
