The Princess and the Goblin · Chapter
The Mines explained
Curdie returns home and decides to keep the princess's story secret to protect the nurse.
What happens
Curdie returns home and decides to keep the princess's story secret to protect the nurse. He hears goblins outside his window at night but scares them away. The next day, he and his father go to work in the mine, where miners dig for ore. Curdie learns that goblins work in the mines at night, and that miners defend themselves with verses, which goblins hate. Curdie decides to stay alone in the mine overnight to earn extra money for his mother's petticoat and to investigate the goblins' activities.
Themes in this chapter
Courage vs. Fear
Curdie and his father are among the few miners courageous enough to stay in the mine at night, facing goblins without fear, while many others are afraid.
Family and Loyalty
Curdie works extra to buy his mother a petticoat, showing his loyalty and care for his family.
Perseverance and Hard Work
The miners work hard in difficult conditions, and Curdie decides to stay overnight alone to earn extra wages, demonstrating perseverance.
Characters to notice
- Curdie
Curdie returns home, teases the nurse but protects her, scares goblins from his window, works in the mine with his father, and decides to stay overnight alone to earn extra wages and investigate the goblins.
- Peter Peterson
Peter works with Curdie in the mine, is one of the courageous miners who stays overnight, and gives Curdie permission to stay alone despite having a headache.
- Princess Irene
Mentioned indirectly as the princess Curdie protected; he resolves to say nothing about her to avoid getting the nurse into trouble.
- Lootie
Referred to as the nurse; Curdie teases her but protects her from getting into trouble by not revealing the princess's story.
- Mrs. Peterson
Curdie's mother; he wants to earn extra money to buy her a warm red petticoat because she feels the cold.
Key passages
“He resolved to say nothing about the princess for fear of getting the nurse into trouble, for while he enjoyed teasing her because of her absurdity, he was careful not to do her any harm.”
Curdie decided to keep quiet about the princess to protect the nurse, because even though he liked to tease her for being silly, he didn't want to cause her any real trouble.
Shows Curdie's protective nature and sense of responsibility.
“The chief defence against them was verse, for they hated verse of every kind, and some kinds they could not endure at all.”
The main way to fight the goblins was with poetry, because they despised all forms of verse and some types were completely unbearable to them.
Introduces the unique weakness of the goblins and the importance of rhymes.
“Curdie had determined, if his father would permit him, to remain there alone this night—and that for two reasons: first, he wanted to get extra wages that he might buy a very warm red petticoat for his mother... and second, he had just a faint hope of finding out what the goblins were about under his window the night before.”
Curdie planned to stay alone in the mine that night for two reasons: to earn extra money to buy his mother a warm red petticoat, and to hopefully discover what the goblins were doing near his window the previous night.
Highlights Curdie's dual motivations of family care and curiosity about the goblins.