“What does it all mean, grandmother?’ she sobbed, and burst into fresh tears. ‘It means, my love, that I did not mean to show myself. Curdie is not yet able to believe some things. Seeing is not believing—it is only seeing.” —The Princess and the Goblin, pg 84
“Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” -John 20:29 (ESV)
George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin and his sequel The Princess and Curdie are beautifully crafted fairytales. The language, the setting, and the characters delight the mind, but as in all great fairy tales, they also touch important truths. Throughout the books, MacDonald provides a picture of the nature of faith. Really, he provides two.
In the first book, Princess Irene and Curdie both come to trust in her great-great-grandmother, but their belief takes different paths. Irene’s faith is that of a child’s–innocent and accepting. She has abounding questions, but willingly believes even when those questions find no answers. Curdie, on the other hand, has a searching faith. He wrestles with belief, and must come slowly to it, growing little by little. Through these two characters, we see how faith gives us courage, and how trust guides us in times of troubles and moves us to action.
The Nature of Faith In The Princess and The Goblin
Irene:
There is a scene in The Princess and the The Goblin which reveals the strength of Irene’s trust and hope in her grandmother. One night she awakens to a loud crash and a wail. The young girl is frightened and quickly places her ring beneath her pillow. The ring, a gift from her grandmother, holds magic. A fine thread connects the ring to her grandmother, and by placing the ring under her pillow, Irene is able to follow the string wherever her grandmother may lead.
So on this night, Irene follows the thread. Only, it leads her not to the tower she expected, but up to the mountains and into a cave. “She did not hesitate,” MacDonald writes, “Right into the hole she went. . .” (The Princess and The Goblin, pg 74). Irene follows the string, despite the growing darkness, despite her growing fear. She presses on, certain that the thread could not lead her there without her grandmother sending it, and that confidence gives her courage.
When her thread leads her to a mound of rocks, she despairs a moment. But finding that the thread slips into a chink in the rock, she begins to pull away at the stack of stone.
“. . . she began to be afraid that to clear the thread she must remove the whole huge gathering. She was dismayed at the very idea, but losing no time, set to work with a will . . .” ( P & G, pg 76)
Irene had faith in her grandmother –in her goodness and in her promise of guidance. That trust gave the princess courage to not only to fight despair, but to persevere and take action, not knowing what the result would be.
Little did she know that the result would be Curdie’s rescue.
Curdie
At this point in the story, Curdie has been trapped by goblins. In his attempt to uncover the goblins’ nefarious plot, he stumbled head first into their throne room. They stashed him in a hole of rock, covered it with a stone slab and heaped rocks on top of it.
With no way to dig himself out, Curdie tries to make a plan of escape.
And then he hears Irene.
Irene, the dear little princess, who he had rescued from goblins once before, was now coming to save him. She pulls away enough stones that he is able to push aside the large slab of rock and escape the hole. Only when he does, Irene crawls into it, with the claim of following a thread.
Belief and Disbelief
All through the scene of his rescue, Curdie follows the princess in disbelief. He can’t understand how she came to the cave, how she found him, or how she seems to know exactly how to escape. She repeatedly explains that she is following her grandmother’s thread, but when she invites him to feel the string for himself, he can feel nothing.
“Then what can be the matter with your finger?” is the princess’s swift response (P & G, pg 80-81). Though he can’t understand what’s happening, Curdie follows the princess.
When they find their way out into the sunlight, Irene points to the glint of the thread in the sun, but still Curdie can’t see it. ” ‘Then you must believe without seeing,’ said the princess; ‘for you can’t deny it has brought us out of the mountain.’” (P & G, pg 81).
However, Curdie isn’t ready to believe. Though he can’t deny that they escaped, he still isn’t able to accept her explanation. When Irene brings him to her grandmother, he still can’t see her, and leaves the castle sure that the princess is telling stories.
Slowly Finding Faith
Curdie’s heart softens when he talks to his parents. Though the tale seems too incredible to be true, they both feel that the princess is trustworthy and that there is more to the story than Curdie can see. Curdie wrestles with his shame for how he spoke to princess, but still feels that somehow, she must be mistaken.
Only at the end of the book does he come to realize the truth of Irene’s story. The princess’s great grandmother comes to Curdie. At first, he believes the visit to be a dream. Yet, when his finger bumps a thread he cannot see, he immediately knows the meaning of it. He follows the thread to the missing Princess Irene, sure now that her story was true.
” Irene,” he said, “I am very sorry I did not believe you.”
“Oh, never mind, Curdie!” answered the princess. “You couldn’t, you know. You do believe me now, don’t you?”
“I can’t help it now. I ought to have helped it before.” (The Princess and the Goblin, pg 104)
After Irene’s grandmother revealed herself to him, and he felt for himself the invisible thread, he couldn’t help but believe. Like Thomas placing his hand in the Lord’s side, Curdie saw the proof of what he had doubted. He had experienced for himself the grandmother’s guidance, and could no longer help but have faith.
The Gift of Faith
Curdie’s journey from doubt to belief depicts how our faith is a gift. His mind wouldn’t allow Curdie to accept what he couldn’t see, and so when the time was right, the grandmother came to him. She revealed herself and led him where he needed to go.
Princess Irene was able to believe in her grandmother’s words because she trusted her grandmother. She knew instantly that her grandmother was good and loved her. Irene’s faith rested in that trust. Curdie, then, was able to believe in the grandmother’s guidance because he had seen Irene’s faith, and so when he felt the thread for himself, he knew what to do. Yet, for both of them, meeting the grandmother (even in circumstances that felt like a dream) was the first step in finding faith.
Likewise in the Christian walk, faith comes from encountering the Lord. In Romans 10, Paul writes that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, but “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10: 14, ESV). When we hear the Word of the Lord, when we learn of His goodness and grace, and we recognize His voice as our shepherd, then we find faith.
Our faith is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is confidence in the promises of God; confidence in Him even when we can’t see or understand what He’s doing. And like Irene resting in the assurance of a grandmother’s love, we can trust in God’s promises because we know of His goodness. We know of His love. And that faith should lead us to action.
Faith and Obedience in The Princess and Curdie
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” -2 Corinthians 5:6-9 (ESV)
The theme of faith pours over into MacDonald’s sequel, The Princess and Curdie. Taking place two years after the events of The Princess and the Goblin, this story follows Curdie as Irene’s grandmother sends him on a new adventure to aid the princess and the king.
Curdie’s Faith in Action
In Curdie’s journey, we see how obedience follows faith. When Irene’s grandmother calls Curdie to come and see her, he comes with a spirit of humility.
“Curdie,” she said in answer to his eyes, ” you have stood more than one trial already and have stood them well: now I’m going to put you to a harder. Do you think you are prepared for it?”
“How can I tell, ma’am,” he returned, “seeing I do not know what it is, or what preparation it needs? Judge me yourself, ma’am.”
“It needs only trust and obedience,” answered the lady. (The Princess and Curdie, pg 36)
When the grandmother tells Curdie she has a job for him to do, he accepts without hesitation. She asks him to withstand a trial, which he does with all the trust and obedience which she said he would need. Curdie is able to complete the task obediently, because of his trust in the grandmother.
When we come to faith in Christ, we should be walking in obedience. Trust in the Lord should prompt a desire in us to do His will. In 1 John 5: 1-3 we see, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (ESV)
Here we find the truth of why faith without works is dead (as described in James 2) — the love of the Lord is the keeping of His commands. When we love God and trust Him, our faith and love results in obedience. We start to recognize the goodness of His commands, to desire to know His ways and walk in them. God has been faithful to us; why would we not want to be faithful to the tasks He gives us?
Obedience when we Can’t See
Despite his trust, when it comes time for him to go, Curdie has many questions about what he should do.
“Curdie!” said the princess, and there was a tone of reminder in his own name as she spoke it, “did I not tell you to tell your father and mother that you were to set out for the court? And you know that lies to the north. You must learn to use far less direct directions than that. You must not be like a dull servant that needs to be told again and again before he will understand. You have orders enough to start with, and you will find, as you go on, and as you need to know, what you have to do. But I warn you that perhaps it will not look the least like what you may have been fancying I should require of you. I have one idea of your work, and you have another. I do not blame you for that–you cannot help it yet; but you must be ready to let my idea, which sets you working, set your idea right. Be true and honest and fearless, and all shall go well with you and your work, and all with whom your work lies, and so with your parents–and me too, Curdie, ” she added after a little pause. (P & C, pg 40).
The grandmother challenges Curdie’s expectations here. He wants full instructions on what he must do. She, however, asks him to continue to walk in trust and obedience.
Her line where she states, “I have one idea of your work and you have another . . . you must be ready to let my idea which sets you working, set your idea right,” pierces to the heart of our call to obey the Lord. Just as Curdie’s idea of his task was different from what the grandmother wanted him to do, often our idea of how things should be differs from what the Lord calls us to do.
When we walk in faith, we must be ready to conform ourselves to God’s will. He is the one who sets us working, and He is the one who is able to set our ideas right.
In Romans 12, Paul urges his readers, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2, ESV).
Our minds need renewing day by day. Our hearts need resetting to stay conformed to God’s word rather than the world. When we focus our attention on Him, learning more of His Word and faithfully walking in the direction He gives, we slowly grow in our ability to discern His will for us.
Final Thoughts:
It is easy to see why George MacDonald is often called the father of modern fantasy, and why his writing influenced so many great writers. The Princess and The Goblin and The Princess and Curdie touch on many powerful themes. They tell a beautiful story, with suspense and courage, friendship and truth. The books display human nature and the tension of goodness and evil within us. Yet, the picture of faith struck me as the most vivid aspect of the story. Both Curdie and Irene are strengthened by their belief and trust, and grow as characters because of it.
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