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The Light Princess
It’s a well known fact that a new-born princess will often be subject to a curse—especially if her royal parents neglect to invite an important magical relative to the christening. But never has there been a curse as charming (and hilarious) as that which befalls the Light Princess. Deprived of gravity, she can’t take anything—or anyone—seriously. Even worse, she’s apt to
...morePaperback, 48 pages
Published
July 3rd 2003
by Echo Library
(first published 1864)
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The Light Princess is by turns lyrical, cynical, witty, poignant and ultimately captivating. How the princess loses her gravity and later regains it is told with wit and wisdom and makes for an entertaining read. The story is short, and can be read in under 30 minutes. Although it is a fairy tale, it isn't childishly written (probably due to the fact it was penned in 1864). Quite the contrary. There are words and phrases that might make it too cumbersome to read out loud to a young child, a...more
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George MacDonald is a bit of a mixed bag as an author. Essentially, his realistic fictions tend to drag their way to somewhat heavy-handed moral conclusions, while his fantasies dance along with impish humor and a genuine sense of wonder.
This collection demonstrates MacDonald the fantasist at his best. Funny, moving, and thoroughly compassionate, each tale is well worth reading--and may just stick with you for the rest of your life.
This collection demonstrates MacDonald the fantasist at his best. Funny, moving, and thoroughly compassionate, each tale is well worth reading--and may just stick with you for the rest of your life.
The Light Princess is a fairy tale about a king and queen, who after some time, have a daughter, a princess, who shortly after her birth has “lost her gravity” after being put under a spell by her wicked and jealous aunt. The girl grows up always having to be tied down so she won’t float away. In her teenage years, she learns that when she is swimming, she is able to remove the weights that have weighed her down. But what is a fairy tale without a prince to save the day? MacDonald teaches of the...more
Bryan
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Christians, the young at heart, children, teachers, everyone
Recommended to Bryan by:
C.S. Lewis
Shelves:
middle-grade-books
This is arguably the best fairy tale I have ever read. It's about a Princess who is bewitched at birth by her evil aunt so that she has no gravity and will float away unless tied to the ground.
While MacDonald's writing often struggles in terms of style and clarity, his understanding of people, virtue, and the redemptive power of Charity are unparalleled.
His poems have an innocence to them that elucidates why we write and read poems and all: coming to know God.
The w...more
While MacDonald's writing often struggles in terms of style and clarity, his understanding of people, virtue, and the redemptive power of Charity are unparalleled.
His poems have an innocence to them that elucidates why we write and read poems and all: coming to know God.
The w...more
I was previewing this book for Grace and Ian. It's a pretty benign fairy tale about an evil princess being wronged, casting a spell on the baby princess and how a prince saved the day through his willingness to save the little princess by sacrificing his own life. The scene in the middle where the evil princess calls forth a huge snake to poke holes in the bottom of the lake might be a bit scary for them. Otherwise, it's a cute story and not nearly as dark as some of the Grimm tales. (The Libriv...more
-cough cough- Awesome! -cough cough- Ok, same style as the other books, only not about children. It's a classic princess romance- wait, did I say classic?! There was nothing normal about this story- consider the theme! "A princess who weighs nothing because of a curse." Consider the implications! Consider how not cliched this is. He took a princess story and made it... different! It's truly inredible. By the way, I feel bad for the poor prince in this story.
The ...more
The ...more
I have this friend who is an uncanny gift giver. (Hi Meghan!) She knew within a year of our acquaintance that I would treasure the gift of an old beloved book above just about anything else in the world. There are people who have known me, literally, my entire life who don't know this about me. (Hi Mom!*) Not only that, but she picks the perfect books. First, it was the illustrated Little Women and Wuthering Heights - both for my birthday. (I love them both so much I eventually tracked down ...more
While this book is no where near the amazing poinancy of Phantastes or the theology of his books about the gospel and it was really full of unlikable characters the part in the lake was what made this story for me. The selfless prince and the totally narcisstic princess both changing from death to life; only one is going to life to death and the other is going from death to life. Loving a lake more than any human being, being lost to your humanity because you have lost your gravity (not just phy...more
The light princess is light of body and light of mind. She's empty-headed and callous, and she floats through life (literally) always laughing but never smiling (how creepy), and never caring for anyone but herself. I guess one can't experience true joy without the grounding gravity of sorrow.
It reminded me a bit of Fiyero in the musical Wicked (have yet to read the book), and his song 'Dancing through Life'. Life is fraught-less, when you're thoughtless...
But, oh, the...more
It reminded me a bit of Fiyero in the musical Wicked (have yet to read the book), and his song 'Dancing through Life'. Life is fraught-less, when you're thoughtless...
But, oh, the...more
An odd tale of a princess who was cursed - (physical or spiritual)gravity had no effect upon her. She loved no one. She only loved the water that made her feel her weight, that is until she meets a prince who helps her to 'fall.'
A quaint tale of floating, swimming, love, adventure, and lessons learned. I certainly thoroughly enjoy George MacDonald's writing and symbolism included in his works.
A quaint tale of floating, swimming, love, adventure, and lessons learned. I certainly thoroughly enjoy George MacDonald's writing and symbolism included in his works.
My 9 year old read this for her book club and I read it along with her because I'm a fan of his other books (The Princess and The Goblin, The Princess and Curdie). It was quite short and offered a simple story and moral for children along with a deeper meaning for adults. The vocabulary was great too. Best of all, the story is so old that it's available for free online! Recommended.
This was a weird fairytale for me. The bad aunt goes unpunished, the parents are terrible, the Princess is nearly unlikeable and the Prince is, well, dumb.
That being said, it was nice to read a fairytale that wasn't all happiness and gumdrops and full of good people. And it makes you think about all the wonderful things you couldn't do if you had no gravity: jump, dive, walk...
That being said, it was nice to read a fairytale that wasn't all happiness and gumdrops and full of good people. And it makes you think about all the wonderful things you couldn't do if you had no gravity: jump, dive, walk...
All writers and lovers of literature are supposed to be fond of George MacDonald. For some reason, however, I was disappointed by both The Light Princess and The Princess and the Goblins. They were hard going, and frankly boring in places.
Again, I blame the 2 stars on my having been forced to read some of these as a kid. I may like the better if I try again.
Again, I blame the 2 stars on my having been forced to read some of these as a kid. I may like the better if I try again.
I love George MacDonald and wanted to love this book, but I didn't. It was clever, but I read it with my kids and there was so much that went way way over their heads that they were bored stiff. To be honest, my attention wavered as well. It is a lovely story about a princess who is missing her gravity and the sacrifice that gave it back to her.
This book was really just okay, but was a little more clever than your average "meh" book so I bumped it up to three stars instead of two. There are no real surprises in this book and it is a very quick read. Length and vocabulary-wise, I'd put it at a second or maybe third grade level. (I had to look up one word, and I like that in a book.)
Written in the style of a classic fairy tale, but with sly humor (puns, even!) and a good strong message about gravity (figurative) and sacrifice (genuine.)
The language may be challenging for earlier readers, but I think it would make an excellent read-aloud for the 6 and up age range.
(BTW: Available free through Project Gutenberg!)
The language may be challenging for earlier readers, but I think it would make an excellent read-aloud for the 6 and up age range.
(BTW: Available free through Project Gutenberg!)
"He had fallen in love with her already, and as far as he could see, she had not a single fault about her, except, of course, that she had not any gravity. No prince, however, would judge of a princess by weight. The loveliness of her foot he would hardly estimate by the depth of the impression it could make in mud."
Genre: old time juvenile fiction
Summary: There once was a princess who was cursed from birth to remain lighter than air until a prince saves her. She is threatened by the smallest breeze but in the water, she has her normal weight. When her beloved pond begins to disappear, she is distraught, but seeing as a young handsome prince is already in love with her, he offers himself as a sacrifice to plug the hole. As he is nearing his death, the princess realizes what he must feel to sacrifice so...more
Summary: There once was a princess who was cursed from birth to remain lighter than air until a prince saves her. She is threatened by the smallest breeze but in the water, she has her normal weight. When her beloved pond begins to disappear, she is distraught, but seeing as a young handsome prince is already in love with her, he offers himself as a sacrifice to plug the hole. As he is nearing his death, the princess realizes what he must feel to sacrifice so...more
A short sojourn into the world of children’s literature on the behalf of a friend, I have to say that I found The Light Princess to be adorable. Intolerably so. I feel like vomiting a rainbow, that’s how cute and fun the story is. The writing is the best part of course, because unlike a lot of fairy tales, this one is full of tongue-in-cheek narration and humor where most authors place melodrama. Problems? How can you not like this story? It’s only like, a 100 lovely pages. Recommend? Uh, y...more
Such a great story of redemption and redemptive love. Near the end, as the prince is giving his life for a princess who as yet does not even really care or understand his sacrifice, my 5 and 6 year old girls were in tears. It didn't take long for them to see Christ and the church in this.
A friend read this book to me over the past weekend. The writing is delightfully witty and the lessons are deep. I enjoyed it tremendously. Yes, it is a fairy tale, with witches and such, but the lessons and the humor made me greatly enjoy it. I'll probably read it again sometime.
This story was actually better than I expected it to be. It had humor, suspense and the always endearing love story. I would give it 4 stars for the audio cast alone, which was very well done with a full cast of characters and a narrator who read the story as if it was poetry.
I got this book recommended to me by a friend and I read it this morning before I got out of bed.
I love fairy tales and this was a good one. It made we want to reproduce so that I could read it to my children ;)
I love fairy tales and this was a good one. It made we want to reproduce so that I could read it to my children ;)
Being forced to read a 19th century short story, i chose this story! I loved the play on words and the twisted humorous plot. It is a great twist on the usual princess, witch, and adorable prince.
I wanted to fall in love with this book...I'd heard great things about it and about the author. But it just didn't do it for me. It was interesting, but not magical, like I'd hoped. Still, I look forward to reading more from this author, especially because of his influence on C. S. Lewis. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the next one.
Cute. Very short. Great audiobook. Similar to Gail Carson Levine in story and style. This author uses a lot of 5 dollar words which made the listening all the more fun. Nothing special, just simple princely fun.
This is a lot of fun to read at the table with the young (4 years and younger) kids because of the short chapters, great vocab, and ever-interesting MacDonald turns of phrases and plotline.
This is a lovely quick read, full of light humor and classic fairytale elements. The illustrations by Maurice Sendak were a wonderful addition to this tale of light, love, and laughter.
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George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S. Lewis that wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a tr...more
More about George MacDonald...
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S. Lewis that wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a tr...more
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“One day [the prince] lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes. In this they have the advantage of the princesses, who are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our princesses got lost in a forest sometimes.”
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