Status Updates From The Princess And The Goblin...

Irene forgives the nurse who is still miffed Irene implies she is ugly. That is not what Irene said thought. Irene sticks to the truth. Her big grandmother is more beautiful but that doesn’t meant the nurse is ugly. Nurse is jealous of the imaginary big grandmother and the princess corrects her on her bad attitude. Irene gets her nurse to promise to see her grandmother. They make peace and Irene sleeps.

A true princess never tells a lie and she is heartbroken. The nurse is upset because she thinks she was too hard on Irene and Irene is upset at how cross the nurse was. It never occurs to her that Irene is being honest and she shoould have talked to Digory Kirke, Irene gives the nurse the cold shoulder all evening long and it causes the nurse to tear up. They make up after nurse tells Irene she can’t believe her.

The nurse tells Irene that it’s one thing for princesses to make up stuff but it’s a nother to expect other people to actually believe it. They go back and forth and Irene says she will be happy to take her upstairs to see and the nurse says she doesn’t have time for such foolishness, For the second time that day, Irene cries and her face is hot. Then she is not rude to the nurse, but her tone is cold.

Ch. 4 This reminds me of two moments in Narnia, both with Lucy: when nobody believed her when she told them about Narnia and when she saw Aslan and nobody else did. Nurse listens to her because she responds directly to what Irene is saying but then she lets the little girl understand that the nurse believes it’s all make-believe. Irene interprets it as being accused of lying. She is angry and tearful.

Oh there are fairy tale numbers. She only went up six steps the first time (rebellion of humanity). There are three doors when Irene reaches her big grandmother’s level.

Her big grandmother truly is wise. She does not tell Irene to keep it a secret because she wants Irene to experience it for herself. Nurse will not believe her and will think she’s making it all up. So, it really is like keeping it secret because of her unbelief.

Ch. 3 I see the moon’s influence all over Irene’s namesake. Black dress with silver hair, old, crown (“thrice-crownèd queen of night”). The tower and spinning points to her being a wise woman. Moon imagery: “little silver basin and a soft white towel, with which she washed and wiped the bright little face.” The pigeons are white (doves?). Not only is a dove a symbol of the Holy Spirit, it is a an enemy of dragons!

I keep wondering about the worm-eaten door. Worm is linked to dragon so is evil trying to get to the staircase through the door to go after the wise woman?

The weather is cold and wet which also points to the moon. She has crossed a boundary when going through the worm-eaten door and she wanders (the moon) and gets lost. After her tearful outburst, she comes up with a logical way to find her way out and it fails. On the way to the wise woman's room, she crawls on her hands and knees: an image of seeking wisdom with humility.

Ch. 1-2
I'm doing a quick read because I want to see if there are connections to Tom Sawyer since Twain was a fan of MacDonald. Who knew? In the first chapter, I started wondering about literary alchemy. Irene's eyes are dark with a star in it and the blue ceiling of her room is covered in stars. It makes me wonder about the influence of the moon. The weather is cold and wet which also points to the moon.