By | CHARLES DICKENS | A Christmas Carol | Stave II | The First of The Three Spirits | When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that looking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his chamber. He was endeavouring to pierce…
By | CHARLES DICKENS | A Christmas Carol | Stave I | Marley’s Ghost | Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXXII | The Last Chapter | All the rest went up the mountain, and separated in groups to the homes of the miners. Curdie and his father and mother took Lootie with them. And the whole way a…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXXI | The Subterranean Waters | The king’s harper, who always formed a part of his escort, was chanting a ballad which he made as he went on playing on his instrument—about the princess and the goblins, and…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXX | The King and the Kiss | The next morning the sun rose so bright that Irene said the rain had washed his face and let the light out clean. The torrents were still roaring down the…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXIX | Mason Work | He had all at once remembered the resolution of the goblins to carry out their second plan upon the failure of the first. No doubt they were already busy, and the mine was…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXVIII | Curtie’s Guide | Just as the consolation of this resolve dawned upon his mind and he was turning away for the cellar to follow the goblins into their hole, something touched his hand. It was the…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXVII | The Goblins In the King’s House | When Curdie fell asleep he began at once to dream. He thought he was ascending the Mountainside from the mouth of the mine, whistling and singing ‘Ring, dod, bang!’…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXVI | The Goblins Miners | That same night several of the servants were having a chat together before going to bed. ‘What can that noise be?’ said one of the housemaids, who had been listening for a…
By | GEORGE MACDONALD | The Princess and the Goblin | Chapter XXV | Curdie Comes To Grief | Everything was for some time quiet above ground. The king was still away in a distant part of his dominions. The men-at-arms kept watching about the house. They had been considerably…