A Double Story
1875
A Double Story, written by George MacDonald and first published in 1875, is a fantasy novel that contrasts the lives of two girls: Princess Rosamond and shepherd's daughter Agnes. Both girls are raised with misguided notions of superiority, leading them to selfishness as they grow. Their encounters with a wise woman catalyze personal transformation and lessons about humility and self-worth. The narrative critiques societal values through a whimsical fairy tale lens, making it notable for its exploration of entitlement and identity.
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“But there are victories far worse than defeats; and to overcome an angel too gentle to put out all his strength, and ride away in triumph on the back of a devil, is one of the poorest.””
— George MacDonald
“People are so ready to think themselves changed when it is only their mood that is changed. Those who are good-tempered because it is a fine day will be ill-tempered when it rains: their selves are just the same both days; only in one case the fine weather has got into them, in the other the rainy.””
— George MacDonald
“Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing not to be afraid depends on what the fearlessness is founded upon. Some how no fear because they have no knowledge of the danger; there is nothing fine in that. Some are too stupid to be afraid; there is nothing fine in that. Some who are not easily frightened would yet turn their backs and run the moment they were frightened; such never had more courage than fear. But the person who will do his or her work in spite of his or her fear is a person of true courage.””
— George MacDonald
“Nobody who has not been tried knows how difficult it is; but whoever has come out well of it - and those who do not overcome never do come out of it - always looks back with horror, not on what she has come through, but on the very idea of the possibility of having failed and being still the same miserable creature as before.””
— George MacDonald
“To be conceited of doing one's duty is, then, a sign of how little one does it, and how little one sees what a contemptible thing it is not to do it.””
— George MacDonald
“However strange it may well seem, to do one's duty will make any one conceited who only does it sometimes. Those who do it always would as soon think of being conceited of eating their dinner as of doing their duty. What honest boy would pride himself on not picking pockets? A thief who is trying to reform would. To be conceited of doing one's duty is then a sign of how little one does it, and how little one sees what a contemptible thing it is not to do it. Could any but a low creature be conceited of not being contemptible? Until our duty becomes to us common as breathing, we are poor creatures.””
— George MacDonald
“If you think it is not finished -- I never knew a story that was. I could tell you a great deal more concerning them all, but I have already told more than is good for those who read but with their foreheads, and enough for those whom it has made look a little solemn, and sigh as they close the book.””
— George MacDonald
