The Princess and Curdie
Two years have passed since Curdie slayed the goblins, but his real trial has only begun. When the miners son learns that corrupt ministers are poisoning the king, he faces a danger far subtler than underground monsters: human greed dressed in fine clothes. The old princess returns with one final test, gifting Curdie the strangest companion he has ever seen a creature called Lina, so ugly that even her own mother would not own her. What follows is a story about learning to see what is real. Lina becomes the most faithful friend Curdie could ask for, and together they must do what the grown-ups in the kingdom cannot: save the king, defeat the traitors, and prove that courage and kindness matter more than strength or beauty. George MacDonald writes with the gentle darkness of Victorian fairy tales, where children are not saved by magic but by their own growing hearts.
