The Princess and the Goblin

The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co.

The sequel to this book is The Princess and Curdie.

Anne Thaxter Eaton writes in A Critical History of Children's Literature that ‘’The Princess and the Goblin’’ and its sequel “quietly suggest in every incident ideas of courage and honor." Jeffrey Holdaway writing in New Zealand Art Monthly said that both books start out as “normal fairytales but slowly become stranger”, and that they contain layers of symbolism similar to that of Lewis Carroll’s work.

Film adaptations
In the 1960s, the novel was adapted in animated form by Jay Ward for his Fractured Fairy Tales series. This version involved a race of innocent goblins who are forced to live underground. The goblin king falls in love with a princess, but a prince saves her by reciting poetry because goblins hate it.

A full-length animated adaptation of the book, directed by József Gémes, was released in 1992 in the United Kingdom, and in June 1994 in the United States. This Hungary/Wales/Japan co-production, created at Budapest's PannóniaFilm, Japan's NHK, and S4C and Siriol Productions in Great Britain, starred the voices of Joss Ackland, Claire Bloom and William Hootkins. The film's producer, Robin Lyons, also wrote the screenplay. However, it was not well received commercially nor critically upon its U.S. release from Hemdale Film Corporation in summer 1994, reportedly grossing only $1.8 million domestically and receiving mainly negative reviews (compared to Disney's very successful The Lion King that was released during the same month in the United States).

The film's Dutch title is De Prinses van het Zonnevolk, "Prinsessan og Durtarnir" in Icelandic and (The Princess and the Trolls).

Other
"The Princess and the Goblins" is also a poem by Sylvia Plath (1932–1963).

Australian Title: The Magic Princess

It was a book in the "100 Classic Books" collection for the Nintendo DS.