Excerpt: "I confess I was a little dismayed to find what a solemn turn the club-stories had taken. But this dismay lasted for a moment only; for I saw that Adela was deeply interested, again wearing the look that indicates abstracted thought and feeling. I said to myself: "This is very different mental fare from what you have been used to, Adela." But she seemed able to mark, learn, and inwardly digest it, for she had the appearance of one who is stilled by the strange newness of her thoughts. I was sure that she was now experiencing a consciousness of existence quite different from anything she had known before. But it had a curious outcome." George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". Table of Contents: • CHRISTMAS EVE • CHURCH • THE CHRISTMAS DINNER • THE NEW DOCTOR • THE LIGHT PRINCESS • THE BELL • THE SCHOOLMASTER'S STORY • SONG • THE CURATE AND HIS WIFE • THE SHADOWS • THE EVENING AT THE CURATE'S • PERCY AND HIS MOTHER • THE BROKEN SWORDS • MY UNCLE PETER • THE GIANT'S HEART • A CHILD'S HOLIDAY • INTERRUPTION • PERCY • THE CRUEL PAINTER • THE CASTLE • WHAT NEXT? • GENERALSHIP • AN UNFORESEEN FORESIGHT