The Light Princess

Last updated

The Light Princess
Light Princess Dubois illustration.jpg
Cover of 1962 edition.
Author George MacDonald
Illustrator Arthur Hughes
Country Scotland
LanguageEnglish
Genre Fairy tale
Publication date
1864

The Light Princess is a Scottish fairy tale by George MacDonald. It was published in 1864 as a story within the larger story Adela Cathcart. Drawing on inspiration from "Sleeping Beauty", it tells the story of a princess afflicted by a constant weightlessness, unable to get her feet on the ground, both literally and metaphorically, until she finds a love that brings her down to earth.

Contents

Summary

A king and queen, after some time, have a daughter. The king invites everyone to the christening, except his sister Princess Makemnoit, a spiteful and sour woman. She arrives without an invitation and curses the princess to have no gravity. Whenever the princess accidentally moves up in the air, she has to be brought down, and the wind is capable of carrying her off. As she grows, she never cries, and never can be brought to see the serious side of anything. The court philosophers, when consulted, are unable to propose any cure that the king and queen will suffer to be used.

She passionately loves swimming, and when she swims, she regains her gravity. This leads to the proposal that if she could be brought to cry, it might break the curse. But nothing can make her cry.

A prince from another country sets out to find a wife but finds fault in every princess he finds. He had not intended to seek out the light princess, but, upon becoming lost in a forest, he finds the princess swimming. Thinking she is drowning, he rescues her, ending up with her in the air, with her scolding him. He falls instantly in love and, upon her demand, puts her back in the water, and goes swimming with her. Days pass and the prince learns that her manner is changed between the water and the land, and he can not marry her as she is on land.

Princess Makemnoit, meanwhile, discovers that the Princess loves the lake so she sets out to dry it up. The water is drained from the lake, the springs are stopped up, and the rain ceases. Even babies no longer cry water.

As the lake dries up, it is discovered that the only way to stop it is to block the hole the water is flowing from, and the only thing that will block it is a living man, who would die in the deed. The prince volunteers, on the condition that the princess keeps him company while the lake fills. The lake fills up. When the prince has almost drowned, the princess frantically drags his body from the lake to take it to her old nurse, who is a wise woman. They tend him through the night, and he wakes at dawn. The princess falls to the floor and cries.

The prince desired to travel overland with the Princess so she could find her feet. After the princess masters the art of walking, she marries the prince. Princess Makemnoit's house is undermined by the waters and falls in, drowning her. The Light Princess and her Prince had many children together.

Adaptations

An animated version was released in 1978.

In 2013, a musical version by Tori Amos and Samuel Adamson inspired by the original story was premiered for the Royal National Theatre in London. The stage production featured actress Rosalie Craig as the title character. The musical was generally well-received, enjoyed an extended run in the theatre, and had its cast recording released in 2015.

Another musical also titled The Light Princess was written by Tony Lawton with music by Alex Bechtel, and debuted in April 2017 at the Arden Theatre Company. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sleeping Beauty</span> European fairy tale

"Sleeping Beauty", also titled in English as The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, is a fairy tale about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince. A good fairy, knowing the princess would be frightened if alone when she wakes, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace and forest asleep, to awaken when the princess does.

<i>Swan Lake</i> 1877 ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Swan Lake, Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time.

<i>Kismet</i> (musical) 1953 US musical by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis

Kismet is a musical adapted by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis from the 1911 play of the same name by Edward Knoblock, with lyrics and musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest. The music was mostly adapted from several pieces composed by Alexander Borodin. The story concerns a wily poet who talks his way out of trouble several times; meanwhile, his beautiful daughter meets and falls in love with the young caliph.

<i>Once Upon a Mattress</i> 1959 American musical comedy

Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was written as a humorous adaptation of the 1835 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea".

"Nix Nought Nothing" is a fairy tale included in Joseph Jacobs's anthology, English Fairy Tales (1898). It is a translation of the Scottish tale "Nicht Nought Nothing", originally collected by Andrew Lang from an old woman in Morayshire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wicked fairy (Sleeping Beauty)</span> Fictional character

The Wicked fairy is the antagonist of Sleeping Beauty. In some adaptations, she is known as Carabosse, and she is named Maleficent in Walt Disney media.

The Princess and the Pea is a 2002 animated musical fantasy film adaptation of the popular 1835 fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen. The film was directed by Mark Swan. It was released August 16, 2002 as an American-Hungarian production of Feature Films for Families & Swan Productions. The script writers were Forrest S. Baker and Ken Cromar.

<i>Princess of Glass</i>

Princess of Glass is a 2010 fantasy novel written by Jessica Day George. Similar to how its prequel, Princess of the Midnight Ball, is based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Princess of Glass is based on Cinderella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Three Feathers</span> Fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm

"The Three Feathers" is a story by the Brothers Grimm, in their Kinder- und Hausmärchen. It is KHM nr. 63. It is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 402, "The Animal Bride". A second variant of the tale also collected by the Brothers Grimm is "The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat", listed as KHM 106.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somebody Else's Prince</span> Short story by Evelyn Sharp

"Somebody Else's Prince" belongs to a collection of short stories, named The Other Side of the Sun, written by Evelyn Sharp (1869–1955) in 1900. Other stories in this collection include: The Weird Witch of the Willowherb, The Magician's Tea-Party, The Hundredth Princess, The Tears of Princess Prunella, The Palace on the Floor, The Lady Daffodilia, and The Kite That Went to the Moon.

<i>The Light Princess</i> (musical) 2013 musical by Tori Amos

The Light Princess is a musical with music and lyrics by Tori Amos and a book by Samuel Adamson based on the Scottish fairy tale of the same name by George MacDonald.

The Little Mermaid Jr. is a stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical, based on the animated 1989 Disney film of the same name and the classic story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen about a mermaid who dreams of the world above the sea and gives up her voice to find love. Its book is by Doug Wright, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, with additional lyrics by Glenn Slater. The Little Mermaid Jr. first became available to license by the company Music Theater International and Disney Theatrical Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Lindworm</span> Danish fairy tale published in the 19th century by Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig

King Lindworm or Prince Lindworm is a Danish fairy tale published in the 19th century by Danish folklorist Svend Grundtvig.

Prince Wolf is a Danish fairy tale collected by Svend Grundtvig in his book Danske Folkeaeventyr. It is related to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband. Tales with similar motifs and elements are found across Denmark and Scandinavia.

The Serpent Prince or The Snake Prince is a Hungarian folk tale collected by Hungarian-American scholar Linda Dégh, featuring the marriage between a human maiden and a husband in serpent guise.

Trandafiru is a Romanian fairy tale collected by Arthur Carl Victor Schott and Albert Schott in the mid-19th century and sourced from Banat.

Again, The Snake Bridegroom is a Serbian folktale collected in the 19th century by Serbian philologist Vuk Karadžić, featuring the marriage between a human maiden and a husband in serpent guise.

Princess Aubergine is an Indian folktale collected by Flora Annie Steel and sourced from the Punjab region. It concerns a princess whose lifeforce is tied to a necklace, and, as soon as it falls in the hand of a rival, the princess falls into a death-like sleep - comparable to heroines of European fairy tales Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Variants exist in India, both with a heroine and a hero whose life is attached to a magical necklace.

Pájaro Verde is a Mexican folktale collected by Howard True Wheeler from Ayutla, Jalisco. It is related to the cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom and distantly related to the Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche, in that the heroine is forced to perform difficult tasks for a witch.

References

  1. "The Light Princess". Arden Theater. Retrieved 19 October 2022.