The fairy Peaseblossom and the goblin Toadstool set off on the oddest mission: to lure a girl and a boy to Faery, to bring before the Queen -- for her subjects in Fairyland are too well-behaved to be amusing. Can they find the right dreamers? Then Peaseblossom encounters Alice, who wishes she could watch a setting sun at all times -- while Toadstool runs into the nearly penniless Richard, who wants a buy a new umbrella for his mother. Perfect!
Yet nothing can go as planned . . . and soon Alice and Richard find themselves alone and lost in a strange woods, with no help but the guidance of the strange creatures they encounter along the way.
George MacDonald, author of "Phantastes, " here presents three tales of magical Faery -- "Cross Purposes," "The Shadows," and "The Flight of the Shadow.""
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, 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."
Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald.
MacDonald grew up influenced by his Congregational Church, with an atmosphere of Calvinism. But MacDonald never felt comfortable with some aspects of Calvinist doctrine; indeed, legend has it that when the doctrine of predestination was first explained to him, he burst into tears (although assured that he was one of the elect). Later novels, such as Robert Falconer and Lilith, show a distaste for the idea that God's electing love is limited to some and denied to others.
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