This story is a sequel to The Princess and the Goblin, but this second "Curdie" installment, published in 1882, is far more than a mere "children's story." The themes and linguistic style of The Princess and Curdie are considerably more advanced, and the depth of its spiritual analogies extensive in subtlety and scope. After being thrust into the rose-fire, the discerning gift of Curdie's hand to know toward what any man or woman is growing (beast or child), is one of MacDonald's most memorable, though chilling, images. It is a theme that became profoundly illuminated in later years by MacDonald's spiritual protégé C.S. Lewis, when he wrote in Mere Christianity, "Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature." Lewis's words embody a truth that emerges directly out of Curdie's story. This edition for The Cullen Collection is unedited in any way.