The Princess and the Goblin is a children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald. It was published in 1872 by Strahan & Co. Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives a lonely life in a castle in a wild, desolate, mountainous kingdom, with only her nursemaid, "Lootie" for company. Her father the king is normally absent attending to affairs of state, and her mother is dead. Irene has never known about the existence of the goblins which lurk in the underground mines but her nursemaid Lootie does know about them. These goblins are grotesque and hideous beings, who centuries ago were human, but due to various reasons, they were driven underground and became malformed and distorted by their new lifestyle. This caused them to despise the humans above the ground and vow revenge against them. One rainy day the princess is confined to her nursery in boredem and runs upstairs to explore parts of the castle she has never seen. She finds a room at the top of the castle where sits a beautiful old lady, with silver hair but smooth and youthful skin. This lady tells Irene she is her great-great-grandmother. Nobody knows that she lives up there. The great-great-grandmother shows Irene her many pigeons, that live on the castle roof, and whose eggs she eats as her only food source. Then she shows Irene the way back downstairs, knowing her nursemaid will be worried about her.