Nel giorno del suo battesimo, la principessa di Lagobel viene colpita da una maledizione: una strega vendicativa, che per dimenticanza non era stata invitata, la priva della gravità fisica e mentale. Da quel momento la bambina tenderà a volare via al primo soffio di vento e non potrà più piangere. Il re e la regina, preoccupati, cercheranno una soluzione per far tornare la figlia con i piedi per terra, ma invano: neppure con il passare degli anni la principessa sarà capace di provare empatia, di frenare la sua strana risata, di comprendere il lato serio della vita. Cosa riuscirà a spezzare l'incantesimo e far sì che la principessa senta finalmente il peso del mondo? "La principessa leggera", pubblicata per la prima volta nel 1864, è una delle fiabe più celebri dello scrittore scozzese George MacDonald. Un racconto senza tempo, ricco di simboli e significati, che insegna la forza del sacrificio, della compassione e del vero amore.

La principessa leggera

I awoke one morning with the usual perplexity of mind which accompanies the return of consciousness. As I lay and looked through the eastern window of my room, a faint streak of peach-colour, dividing a cloud that just rose above the low swell of the horizon, announced the approach of the sun. As my thoughts, which a deep and apparently dreamless sleep had dissolved, began again to assume crystalline forms, the strange events of the foregoing night presented themselves anew to my wondering consciousness. The day before had been my one-and-twentieth birthday. Among other ceremonies investing me with my legal rights, the keys of an old secretary, in which my father had kept his private papers, had been delivered up to me.

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women

This ebook compiles George MacDonald's complete novels. 

This edition has been professionally formatted and contains several tables of contents. The first table of contents (at the very beginning of the ebook) lists the titles of all novels included in this volume. By clicking on one of those titles you will be redirected to the beginning of that work, where you'll find a new TOC that lists all the chapters and sub-chapters of that specific work.

George MacDonald: The Complete Novels

I awoke one morning with the usual perplexity of mind which accompanies the return of consciousness. As I lay and looked through the eastern window of my room, a faint streak of peach-colour, dividing a cloud that just rose above the low swell of the horizon, announced the approach of the sun. As my thoughts, which a deep and apparently dreamless sleep had dissolved, began again to assume crystalline forms, the strange events of the foregoing night presented themselves anew to my wondering consciousness. The day before had been my one-and-twentieth birthday. Among other ceremonies investing me with my legal rights, the keys of an old secretary, in which my father had kept his private papers, had been delivered up to me. As soon as I was left alone, I ordered lights in the chamber where the secretary stood, the first lights that had been there for many a year; for, since my father's death, the room had been left undisturbed. But, as if the darkness had been too long an inmate to be easily expelled, and had dyed with blackness the walls to which, bat-like, it had clung, these tapers served but ill to light up the gloomy hangings, and seemed to throw yet darker shadows into the hollows of the deep-wrought cornice.

Phantastes

contes du jour et de la nuit

Que vous vous rendiez en Belgique pour le plaisir ou pour affaires, ce guide vous permettra de profiter au maximum de votre séjour. Bruxelles : la Grand'Place, les musées royaux des Beaux-Arts, le Manneken-Pis, le parc de Bruxelles, le domaine royal de Laeken, l'Atomium, et des excursions à Waterloo et Louvain. Des trésors culturels : le centre médiéval de Bruges ; Gand, la cité des tours ; et Anvers, la ville de Rubens et du diamant. Des paysages variés : de la mer du Nord aux Flandres, de la Campine aux Hautes-Fagnes, du Hainaut à la vallée de la Meuse et aux forêts des Ardennes. Mais aussi : shopping, sports, culture, gastronomie, hôtels et restaurants.

Belgique

" De tous les arts dont il nous reste des vestiges, celui des indiens de la côte Nord-Ouest est certainement un des plus grands ".
Claude Lévi-Strauss

L'Art Haida

"Come oot o' the gutter, ye nickum!" cried, in harsh, half-masculine voice, a woman standing on the curbstone of a short, narrow, dirty lane, at right angles to an important thoroughfare, itself none of the widest or cleanest. She was dressed in dark petticoat and print wrapper. One of her shoes was down at the heel, and discovered a great hole in her stocking. Had her black hair been brushed and displayed, it would have revealed a thready glitter of grey, but all that was now visible of it was only two or three untidy tresses that dropped from under a cap of black net and green ribbons, which looked as if she had slept in it. Her face must have been handsome when it was young and fresh; but was now beginning to look tattooed, though whether the colour was from without or from within, it would have been hard to determine. Her black eyes looked resolute, almost fierce, above her straight, well-formed nose. Yet evidently circumstance clave fast to her. She had never risen above it, and was now plainly subjected to it.

Sir Gibbie

La clef d'or

"The Christmas Stories and Poetry by George MacDonald: Illustrated" is a heartwarming and spiritually enriching collection of holiday tales and poems by the celebrated Scottish author George MacDonald. This anthology includes a selection of his most cherished works, such as "The Gifts of the Child Christ, " "A Christmas Carol, " "A Christmas Prayer, " "Christmas Meditation, " and more.

George MacDonald's writings are known for their profound spiritual insights and the timeless moral lessons they convey. In this collection, he brings the magic and wonder of Christmas to life through his storytelling and poetry. His works reflect the true spirit of the holiday season, emphasizing themes of love, compassion, and the deeper meanings of Christmas.

"The Gifts of the Child Christ" is a poignant story that explores the significance of giving from the heart, while "A Christmas Carol" invites readers into a tale of personal transformation and redemption during the holidays. MacDonald's poetry, including "A Christmas Prayer" and "Christmas Meditation, " offers reflections on the nativity and the profound spiritual significance of Christ's birth.

"The Christmas Stories and Poetry by George MacDonald: Illustrated" is a timeless and spiritually uplifting addition to your holiday reading list. It invites readers to contemplate the true meaning of Christmas and the values that make this season so special. Immerse yourself in MacDonald's heartwarming narratives and poetry, and rediscover the beauty and depth of the Christmas story.

Contents:

The Gifts of the Child Christ

My Uncle Peter 

Christmas Day and Everyday

The Christmas Child

Christmas Meditation

A Christmas Prayer

A Christmas Carol

Mary's Lullaby

Christmas-Day

That Holy Thing

Christmas

Christmas Song of the Old Children

King Cole

A Song for Christmas

The Christmas Stories and Poetry by George MacDonald - The Gifts of the Child Christ, A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Prayer, Christmas Meditation and others

THERE was once a little princess who...

"But, Mr. Author, why do you always write about princesses?"

"Because every little girl is a princess."

"You will make them vain if you tell them that."

"Not if they understand what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"What do you mean by a princess?"

"The daughter of a king."

"Very well, then every little girl is a princess, and there would be no need to say anything about it, except that she is always in danger of forgetting her rank, and behaving as if she had grown out of the mud. I have seen little princesses behave like the children of thieves and lying beggars, and that is why they need, to be told they are princesses. And that is why, when I tell a story of this kind, I like to tell it about a princess. Then I can say better what I mean, because I can then give her every beautiful thing I want her to have."

"Please go on."

The Princess and the Goblin

Curdie was the son of Peter the miner. He lived with his father and mother in a cottage built on a mountain, and he worked with his father inside the mountain.

A mountain is a strange and awful thing. In old times, without knowing so much of their strangeness and awfulness as we do, people were yet more afraid of mountains. But then somehow they had not come to see how beautiful they are as well as awful, and they hated them-and what people hate they must fear. Now that we have learned to look at them with admiration, perhaps we do not feel quite awe enough of them. To me they are beautiful terrors.

The Princess and Curdie

I HAVE been asked to tell you about the back of the north wind. An old Greek writer mentions a people who lived there, and were so comfortable that they could not bear it any longer, and drowned themselves. My story is not the same as his. I do not think Herodotus had got the right account of the place. I am going to tell you how it fared with a boy who went there.

He lived in a low room over a coach-house; and that was not by any means at the back of the north wind, as his mother very well knew. For one side of the room was built only of boards, and the boards were so old that you might run a penknife through into the north wind. And then let them settle between them which was the sharper! I know that when you pulled it out again the wind would be after it like a cat after a mouse, and you would know soon enough you were not at the back of the north wind. Still, this room was not very cold, except when the north wind blew stronger than usual: the room I have to do with now was always cold, except in summer, when the sun took the matter into his own hands. Indeed, I am not sure whether I ought to call it a room at all; for it was just a loft where they kept hay and straw and oats for the horses.

At the Back of the North Wind

Il giorno del suo ventunesimo compleanno, Anodos riceve le chiavi di un vecchio scrittoio ereditato dal padre. Dopo averne aperto alcuni cassetti e aver forzato un piccolo scomparto nascosto, appare d'improvviso una minuscola figura femminile: è lì per esaudire il suo desiderio, espresso distrattamente la sera prima, di trovare la strada per la Terra delle Fate. Quando il mattino successivo si sveglia, il ragazzo scopre che un rivolo d'acqua limpida scorre sul tappeto, che le decorazioni di fiori e foglie si muovono a una leggera brezza, che il mobile di quercia vecchio stile sta diventando un albero: l'intera stanza si sta trasformando davanti ai suoi occhi in un portale che si apre proprio su quel mondo fatato. Scorto un sentiero appena tracciato che conduce verso il bosco, lo segue istintivamente, preso da un'attrazione irresistibile. Tra le fate e i folletti, i vecchi libri e le bellissime fanciulle, il viaggio si rivelerà assai arduo. Anodos cadrà in errore e si risolleverà molte volte, ma dovrà percorrere la strada fino in fondo per poter crescere davvero e giungere a una forma più alta di consapevolezza."Phantastes" fu pubblicato il 28 ottobre 1858. Il romanzo era talmente enigmatico e ricco di riferimenti alla letteratura, alle religioni e al folklore che i lettori ne rimasero sorpresi. In maniera del tutto nuova, George MacDonald si era allontanato dai canoni editoriali dominanti dell'età vittoriana e aveva affidato alla pura immaginazione la sua indagine della realtà, rendendo "Phantastes" la sorgente da cui tanti autori della letteratura fantastica attingeranno, da Lewis Carroll a C. S. Lewis. La traduzione offerta ai lettori dalla casa editrice flower-ed, integrale e annotata, è arricchita dalla Prefazione di Lorenza Ricci ("Sia il tuo cuore una sorgente") e dalla Postfazione di Michela Alessandroni ("Specchi magici, cicli e alchimia").

Phantastes - Un romanzo di fate per uomini e donne

George MacDonald est un écrivain et pasteur calviniste britannique né le 10 décembre 1824 à Huntly et mort le 18 septembre 1905 à Ashtead. Son œuvre littéraire, aujourd’hui peu connue en France, a suscité l’admiration, entre autres de W. H. Auden, G. K. Chesterton, et J. R. R. Tolkien. C. S. Lewis le considérait comme son « maître ».

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald

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