Published in 1872, "The Princess and the Goblin" is a children's fantasy novel. One of the most successful and beloved of Victorian fairy tales, George MacDonald's, "The Princess and the Goblin" tells the story of young Princess Irene and her friend Curdie, who must outwit the threatening goblins who live in caves beneath her mountain home. Anne Thaxter Eaton writes in, "A Critical History of Children's Literature" that, "The Princess and the Goblin" and its sequel, "quietly suggest in every incident ideas of courage and honor."