Excerpt

Excerpt from The Light Princess, by George MacDonald

"That's right, my beauty!" cried the princess; "drain it dry."

She let it go, left it hanging, and sat down on a great stone, with her
black cat, which had followed her all round the cave, by her side.
Then she began to knit and mutter awful words. The snake hung like a
huge leech, sucking at the stone; the cat stood with his back arched,
and his tail like a piece of cable, looking up at the snake; and the
old woman sat and knitted and muttered. Seven days and seven nights
they remained thus; when suddenly the serpent dropped from the roof as
if exhausted, and shrivelled up till it was again like a piece of dried
seaweed. The witch started to her feet, picked it up, put it in her
pocket, and looked up at the roof. One drop of water was trembling on
the spot where the snake had been sucking. As soon as she saw that,
she turned and fled, followed by her cat. Shutting the door in a
terrible hurry, she locked it, and having muttered some frightful
words, sped to the next, which also she locked and muttered over; and
so with all the hundred doors, till she arrived in her own cellar.
Then she sat down on the floor ready to faint, but listening with
malicious delight to the rushing of the water, which she could hear
distinctly through all the hundred doors.

But this was not enough. Now that she had tasted revenge, she lost her
patience. Without further measures, the lake would be too long in
disappearing. So the next night, with the last shred of the dying old
moon rising, she took some of the water in which she had revived the
snake, put it in a bottle, and set out, accompanied by her cat. Before
morning she had made the entire circuit of the lake, muttering fearful
words as she crossed every stream, and casting into it some of the
water out of her bottle. When she had finished the circuit she
muttered yet again, and flung a handful of water towards the moon.
Thereupon every spring in the country ceased to throb and bubble, dying
away like the pulse of a dying man. The next day there was no sound of
falling water to be heard along the borders of the lake. The very
courses were dry; and the mountains showed no silvery streaks down
their dark sides. And not alone had the fountains of mother Earth
ceased to flow; for all the babies throughout the country were crying
dreadfully--only without tears.

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Explanation

George MacDonald’s The Light Princess (1864) is a fairy tale that blends whimsy, moral allegory, and dark fantasy. The excerpt provided depicts a pivotal moment in the story, where the vengeful witch—who has cursed the princess to lose her gravity (both physically and emotionally)—enacts a sinister plot to drain the kingdom’s life-giving water. This passage is rich in symbolism, atmospheric tension, and moral themes, while also showcasing MacDonald’s signature blend of fairy-tale logic and psychological depth.

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Context & Summary of the Excerpt

The witch, a figure of malice and unnatural power, has been nursing a grudge against the royal family (likely due to past slights or exclusions, a common trope in fairy tales). Her curse on the princess—making her "light" in both body and spirit—has already caused chaos, but here, she escalates her revenge by drying up the kingdom’s water sources, a metaphorical (and literal) act of life-denial.

The passage describes two key actions:

1. The Snake’s Drainage of the Cave – The witch uses a serpent (a symbol of deception, corruption, and unnatural thirst) to suck water from a stone in a hidden cave. The snake’s transformation—from a "huge leech" to a "dried seaweed"—mirrors the exhaustion of life the witch seeks to impose.
2. The Poisoning of the Lake – She then takes water from the snake’s revival (now tainted) and curses every stream and spring in the land, causing them to dry up. The final act—flinging water at the moon—severs the cosmic connection to vitality, leaving even babies crying without tears, a haunting image of emotional and physical desolation.

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Key Themes

1. Revenge and Corruption

   • The witch’s actions are driven by spite, not justice. Her revenge is excessive and indiscriminate, harming innocents (the babies, the land) as much as her intended targets. This reflects MacDonald’s moral warning about the destructive cycle of vengeance.
   • The snake, a biblical symbol of temptation and evil, is her tool—she revives it only to drain life, showing how hatred twists natural forces.

2. Water as Life and Emotion

   • Water in fairy tales often represents emotional depth, purity, and renewal (e.g., baptism, healing springs). Here, its absence symbolizes spiritual and emotional barrenness.
   • The babies crying "without tears" is a devastating image—they feel pain but cannot express or release it, mirroring the prince and princess’s emotional stagnation (the princess cannot cry due to her "lightness," and the prince is trapped in melancholy).

3. The Unnatural vs. the Natural Order

   • The witch inverts natural processes: snakes don’t suck water from stone; springs don’t die at a muttered word. Her magic is unnatural, parasitic, and life-denying.
   • The moon’s involvement (a traditional symbol of feminine cycles, tides, and emotion) suggests she is disrupting cosmic balance, not just local water.

4. Isolation and Control

   • The witch locks a hundred doors, sealing away the flood she has unleashed. This could symbolize:
     • Her fear of her own creation (she flees the sound of water, suggesting even she is unsettled by the chaos).
     • The compartmentalization of evil—she contains her destruction in layers, but it still leaks out.

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Literary Devices & Stylistic Choices

1. Imagery & Atmosphere

   • Tactile and Visual Horror:
     • The snake as a "huge leech" evokes disgust and parasitism.
     • The cat’s "tail like a piece of cable" suggests tense, unnatural alertness.
     • The "silvery streaks" on mountains (now gone) contrast with the dark, dry landscape.
   • Auditory Imagery:
     • The "rushing of the water" behind locked doors creates dreadful suspense—we hear the flood but cannot see it.
     • The "dying pulse" of springs personifies the land as a mortally wounded body.

2. Symbolism

   • The Snake: Represents corruption, stolen vitality, and the witch’s own twisted nature (she revives it only to drain life).
   • The Black Cat: Often a witch’s familiar, but here it also suggests feline predation and silent menace.
   • The Moon: Traditionally linked to emotion and femininity; its "dying" phase mirrors the withdrawal of life.
   • Knitting and Mutters: The witch’s domestic evil—she weaves destruction as one might knit a sweater, making malice seem mundane.

3. Repetition & Rhythm

   • The seven days and seven nights motif is a fairy-tale staple, emphasizing a complete, cursed cycle.
   • The locking of a hundred doors builds relentless tension, each lock a new layer of containment (and futility).

4. Irony & Paradox

   • The witch fears the very flood she created, showing how evil often turns on itself.
   • She uses water to destroy water, a perversion of nature’s purpose.

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Significance in the Broader Story

This passage is crucial to the tale’s moral and emotional arc:

• The drying of the lake forces the prince (who has been searching for the princess) to confront the consequences of the curse.
• The absence of tears (both in the land and the princess) highlights the need for emotional release and gravity (in both senses—seriousness and physical weight).
• The witch’s actions escalate the conflict, pushing the characters toward a redemptive climax (where love and sacrifice will restore balance).

MacDonald, a Christian fantasist, often used fairy tales to explore sin, redemption, and the soul’s weight. Here, the witch embodies spiritual dehydration—a refusal to feel or nurture, leading to universal suffering.

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Conclusion: Why This Passage Resonates

This excerpt is hauntingly effective because it:

1. Blends the mundane with the monstrous (knitting while cursing, a cat as an accomplice).
2. Uses water—an essential, life-giving force—as a weapon, making the horror visceral and symbolic.
3. Shows evil as both petty and apocalyptic—the witch’s revenge is personal, but its effects are universal.
4. Sets up a desperate need for restoration, which will come through love, sacrifice, and emotional honesty (key themes in MacDonald’s work).

In essence, this passage is a masterclass in fairy-tale horror, where every detail drips with meaning, and the absence of water becomes a metaphor for the absence of soul.