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=                         The_Light_Princess                         =
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                            Introduction
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'The Light Princess' is a Scottish fairy tale by George MacDonald. It
was published in 1864 as a story within the larger story 'Adela
Cathcart.' Drawing on inspiration from "Sleeping Beauty", it tells the
story of a princess afflicted by a constant weightlessness, unable to
get her feet on the ground, both literally and metaphorically, until
she finds a love that brings her down to earth.


                              Summary
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A king and queen, after some time, have a daughter. The king invites
everyone to the christening, except his sister Princess Makemnoit, a
spiteful and sour woman. She arrives without an invitation and curses
the princess to have no gravity. Whenever the princess accidentally
moves up in the air, she has to be brought down, and the wind is
capable of carrying her off. As she grows, she never cries, and never
can be brought to see the serious side of anything. The court
philosophers, when consulted, are unable to propose any cure that the
king and queen will suffer to be used.

She passionately loves swimming, and when she swims, she regains her
gravity. This leads to the proposal that if she could be brought to
cry, it might break the curse. But nothing can make her cry.

A prince from another country sets out to find a wife but finds fault
in every princess he finds. He had not intended to seek out the light
princess, but, upon becoming lost in a forest, he finds the princess
swimming. Thinking she is drowning, he rescues her, ending up with her
in the air, with her scolding him. He falls instantly in love and,
upon her demand, puts her back in the water, and goes swimming with
her. Days pass and the prince learns that her manner is changed
between the water and the land, and he can not marry her as she is on
land.

Princess Makemnoit, meanwhile, discovers that the Princess loves the
lake so she sets out to dry it up. The water is drained from the lake,
the springs are stopped up, and the rain ceases. Even babies no longer
cry water.

As the lake dries up, it is discovered that the only way to stop it is
to block the hole the water is flowing from, and the only thing that
will block it is a living man, who would die in the deed. The prince
volunteers, on the condition that the princess keeps him company while
the lake fills. The lake fills up. When the prince has almost drowned,
the princess frantically drags his body from the lake to take it to
her old nurse, who is a wise woman. They tend him through the night,
and he wakes at dawn. The princess falls to the floor and cries.

The prince desired to travel overland with the Princess so she could
find her feet.   After the princess masters the art of walking, she
marries the prince. Princess Makemnoit's house is undermined by the
waters and falls in, drowning her. The Light Princess and her Prince
had children together.


                            Adaptations
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An animated version was released in 1978.

In 2013, a musical version by Tori Amos and Samuel Adamson inspired by
the original story was premiered for the Royal National Theatre in
London. The stage production featured actress Rosalie Craig as the
title character. The musical was generally well-received, enjoyed an
extended run in the theatre, and had its cast recording released in
2015.

Another musical also titled 'The Light Princess' was written by Tony
Lawton with music by Alex Bechtel, and debuted in April 2017 at the
Arden Theatre Company.


                           External links
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*
*
*[https://soundcloud.com/nationaltheatre/sets/music-from-the-light-princess/
Live streaming tracks from the musical, hosted by National Theatre's
Soundcloud]
*[http://www.newvictory.org/Show-Detail.aspx?ProductionId=5910 New
Victory Theatre production of 'The Light Princess']


License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_Princess