The Princess and the Goblin recap

Princess Irene lives in a mountain house threatened by goblins who inhabit the caverns below. She discovers a mysterious great-great-grandmother in a hidden tower, although her nurse cannot see or find the woman. Irene also meets Curdie, a brave young miner who has learned the goblins' secret weakness and spies on their plans. When the goblins capture Curdie, Irene's grandmother gives her a ring connected to an invisible thread, which guides her underground to rescue him. Curdie initially doubts Irene's account because he cannot see the grandmother, but he continues investigating and uncovers plots to abduct Irene and flood the human mines. The goblins finally invade the king's house. Curdie and the defenders repel them, while the grandmother's thread keeps Irene safe and guides Curdie. Water floods the goblin realm, forcing the survivors away, and the king rewards Curdie's courage. Irene and Curdie are reconciled as friends.

Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives in a large country house on a mountain, cared for by her nurse Lootie while her father the king is often away. During a wet day indoors, Irene wanders up a stairway she has never noticed and becomes lost among unfamiliar rooms. At the top she finds a beautiful old woman spinning in a hidden chamber. The woman says she is Irene's great-great-grandmother and welcomes her tenderly. Irene later tries to return but cannot find the stair or room, and Lootie dismisses the account as imagination. Irene nevertheless remains convinced that the hidden grandmother is real.

Irene and Lootie stay outside too late and are threatened by goblins, the underground people who avoid daylight and resent the humans living above them. Curdie Peterson, the young son of a miner, drives the creatures off with improvised verse. Working in the mountain, Curdie has observed that the goblins' feet are soft and vulnerable and that songs and rhymes upset them. He secretly follows them into their passages and reaches the goblin court, where the king, queen, and Prince Harelip are involved in plans against the people above. Meanwhile Irene's father arrives at the house with his escort, unaware of how organized the danger below has become.

Irene again reaches her great-great-grandmother, whose room and appearance confirm the child's trust even though Lootie still cannot share it. The grandmother gives Irene a ring kept beneath her pillow. A fine thread attached to it cannot be seen with ordinary sight, but Irene can feel it and is told to follow wherever it leads if she is in need. Curdie continues exploring the goblin tunnels to discover the purpose of their secret labor. His spying places him in serious danger, and the goblins capture and confine him underground before he can carry a full warning back to the miners and the king's household.

When Irene follows the nearly invisible thread from her ring, it leads her away from apparent safety and deep into the mountain. Trusting her grandmother's instruction, she reaches the place where Curdie is imprisoned and frees him. The thread then guides them through passages they could not navigate alone and brings them back above ground. Curdie is grateful for the rescue but struggles to believe Irene's explanation. When she tries to show him her great-great-grandmother, he cannot see the woman or her room. His doubt wounds Irene, yet the grandmother assures her that another person's inability to perceive something does not make Irene's own truthful experience false.

Curdie returns to the evidence he can test directly. By listening to goblin councils and examining their digging, he learns that the underground kingdom has more than one plan against the people above. The goblin royal family intends to carry off Irene for Prince Harelip, while goblin miners work toward an attack on the human mines involving stored or diverted water. Curdie tries to alert the adults and continues obstructing the tunneling, but his secret movements also make him appear suspicious to people who do not know what he has discovered. The goblins press closer to the foundations and passages of the king's house as their planned assault approaches.

The goblins break into the king's country house, seeking to abduct Irene and force her into the marriage planned for Prince Harelip. Curdie reaches the household in time to help organize resistance. He and the defenders exploit the goblins' vulnerable feet, stamping and striking at them until the invaders retreat into the passages. Irene remains under her great-great-grandmother's protection, and the guiding thread succeeds where ordinary searching fails. The miners' counterwork releases water into the goblins' underground realm, flooding it and ending their control of the mountain; survivors flee elsewhere. The king recognizes that Curdie's warnings and courage saved the house and his daughter. Irene's faith in her grandmother is vindicated, Curdie and Irene are reconciled, and he returns to his parents with the king's gratitude.

The goblins enter the king's country house through passages beneath it, intending to seize Irene for Prince Harelip. Curdie recognizes the attack and helps the household fight them by stamping on their vulnerable feet and driving them back underground. Irene is protected through her great-great-grandmother's unseen guidance, and Curdie follows the magical thread when ordinary routes fail. The miners' efforts against a second goblin scheme release water into the underground domain, flooding it and breaking the goblins' power beneath the mountain. Survivors scatter away from their former home. The king acknowledges Curdie's courage and service, while Irene's trust in both Curdie and her grandmother is vindicated. Curdie returns to his family with royal gratitude, and the friendship between the miner boy and the princess remains intact.