Change: The Little Princess

Writing up this chapter was slightly delayed by attending Virtual BiCon. Which is a prolly a good example of change because it wasn’t the BiCon any of us were expecting to have this year but it was still something special. Even after we had got used to the idea of a virtual event it still worked out, at least slightly, differently than any of us expected. There are things couldn’t or didn’t happen that I miss very much from the IRL format and other changes that worked really well - and may end up being incorporated into hybrid events in the future. And, just like any BiCon, it was a huge change from everyday life - forming a temporary community of Bi time and virtual space. Perhaps so of the things that were discussed in the sessions and on the Discord will prompt attendees to make small or big changes in their lives? (My first BiCon was certainly life-changing for me).
Pretty much each chapter of Gobbolino involves change: Gobbolino looks for a new home/job, finds one but then some thing happens which reveals that he is a Witch’s Cat and he Is rejected and has to move on. This Chapter is slightly different because although Gobbolino does find and then loses a home and role, this time he isn’t rejected and only moves on when his job is done.

9 Sentence Recap
Gobbolino is rowed ashore and walk into a large town
He has to escape from the busy streets so he jumps into a roof
He falls down a chimney leading to the bedroom of a Poorly princess
Even though the palace staff want to get rid of him the Princess’s Doctor says he can stay
With Gobbolino cheering her the Princess recovers
The Princess is told she’s well enough to go to boarding school so she fakes a relapse
But she gets so excited by Gobbolino describing a Punch and Judy Show it’s obvious that she’s well.
The Princess is sent to school and Gobbolino goes looking for the Punch and Judy Show.

3 Sentence Recap
Gobbolino falls down a Princess’s chimney
She has been very ill and a Gobbolino helps her recover
She tries to avoid being sent to school but in the end she goes, without Gobbolino

The first example of change in this chapter is the change of attitude of the sailors now that Gobbolino is no longer on their ship with his alarming magical powers - they become friendly and cheer him on. Gobbolino seems to be changed by yet another rejection as he seems to be much less hopeful compared to his previous departures - he can’t bring himself to look back and has to put a lot of effort into not crying. It’s painful to think about his optimism being corroded, he’s had to cope with so much and it seems to be having a cumulative effect. Entering yet another new town doesn’t seem like much of a change for him, even though this one is larger and even more unfriendly.
The biggest change is when he jumps down into what he thinks is a drainpipe but instead finds himself falling into a palace! He goes from the dark and narrow soot encrusted chimney into the prettiest room he had ever seen, all white lace and pink ribbons. It’s almost like entering another world. And unlike the unfriendly and sometimes violent towns people the Princess is pleased to see him and welcomes him into her bedroom and her life. I love the image of falling down the chimney as a semi-magical transition (It’s hope on optimistic days I hope the sense of falling uncontrollably through unplanted confines of Lockdown and Socail Distancing will eventually lead us to a better for the better world.
The Princess has so much compared to the Brothers when they were homeless and then in the Orphanage, more even then after they are adopted by the generous Lord Mayor and in a lot of children’s books she would be characterised as spoiled. Here her physical frailty and loneliness is emphasised - the wonderful toys and books she has been given don’t help her recover but Gobbolino’s compainionship does:

“What about all those pretty toys, those dolls and games and picture books I ordered for you instead of medicine?” said the doctor. “Those didn’t make you better.”
“They weren’t alive,” said the little princess. “I was just as lonely all the time they were there as before they came!“

. It’s not clear what has been wrong with the Princess, or if it started with a physical or emotional problem, but it has obviously lasted a long time and she has now lost hope. She’s obviously had excellent and compassionate care from the Doctor and even the initially unfriendly-seeming Nurse is obviously caring and competent. Her parents love her and have invested in things that the hope will help her. Unfortunately none of that has been enough.
The Princess is absolutely right about what she needs - children are not usually quite so self-aware,particularly about long term-needs not just things that they will enjoy in the right now. She and Gobbolino are able to change each other’s lives, which of them was happier it would be difficult to say.
Gobbolino has been through so much by now and has been rejected so many times that he really needs this sustained period of stability and being valued and useful.

“Oh my goodness!” Gobbolino said to himself sometimes, as he sat in the window looking down at the busy street below. “Here I am, born in a witch’s cave, shunned and despised by everyone, about to live for ever and ever in a royal palace! What would my mother say. And my sister Sootica? Oh my goodness! Whoever would have believed it?”

Even though we know (because it’s not the end of the book!) that it won’t be forever it’s heartening to see Gobbolino enjoying a change for the better.
As well as sharing his memories and inspiring the Princess to follow in his footsteps, Gobbolino changes the Princess’s routine by bringing the outside world into her room. The Palace is now full of life, fun and visitors and is very different from the so many weary years of her illness.
The Princess relishes her change from illness to health - until she is told that she is well enough to go to Boarding School and that Gobbolino will not be allowed to go with her! That is too abrupt and painful a change for her to accept. She refuses entertainment and even food, feigning illness in such an extreme way that it actually threatens her newly-restored health. But she can’t change her behaviour around Gobbolino - she doesn’t want to deceive him and wants to keep having fun. She gets so excited about his description of a Punch and Judy show that she doesn’t realise everyone in the Palace has seen her. She is then sent away to boarding school where fortunately she was very happy indeed
Childhood is a season of continual change - in someways the Princess’s recovery and moving from home to the peer community of her school mirrors a successful transition through the turmoil of adolescence. But the Princess is still very much a child and still playful and wilful, without a more complex understanding of how her actions might effect all of her loved ones. It’s cheering that she finds happiness in her changed situation. This book is a change from a lot of children’s literature where Orphanages and Boarding Schools are portrayed places of fear rather than love.
This ending is another change in Gobbolino’s usual pattern in the earlier chapters of the book where he has been thrown out of his previously happy new home. Although he is upset to be parting with the Princess (he is able to bond strongly with new people, particularly children very quickly) he gets to say goodbye properly and he has a recommendation of where to go next. He could actually stay in the Palace a little longer, if he wanted to, rather than being forced out. He makes the choice to leave the Nursery, that now seemed so empty and silent and so he slips silently down the stairs and out into the street the first time the door was opened

I will do a Sacred Imagination and Blessings for this chapter soon. Then next time we’ll be looking at Chapter 12: Punch and Judy through the theme of Openness.
Please do add your comments about where you see change in this chapter or anything else.