A girl has a secret refuge, either in the attic of her house or a loft in a barn, where a wise, nurturing grandmother type lives. There is a beautiful, soft bed where she can rest and a magic tub, where she can wash away all cares and fatigue. But when she shares the refuge with another girl, this girl tells her there’s no grandmother, the bed is just a pile of straw and the tub is just an old wooden bucket. However, the main character still believes what she has seen and experienced. I think the book is British and was probably written in the 30s or 40s, although I read it in the early 50s. It may be part of a series. I remember it was included in a New Yorker Christmas books for kids article in the late 80s (should have saved that article!) so maybe some kind of anniversary edition was issued then.
This is the classic, Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald, 1872
There’s a scene like this in George McDonald’s The Princess and the Goblins. Princess Irene sees her Great-great-great-Grandmother in the attic, and her miner friend Curdie sees the straw, and bucket, and to him the grandmother looks like a withered apple, and her voice sounds like birds nesting in the attic room. (There’s also a sequel, THe Princess and Curdie, where Curdie gets to see the grandmother after all.)
I’m sure this is ‘The Pricess And The Goblin’ by George MacDonald.
Sequel was ‘The Princess And Curdie’
“Eight year old Princess Irene lives a lonely life in a wild, desolate, mountainous kingdom, with only her nursemaid, “Lootie” for company. Due to her sheltered upbringing, her father being absent attending to affairs of state and her mother being dead, Irene has never known about the existence of the goblins, which lurk in the underground mines.
These goblins are grotesque and hideous beings, who, centuries ago, were human, but due to varying reasons, were driven underground and were malformed and distorted by their new lifestyle. This caused them to despise the humans above the ground and vow revenge against them. Irene and Lootie – who knows of the goblins – stay out late one night and are chased by the goblins, who only appear on the surface at night as sunshine repulses them. Lootie and Irene barely escape the goblins after a miner’s child, a boy named Curdie Peterson, appears and sings loudly to the goblins, which drives them away. Curdie states that goblins are repelled by singing, and he and Irene begin to become friends.
However, Curdie soon discovers, after he ventures into the mines and accidentally enters the realm of the goblins, that the goblins are planning a war against the humans on the surface, where they plot to abduct the Princess and marry her to Prince Harelip, the heir to the throne of the goblin kingdom, therefore forcing the humans to accept the goblins as their rulers. The driving force behind this scheme is the vile Goblin Queen, the stepmother of Harelip, who hides a secret – she has toes, a physical trait that goblins do not have and therefore regard with disgust.
With the help of Irene’s ethereal great-great grandmother, the Princess and Curdie must hatch a plan to defeat the goblins and save the kingdom.\2
The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald
Long shot, but it sounds vaguely like the ending of George MacDonald’s “The Princess & the Goblin”, except that the other child is a boy, the girl’s friend Curdie. The girl, Princess Irene, climbs to the attic where she finds her mysterious grandmother, who takes care of her and gives advice. After a series of adventures she takes her friend Curdie to the grandmother’s room, where all he sees are the pile of straw and the bucket, bathed in moonlight.
It is British, actually written in the 1870s but may have been reprinted in the ’30s, and does have a sequel, “The Princess and Curdie”. Hope this helps.
Sounds like George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie.
This sounds so familiar! I’m sorry, I don’t know what it is, but I’m wondering if it was also made into a film. Perhaps I’m just remembering how I pictured it when I read it, though. I hope someone knows what this is, because I’d like to know, too!
The Princess and the Goblin, princess irene discovers her great Grandmother in the attic of her castle and she washes her in a silver bathtub when Irene is terrified and exhausted from having being chased by the goblins. When she takes her nurse to prove she had not imagined it nothing is there. Later her Great Grandmother explains to her how part of the magic is that she must not tell anyone who will not believe.