Some time passes with no major events. Curdie continues keeping watch over the goblins, and Irene spends her days outside, often playing with the miners’ children. Lootie criticizes her for this, but Lootie does not understand “that the truest princess is just the one who loves all her brothers and sisters best, and who is most able to do them good by being humble towards them” (159). At the same time, Lootie can see that Irene is growing up and seems to be wise beyond her years. Curdie still feels guilty for disbelieving Irene, and the author notes that this inner need to be honest and own up to his mistakes could qualify him as a prince.

Curdie notices that the goblins have started mining upward, so he starts prowling around the farmhouse at night in the hopes of hearing their direction. One night, the king’s guards shoot him with an arrow, only belatedly realizing he is a boy and not a goblin creature. They demand to know why he is there, but when Curdie starts to explain, he faints from blood loss. The guards carry him inside, where Lootie exclaims that he is “the same young rascal of a miner that was rude to [her] and the princess on the mountain” (162).