1. MacDonald has written that a fantasy writer may invent a world controlled by different physical laws than those which control the real world. Show how Illustration by Arthur Hughes for The Complete Fairy Stories by George MacDonald. Franklin Watts: New York (1961).

2. Think of three or four definitions of the word "key" (refer to a dictionary if you wish). Then write an essay, showing how each definition helps explain the meaning of the story.

3. All of the guides in the story are in some ways young and in other ways very old. Survey these characters, showing in what way each combines youth and age.

Then discuss why MacDonald invented characters who fuse these two seemingly opposite qualities.

4. In "The Golden Key" characters often dream or go into dreamlike states.

Survey these...