grief when she hears that he has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who never leaves survivors. When Humperdinck, the prince of Florin—who cares only for hunting but demands a good-looking bride to bear his children—orders Buttercup to marry him, she refuses, claiming that she will never love again. Because Humperdinck does not seek love and the alternative is death, however, they become engaged.

Before the wedding, Buttercup is kidnapped by Vizzini, Inigo Montoya, and Fezzik, whom Humperdinck has paid to kill her and leave evidence that will incriminate the country of Guilder, Florin’s enemy, so that Humperdinck can declare war. Fezzik is a powerful giant, and Inigo is the best swordsman in the world, having spent twenty years becoming a master fencer in order to find and kill the six-fingered nobleman who murdered his father. They are pursued, however, by a man in black, who follows them up the Cliffs of Insanity and then bests Inigo in a swordfight, Fezzik in a wrestling match, and Vizzini in a battle of wits.

Buttercup is now in the power of the man in black, who insults her faithlessness and greed. When she pushes him down a ravine, she discovers that it is Westley, who was merely testing her love for him.

Humperdinck and the evil Count Rugen are hunting them, so Buttercup and Westley flee down the ravine into the Fire Swamp, where they are nearly killed by various dangers. Westley explains that he has actually been operating as the Dread Pirate Roberts for some time and that they will be safe when they reach his ship. When they escape the swamp, however, Humperdinck is waiting for them. Buttercup surrenders on the condition that the prince not harm Westley, who is promptly imprisoned in Humperdinck’s Zoo of Death once her back is turned.

Plagued by guilt and nightmares, Buttercup realizes that she can marry only Westley. Humperdinck promises to send a message to learn whether Westley will return to her, but he secretly joins Count Rugen to torture Westley each night. He also plots to strangle Buttercup on their wedding night, again to frame Guilder for the murder.

Fezzik finds Inigo and reveals that the six-fingered man is Count Rugen. Inigo decides to find the man in black in order to devise a way into the castle so that they can rescue Buttercup and kill the count. That night, Buttercup realizes that Humperdinck never sent the message. When she mocks him as a coward, the enraged Humperdinck storms to the torture pit and kills Westley. Inigo and Fezzik sneak into the Zoo and find Westley’s corpse, which they carry to Miracle Max, who resurrects him with a magic pill. During the wedding ceremony, Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik storm the castle and rout the guards. Inigo finds Rugen and kills him, Westley ties up the prince, and the protagonists escape on four white horses.

Fairy tales have origins that date back to a period before written literature, when storytelling was primarily an oral tradition. The central theme of The Princess Bride is a familiar one found in fairy tales: a brave lover must demonstrate his courage to rescue a beautiful woman from a fate worse than death.

However, The Princess Bride stands out from most fairy tales due to its distinctly modern tone. It incorporates contemporary sarcasm, and the narrative is often interrupted by the secondary narrator, Goldman. He reflects on the tale as just a fairy tale, creating a separation between the reader and the story. This distancing serves as a sort of apology for the violence and absurdity, as the story frequently mocks traditional fairy tale tropes.

The Silent Gondoliers (1983) is another instance of Goldman's efforts to adapt traditional genres for a contemporary audience. While The Princess Bride takes on the fairy tale format, The Silent Gondoliers is written as a concise fable. Both books effectively serve as mediums for Goldman, through the fictional voice of S. Morgenstern, to humorously critique both literary forms and the modern values that amusingly clash with the expected traditional values found in fairy tales and fables.

The main character is Luigi, a gondolier known for his "goony smile." The narrator, S. Morgenstern, translates the Italian word as "goony" because he believes no other English word fits as well. Luigi's father is also a gondolier. As a child, Luigi would secretly practice steering in the Grand Canal late at night while Venice was asleep. Often, near dawn, he would take a shortcut through SPLAT Corner on his way home. Years later, at Gondolier's school, a harsh teacher named John the Bastard, who embodies an almost archetypal role in the story, forces Luigi to navigate a gondola through SPLAT Corner prematurely. Luigi manages to steer the boat successfully, showcasing his skill and surpassing the cruel teacher who aims to dominate him.

In typical fable fashion, the plot takes precedence over character development, and the theme is more important than the plot. Readers learn little about the characters' emotions or motivations. Luigi, aside from maintaining his goony smile, shows minimal reaction to the events around him. His desire to learn to sing becomes ironic when he finds a voice teacher called The Pickle. The Pickle is over a hundred years old and completely deaf, so he can only teach Luigi vocal techniques without assessing his voice quality. As a result, Luigi never learns to sing in tune; he only improves the projection of his terrible voice.

The reason why the gondoliers are now silent becomes apparent: Luigi undertakes a courageous and skillful act. In recognition of his bravery, the gondoliers of Venice mimic Luigi's singing until the passengers in the gondolas stop requesting songs. This selfless act highlights how society sometimes protects an individual for their courageous deeds.

The Silent Gondoliers is a modern fable penned by Goldman under the pseudonym S. Morgenstern. This brief fictional piece combines historical elements with imagined characters to narrate the story of Venice's gondoliers. According to the fable, these gondoliers undergo years of intense training for their craft. Once their training is complete, they become expert navigators who, in the past, had voices so golden they could surpass even the legendary Caruso in song. However, the silent gondolier has a tragic flaw—a complete absence of musical talent—and cannot learn to sing. It is only through his extraordinary bravery that he succeeds. The moral and theme suggest that individuals must recognize their weaknesses, strive for improvement, and ultimately accept their circumstances while relying on their strengths. The story's irony highlights that even modern myths are filled with absurdities. Reality is complex, as is a fable.

The narrator, S. Morgenstern, shares his exploration of these "historical events." His motivation is straightforward: he recalls a childhood when the voices of gondoliers echoed along the Grand Canal and seeks to uncover why their singing ceased. Morgenstern interviews the descendants of these singing gondoliers and reconstructs the tale of the sour-voiced gondolier who bravely faced the fiercest storm to save the gondoliers' cherished church from a devastating fire.

The pseudo-journalistic style amplifies the story's irony, as the fable begins to take on a sense of historical authenticity. This illusion of history is further supported by references to Enrico Caruso, whom a gondolier easily out-sang, along with mentions of Willie Mays, Joe Di Maggio, Mark Spitz, and others. This blend of history and myth is humorous because readers can see Luigi and the other gondoliers as mere caricatures. Luigi's goofy smile reflects his silly voice and peculiar life. The fable mirrors a reality that S. Morgenstern suggests is evident in everyday life.

Goldman's literary forerunner in this moralistic fictional work is Aesop, known for fables featuring personified animals. Unlike Aesop, Goldman's fable is set in a real location: Venice, along with its gondoliers, truly exists. However, Goldman does not explicitly state a moral; it remains subtly implied and is ambiguous at best. Readers look for the moral in The Silent Gondoliers because they recognize it as a fable, which traditionally includes a clear moral. The lack of an explicit moral may be Goldman's final commentary on the ambiguities and uncertainties of the modern world.

In 1987, Act II Communications Presentations of Nelson Entertainment released a movie adaptation of The Princess Bride. The screenplay was penned by Goldman, ensuring it stayed true to the original novel. The film was produced by Norman Lear and directed by Rob Reiner.

Fred Savage took on the role of the boy — representing the young Goldman from the book — who listens to the story read by his grandfather, portrayed by Peter Falk. (In the novel, it is young Goldman's father who reads the story.) Cary Elwes played Westley, and Robin Wright was cast as Buttercup. The movie has since developed a small cult following.