If ever a king could be justified in forgetting anybody, this king was justified in forgetting his sister [Princess Makemnoit], even at a christening. She looked very odd, too. Her forehead was as large as all the rest of her face, and projected over it like a precipice. When she was angry, her little eyes flashed blue. When she hated anybody, they shone yellow and green. What they looked like when she loved anybody, I do not know; for I never heard of her loving anybody but herself, and I do not think she could have managed that if she had not somehow got used to herself. But what made it highly imprudent in the king to forget her was—that she was awfully clever.
George MacDonald - The Light Princess, in Dealings With the Fairies, CHAPTER II, WON’T I, JUST? (Illustration by Arthur Hughes.) Alexander Strahan (London), 1867.
Regarding the redoubtable Princess Makemnoit, is this attribute - make them know it! - an inevitable part of the curse of self-love that is in each of us unless truly seen for what it is? If I am used to it, I do not see it. I could also forget about it, but willy nilly, before long it will raise its ugly head, as it is indeed clever, and does not like to be neglected.
What is the cure? Perhaps with this interpretation too, the story of The Light Princess shows us the way.