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French Fairy Tales
Princess Rosette by Madame d’ Aulnoy
Context
The fairy tales was written by Madame D’Aulnoy (her full name: Marie-Catherine D’Aulnoy) and the language in which was written was French. It was first published in 1697, in France. Andrew Lang included it in The Rend Fairy Book and another author, Italo Calvino, included an orally collected tale, The King of the Peacocks, in his Italian Folktales, but observed in the notes that it was clearly a variant on Princess Rosette.
Madame d'Aulnoy is officially the first person who coined the term fairy tale (in French of course: conte de fee) and her fairy tales are important milestone in the history of this genre, meaning fairy tales. However, her fairy tales lack suspense and were never meant for children. But on the other hand, they have pretty complex characters (especially girls and women, what is still rare in this genre), although without notable psychological depths and are sparkling with imagination.
Summary
This story is about a king and queen, who had two sons, and a daughter as well. All the fairies came to the christening of Rosette but when the queen asked them to predict Rosette's future, they said that she might cause great misfortune to her brothers, even their deaths. The king and queen consulted with a somebody, who advised them to lock Rosette in a tower. They did this, but eventually they died, and their sons instantly freed the princess from there. She marveled at everything, but in particular, at a peacock. Hearing that people sometimes ate them, she declared that she would never marry anyone except the King of the Peacocks, and then she would protect her subjects.
Her brothers, the new king and the prince, tried to find the King of the Peacocks, and at last were directed there by the King of the Mayflies. There, they showed the king Rosette's portrait and he said he would marry her if she was as beautiful, but kill them both if not.
When the news were heard, the nurse of Rosette bribed the boatman to throw the princess, bed and all, with her little dog, into the sea in the middle of the night. The bed was made of Phoenix feathers and floated, but the nurse put her own daughter in the princess's place. The outraged king was about to execute her brothers, who persuaded him to give them seven days to prove their innocence.
When the princess woke up, she was convinced that the king had decided not to marry her after all, and so had her thrown into the sea. An old man saw her on the shore and brought her to a shelter, but saw by her possessions that she was a great lady, and he could only give her meager fare. The princess sent her dog to the best kitchen in town, and the dog stole all the food being cooked for the King of the Peacocks. This happened for several days, until the Prime Minister spied on the kitchen, saw the dog, and followed it. He told the king, and they went to the hut and seized Rosette and the old man. The old man begged for mercy and told the story, and the king realized that this was his bride. He freed her brothers and married her.
In the Aarne-Thomson Classification of Folk tales “Princess Rosette” would classify in: Realistic Tales - Good precepts because the brothers after the death of their parents decided to free the princess even if this could mean their misfortune. Also, the story could be appropriate for Realistic Tales - Tales of fate because eventually the prince and the princess marry despite the acts done by the nurse and her daughter to prevent this.
Vladimir Propp's classification of characters:
In this story we have the princess (Princess Rosette) and also two princes, one of whom becomes king, the helper (the old man), and the villain (the nurse).
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