KidLit Forum

The Magic Fishbone
By Charles Dickens
The story is about a king and a queen who have 19 children. Unlike other fairy tales, here the royals are poor. This drives crazy the king. One day he goes to buy some fish and encounters an old lady who tells the king that after they eat their fish, his daughter, Princess Alicia, will have to take the remaining bone from her plate, dry it, clean it and polish it because the fishbone will grant her a wish. The king does as he is told. The queen is now ill and Princess Alicia has to take care of her siblings. Some things happen during her mother’s illness. Firstly, her young brother is bitten by a dog, but she stops the bleeding properly without using the fishbone. Then, the youngest child, the baby, falls out of Alicia’s lap and hurts himself. All children are upset by this but the princess manages to distract and make them feel better by taking care of the baby’s wounds. After these she goes to her room and talks to the duchess (who is a doll) because she knows the secret of the fishbone. She doesn’t use the bone whatever happens despite her father’s disapproval who expects her to use her wish to make things better. Also, he complains about his money problem and because the king says there’s nothing he can’t do about this, she uses her fishbone and solves all problems. The old lady, who turned to be a fairy, comes in a carriage to ensure that the king learned his lesson from his daughter. She rewards the family and then takes the princess and the duchess and leave in search for a prince to marry Alicia. They find the prince and the wedding takes place.

I think this story is a bit obscure: a young boy bitten by a dog, a wounded baby.

It has some traditional fairy tale elements combined with more modern ones. We have kings, princes, but also the king’s money problems and his worries about his bills. Another strange element is the duchess who is a doll. I think the situation of the duchess is a little bit uncertain and the author should have given more information on this subject.

Also, the author uses irony when all the king does is worrying why her daughter doesn’t use the fishbone to solve their problems but at the same time he isn’t doing anything. What about this? His wife is ill, his children are hurt, he has no money, but how does he plan to take care of these problems? He expects Alicia to take care of them. Dickens critiques here the expectations that parents have sometimes of their children.

At the beginning I thought this story is meant to show women empowerment but I was very disappointed on the end. Princess Alicia shows strength when she takes care of the house and of the family problems, but why does she need a prince? Her reward is a wedding? Does she need an arranged marriage by the fairy? I don’t think so.