Diamonds and Toads or Toads and Diamonds is a French

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

, and titled by him "Les Fées" or "The Fairies".

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

included it in ''

The Blue Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collectio ...

''. It was illustrated by

Laura Valentine Laura Belinda Charlotte Jewry (married name Laura Valentine, pen names Mrs. S. Valentine and Aunt Louisa; 1814–1899), was a Victorian English writer primarily known for her children literature. Her work was often produced in children series in ...

in ''Aunt Louisa's nursery favourite''. In his source, as in ''

Mother Hulda "Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480. Frau Holle (als ...

'', the kind girl was the stepdaughter, not the other daughter. The change was apparently to decrease the similarity to ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

''. It is Aarne-Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls. Others of this type include ''

Shita-kiri Suzume , translated literally into "Tongue-Cut Sparrow", is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters. Andrew L ...

'', '' Frau Holle or Mrs.Holle'', ''

The Three Heads in the Well The Three Heads in the Well is a fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls. Others of this type include ''Shita-kiri Suzume'', ''Diamonds and Toads'', '' Mo ...

'', '' Father Frost'', ''

The Three Little Men in the Wood "The Three Little Men in the Wood" or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" (german: Die drei Männlein im Walde) is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 13). Andrew Lang included it in '' Th ...

'', ''

The Enchanted Wreath The Enchanted Wreath is a Scandinavian fairy tale, collected in Benjamin Thorpe in his ''Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions''. Andrew Lang adapted a variant of it for ''The Orange Fairy B ...

'', ''

The Old Witch The Old Witch is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book, ''More English Fairy Tales''. It is also included within '' A Book of Witches'' by Ruth Manning-Sanders and ''A Book of British Fairy Tales'' by Alan Garner. It i ...

'', and ''

The Two Caskets The Two Caskets is a Scandinavian fairy tale included by Benjamin Thorpe in his ''Yule-Tide Stories: A Collection of Scandinavian and North German Popular Tales and Traditions''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Orange Fairy Book''. It is Aarne- ...

''. Literary variants include ''

The Three Fairies "The Three Fairies" is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the ''Pentamerone''. It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls, and appears to stem from an oral source.Jack Zipes, ''The G ...

'' and ''

Aurore and Aimée ''Aurore and Aimée'' is a French literary fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Like her better known tale ''Beauty and the Beast'', it is among the first fairy tales deliberately written for children.Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fa ...

''.

Summary

A bad-tempered old widow had two daughters; her older daughter, Fanny was disagreeable and proud, but looked and behaved like her mother, and therefore was her favorite child; her younger daughter, Rose was sweet, courteous, and beautiful, but resembled her late father. Jealous and bitter, the widow and her favourite daughter abused and mistreated the younger girl. One day while drawing water from the well, an old woman asked the younger girl for a drink of water. The girl politely consented and after giving it, she found that the woman was a

fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

, who had taken the guise of a

crone In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructive. The Crone is also an archetypal fig ...

to test the character of mortals. As the girl was so kind and compassionate toward her, the fairy blessed her with having either a jewel, a precious metal, or a pretty flower fall from her mouth whenever she spoke. Upon arriving home and explaining why she took so long to her mother, the widow was delighted at the sight of

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

and

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s falling from the girl's lips, and desired that her favored eldest daughter, Fanny, should have the gift as well. Fanny protested, but the widow forcibly sent her to the well with instruction to act kindly toward an old beggar woman. Fanny set off but the fairy appeared as a fine

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

, and requested that the girl draw her a drink from the well. The elder daughter spoke rudely to the fairy and insulted her. The fairy decreed that, as punishment for her despicable attitude, either a toad or a snake would fall from Fanny's mouth whenever she spoke. When Fanny arrived home, she told her story to her mother and disgusting

toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...

s and

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

s fell from her mouth with each word. The widow, in a fury, drove her younger daughter out of the house. In the woods, she met a king's son, who fell in love with her and married her. In time, even the widow was sickened by her older daughter, and drove her out, and she died alone and miserable in the woods.

Commentary

The idea of having jewels fall from a virtuous person is a motif found in various other tales, as in the Italian ''

Biancabella and the Snake Biancabella and the Snake is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in '' The Facetious Nights of Straparola''. Italo Calvino included a Piedmontese variant The Snake, with some elements from a Tuscan version, while ...

''.Iona and Peter Opie, ''The Classic Fairy Tales'', p 98

In Popular Culture

In the film ''

Uncut Gems ''Uncut Gems'' is a 2019 American crime thriller film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. The film stars Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel and Eric Bogosi ...

'' a stage version of the story is performed by students at a high school. An animated version known as "The Fairy" appeared in an episode of

Let's Go Luna! ''Let's Go Luna!'' is an educational animated children's television series created by Joe Murray for PBS Kids. Murray formerly worked on the Nickelodeon animated series ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and Cartoon Network animated series '' Camp Lazlo'' ...

Gallery

Image:Valentine,_Laura_-_Aunt_Louisa's_Nursery_Favourite_-_0007.jpg, Rose, the younger, and the fairy. Image:Valentine, Laura - Aunt Louisa's Nursery Favourite - 0009.jpg, Rose and her mother : the gift. Image:Valentine, Laura - Aunt Louisa's Nursery Favourite - 0011.jpg, Fanny, the elder, and the fairy. Image:Valentine,_Laura_-_Aunt_Louisa's_Nursery_Favourite_-_0012.jpg, Fanny and her mother : the curse. Image:Valentine,_Laura_-_Aunt_Louisa's_Nursery_Favourite_-_0014.jpg, Rose in the wood with the prince. Image:Valentine,_Laura_-_Aunt_Louisa's_Nursery_Favourite_-_0016.jpg, Fanny alone in the wood.

References

External links