Fairer-than-a-Fairy or More Beautiful Than Fairy ( French: ''Plus-Belle-que-fée'') is a literary

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 ...

Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force or Mademoiselle de La Force (1654–1724) was a French novelist and poet. Her best-known work was her 1698 fairy tale ''Persinette'' which was adapted by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as the story ''Rapunzel''. ...

in 1698.

Synopsis

A King and a Queen, who have several children, decide to journey across their Kingdom. One day, they stop in a castle at the frontier and the Queen gives birth to a beautiful princess. Because of this, the courtiers name her Fairer-than-a-Fairy. But no sooner has the Queen recovered that she must join the King, who has gone to defend a faraway province attacked by their enemies. When Fairer-than-a-Fairy is twelve, her beauty becomes famous in all the surrounding countries. The Fairies become jealous of her beauty and her name and decide to avenge themselves and destroy the Princess’ beauty. The Queen of the Fairies, named Nabote, goes to the castle in order to kidnap Fairer-than-a-Fairy but she finds it impossible, because the wizard who built it put a spell so that its inhabitants could neither go out unwillingly, nor be bewitched. Nabote goes into the castle as a servant and makes friends with Fairer-than-a-Fairy. One day, she opens a door that gives onto the countryside and pretends to faint outside the castle's walls. Fairer-than-a-Fairy runs to her but no sooner has she gone out that Nabote seizes her and takes her to her Kingdom. There she dresses Fairer-than-a-Fairy with dirty clothes and instructs her to clean a room which will only become dirtier as she sweeps it. Nabote's son, Phratis, professes his love for her and magically cleans the room. He gives Fairer-than-a-Fairy a key and tells her to open the main panel in her cell. She obeys and meets Désirs, another princess who was kidnapped because she was beautiful without the assistance of the Fairies’ gifts. When the Fairies find that the two princesses have fulfilled the tasks, they order Fairer-than-a-Fairy to go on Mount Adventurous and fill a vase with the Water of Immortal Life. They give her feathers and wax, hoping she will crash like

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...

. Désirs is sent on the beach and ordered to write something on the sand on condition that it will not fade. Phratis helps Fairer-than-a-Fairy and she asks him to complete Désirs’ task. Finally, Fairer-than-a-Fairy is instructed to capture the Hind with Silver Feet and Désirs is sent to the Fair of Time in order to fetch the Rouge of Youth. At the fair, Désirs meets a wicked Fairy who keeps her in a prison and sends for an evil spirit in order to make her ugly. Désirs is rescued by her lover who has been instructed by a sage to bring her back to the Queen of the Fairies. Meanwhile, with the help of Phratis, Fairer-than-a-Fairy finds the Hind, who is revealed to be the former Queen of the Fairies under an enchantment. The Queen and Fairer-than-a-Fairy return to Nabote's court, where they save Désirs from being executed, and Désirs’ lover is revealed to be Fairer-than-a-Fairy's brother. The former Queen retakes her throne, sends Nabote to another kingdom, and arranges the marriages of the two couples.

Publication history

James Planché James Robinson Planché (27 February 1796 – 30 May 1880) was a British dramatist, antiquary and officer of arms. Over a period of approximately 60 years he wrote, adapted, or collaborated on 176 plays in a wide range of genres including ...

included it in ''Four and twenty tales, selected from those of Perrault and other popular writers''. The tale was also translated as ''Gloriosa, or, The Envious Fairies'' in an anonymous 1845 publication. In this version, the heroine is named Gloriosa, the antagonistic fairy is Dwarfia, her son is Philo, and the second princess is Desira. English writer

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 ...

translated the tale as ''Fairer Than A Fairy'', and renamed the fairy Dwarfina, her son Pyrrho, the second princess Euryanthe, and the second love interest Orontes.

Analysis

Relation to other tales

James Planché noted that the story bears "a strong resemblance" to the tale ''

Graciosa and Percinet Graciosa and Percinet is a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy. Andrew Lang included it in '' The Red Fairy Book''. Synopsis A king and queen had a beautiful daughter, Graciosa, and an ugly duchess hated her. One day, the queen died. ...

'', by

Madame d'Aulnoy Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (1650/1651 – 14 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French author known for her literary fairy tales. When she termed her works ''contes de fées'' (fairy tales), sh ...

, which, by itself, has been compared to ''Cupid and Psyche''. In another line of scholarship, Italian literary scholar Armando Maggi argues that Caumont de la Force reworked the tale of ''

Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyc ...

'' in her narrative, into the characters of the two princesses, their love interests, and the evil fairy in the role of Venus. Similarly, folklorist

Ruth Bottigheimer Ruth B. Bottigheimer is a literary scholar, folklorist, and author. She is currently Research Professor in the department of English at Stony Brook University, State University of New York

notes that de la Force's tale "echoes" the tale of ''Cupid and Psyche'', while Jacques Barchilon remarks that the plot of the tale (a beautiful princess hounded by jealous fairies) is "another recall" of the same myth.

Motifs

In the tale, Fairer-Than-A-Fairy and the second princess both have to perform difficult tasks for Nabote, the fairy, but they are helped by the fairy's son. This sequence is characteristic of French tale type AaTh 425A (or ''sous-type A''), in the French Folktale Catalogue by French scholars

Paul Delarue Paul Alfred Delarue, born 20 April 1889 in Saint-Didier, Nièvre, died 25 July 1956 in Autun, Saône-et-Loire, was a French folklorist. A world-renowned specialist in the field of folklore, his crowning achievement was his , a catalog of folkt ...

and Marie-Louise Thèneze.Delarue, Paul.
Le conte populaire français: catalogue raisonné des versions de France et des pays de langue française d'outre-mer: Canada, Louisiane, îlots français des États-Unis, Antilles françaises, Haïti, Ile Maurice, La Réunion
'. Érasme, 1957. pp. 88-90.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Original text
' in French

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* {{cite book , last=La Force , first=Mlee de , date=2019 , title=Fairer , url=https://www.amazon.com.br/Fairer-French-Fairy-Folklore-English-ebook/dp/B08114LL9T/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AHNSYV56SQW60NJZM5DV , publisher=Laura Christensen Female characters in fairy tales French fairy tales Fictional princesses