''Princess Belle-Etoile'' is a French literary
fairy tale written 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 ...
. Her source for the tale was ''
Ancilotto, King of Provino'', by
Giovanni Francesco Straparola
Giovanni Francesco "Gianfrancesco" Straparola, also known as Zoan or Zuan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio (ca. 1485?–1558), was an Italian writer of poetry, and collector and writer of short stories. Some time during his life, he migrated fr ...
.
It is classified as
Aarne-Thompson type 707 ''The dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird''.
Synopsis
A queen was reduced to poverty, and to selling sauces to support herself and her three daughters. One day, an old woman came to them and begged that they feed her a fine meal. They did so, and the woman, being a
fairy, promised that the next time they wished something without thinking of her, it would come true. For a long time, they could not make a wish without thinking of her, but one day, the king came by. The oldest daughter, Roussette, said that if she married the king's admiral, she would make sails for all his ships; the second, Brunette, that if she married the king's brother, she would make him
lace
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...
enough to fill a castle; the third, Blondine, that if she married the king, she would bear him two sons and a daughter, who would have golden chains about their necks and stars on their foreheads, and jewels would fall from their hair.
A favorite repeated their words to the king, who summoned the sisters, and soon the marriages were concluded. A splendid wedding feast appeared out of nowhere, served on golden dishes, and the women realized it was from the old woman. Roussette hid the dishes when they left, but they were turned to
earthenware when she arrived.
The king's mother was furious to hear that her sons had married such lowly women. Roussette was jealous of her sisters. Brunette gave birth to a son, and died. Blondine gave birth to two sons and a daughter, and the queen and Roussette put three puppies in their place. They took the children, including Brunette's, and gave them to a maid, who scrupled to kill them, but
put them in a boat, with necklaces that might pay for their support if someone found them. The queen was sent back to her mother.
The
fairies guarded the boat until it fell in with a
pirate ship
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
. The captain brought them to his childless wife. When they found that jewels fell from the children's hair, the captain gave up his
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
, because he would be rich without it. They named the princess Belle-Etoile (
French for "Beautiful Star"); her older brother, Petit-Soleil ("Little Sun"); her younger, Heureux ("Happy"); and their cousin, who did not have the chain or star but was more beautiful than his cousins, Chéri ("Darling").
As Belle-Etoile and Chéri grew up, they fell in love, but believing themselves brother and sister, deeply regretted it. One day, she overheard the pirate and his wife talking, and learned where they had come from. She told her brothers and cousin, and they told the pirate and his wife that they wished to leave. The pirate implored them to stay, but Heureux persuaded him that they wondered too much about their birth to endure it. They set sail in a marvelous ship. It arrived at the castle of the king their father, and the king marveled over them. They asked only for a house in which to stay.
The
Queen mother
A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also u ...
realized from the description that these were her grandchildren. She sent the maid who had failed to drown them, and the woman told Belle-Etoile that she needed the dancing water, which would keep her from ever looking old. She told that story, and Chéri set out at once, against her will. He found a spring and rescued a dove from drowning. It set all sorts of animals that burrow to dig up the dancing water, and Chéri returned with it. He freed the dove and it flew off rather sulkily.
![WalterCrane, PrincessBelleEtoile-7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/WalterCrane%2C_PrincessBelleEtoile-7.jpg)
The maid came back with a tale of a singing apple, and Chéri once again set out. This time, a reading stranger directed him to the apple, and by helping a wounded dove, he gained the knowledge of the dragon that guarded it, and how it could be frightened off by mirrors, and returned with the apple.
The maid returned with a tale of a little green bird that knew everything. Belle-Etoile was deeply distressed by this, as she realized it could tell her who their parents were, and where they came from. Chéri set out again, but when he had nearly reached the bird, the rock opened, and he fell into a hall and was transformed into stone. Belle-Etoile fell ill from her distress at his absence, and Petit-Soleil set out to find Chéri, but suffered the same fate, and then Heureux did the same.
Belle-Etoile set out after them, and rescued a dove from snow. It advised her not to climb the mountain where the bird perched, but to sing below it, and lure it down. She did so, and the bird advised her on how to free her brothers and all the rest of the prisoners.
Meanwhile, the Queen Mother had persuaded the king to have his marriage to Blondine set aside, and marry again. Roussette persuaded the queen to invite Blondine to the wedding. The king invited the four children, and left a gentleman to await their arrival. The gentleman, on their arrival, told them the king's story. Belle-Etoile and her brothers arrived for the wedding, bringing their treasures, told how they were abandoned, and showed them to the king. Finally, the king asked the green bird who these children were, and where they came from. The bird proclaimed that they were the king's children and nephew.
The Queen Mother, Roussette, and the maid were all punished, and instead of marrying himself, the king married his daughter Belle-Etoile to Chéri.
Legacy
As pointed by
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 ...
, author and dramatist who adapted several of Madame d'Aulnoy's tales for the stage, the tale had remarkable similarities with
Antoine Galland's ''
The Sisters Envious of Their Cadette
The Sisters who Envied Their Cadette ( French: ''Histoire des deux sœurs jalouses de leur cadette'') is a fairy tale collected by French orientalist Antoine Galland and published in his translation of ''The Arabian Nights'', a compilation of A ...
''. He also noticed that the tale, when adapted to the English stage, renamed Prince Chéri as ''Prince Cherry'' and Princess Belle-Étoile as ''Princess Fair Star''.
Analysis
The story is classified in the
Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children" or, in French-language sources, ''L'Oiseau de Vérité'' ("The Bird of Truth").
Distribution
In French sources, there have been attested 35 versions of the tale (as of the late 20th century). 19th century scholar
Francis Hindes Groome
Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 – 24 January 1902), son of Robert Hindes Groome, Archdeacon of Suffolk, was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the Romani people, their language, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore.
Li ...
noted that the tale could be found in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
and
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
. A similar assessment, by researcher Gael Milin, asserted that the tale type was ''bien attesté'' ("well attested") in the Breton folklore of the 19th century.
Variants
François-Marie Luzel collected from Brittany ''Les trois filles du boulanger, or L'eau qui danse, le pomme qui chante et l'oiseau de la verité'' ("The Baker's Three Daughters, the Dancing Water, The Singing Apple, and the Bird of Truth") - from
Plouaret -, and ''Les Deux Fréres et la Soeur'' ("The Two Brothers and their Sister"), a tale heavily influenced by Christian tradition. He also provided a summary of a variant from
Lorient
Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France.
History
Prehistory and classical antiquity
Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...
: the king goes to war while his wife gives birth to two boys and a girl. The queen mother exchanges her son's letter and orders the children to be cast in the water and the wife to be mured. The children are saved by a miller and his wife, who raise the children and live comfortably well due to a coin purse that appears under the brothers' pillow every night. Years later, they go in search of their birth parents and come to a castle, where are located the "pomme qui chante, l'eau qui danse et l'oiseau qui parle". They must cross a graveyard before they reach the castle, where a fairy kills those who are impolite to her. The brothers fail, but the sister acts politely and receives from the fairy a cane to revive everyone at the graveyard. They find their father, the king, but arrive too late to save their mother.
Jean-François Bladé recorded a variant from
Gascony with the title ''La mer qui chante, la pomme qui danse et l'oisillon qui dit tout'' ("The Singing Sea, The Dancing Apple and The Little Bird that tells everything"). This tale preserves the motif of the wonder-children born with chains of gold "between the skin and muscle of their arms", from ''Dolopathos'' and the cycle of ''The Knight of Swan''.
Other French variants are: ''La branche qui chante, l'oiseau de vérité et l'eau qui rend verdeur de vie'' ("The singing branch, the bird of truth and the water of youth"), by
Henri Pourrat
The French writer and folklore collector Henri Pourrat was born in 1887 in Ambert, a town in the mountainous Auvergne region of central France. He died near Ambert in 1959.
Biography
Born to an Ambert shop-owner, Pourrat finished secondary school ...
; ''L'oiseau qui dit tout'', a tale from
Troyes collected by Louis Morin; a tale from the
Ariège region, titled ''L'Eau qui danse, la pomme qui chante et l'oiseau de toutes les vérités'' ("The dancing water, the singing apple and the bird of all truths"); a variant from
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
, titled ''Les trois lingêres'', by
René-Marie Lacuve; a version from
Limousin
Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...
(''La Belle-Étoile''), by
J. Plantadis; and a version from
Sospel
Sospel (; Mentonasc: Sospèl, Italian Sospello) is a commune (municipality) and former schismatic episcopal seat (1381-1418) in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France near the Italian border and not far from Monte Carlo.
Hist ...
, near the Franco-Italian border (''L'oiseau qui parle''), by James Bruyn Andrews.
Emmanuel Cosquin
Emmanuel Cosquin (1841 – 1919) was a French folklorist. He wrote the "Popular Tales of Lorraine," in the introduction to which he argues for the theory that the development as well as the origin of such tales is historically traceable to India.
...
collected a variant from
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
titled ''L'oiseau de vérité'' ("The Bird of Truth"), which is the name used by French academia to refer to the tale.
A tale from
Haute-Bretagne, collected by
Paul Sébillot (''Belle-Étoile''), is curious in that if differs from the usual plot: the children are still living with their mother, when they, on their own, are spurred on their quest for the marvelous items. Sébillot continued to collect variants from across
Bretagne: ''Les Trois Merveilles'' ("The Three Wonders"), from
Dinan
Dinan (; ) is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan.
Geography
Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead o ...
.
A variant from
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
, in France, collected by
Henry Carnoy (''L'Arbre qui chante, l'Oiseau qui parle et l'Eau d'or'', or "The tree that sings, the bird that speaks and the water of gold"), has the youngest daughter, the princess, save an old man she meets in her journey and who gives her advice on how to obtain the items, and who turns out to be an enchanted youth.
An extended version, almost novella-length, has been collected from a
Breton source and translated into French, by
Gabriel Milin and Amable-Emmanuel Troude, called ''L'Oiseau de Vérité'' (
Breton: ''Labous ar wirionez''). The tale is curious in that, being divided in three parts, the story takes its time to develop the characters of the king's son and the peasant wife, in the first third. In the second part, the wonder-children are male triplets, each with a symbol on his shoulder: a bow, a spearhead and a sword. The character who helps the youngest prince is an enchanted princess, who, according to a prophecy by her godmother, will marry the youngest son (the hero of the tale).
In another Breton variant, published in ''Le Fureteur breton'' (
fr), the third seamstress sister wants to marry the prince, and, on her wedding day, reveals she will give birth to twins, a boy with a
fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
mark on the shoulder, and a girl.
Two variants were collected by Charles Joisten from
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.
In the 12th centu ...
: ''L'oiseau de vérité'' ("The Bird of Truth") and ''La pomme d'or, l'oiseau des quatre vérités et l'eau qui fait revenir les morts'' ("The Golden Apple, the Bird of Four Truths and the Water that Brings Back the Dead").
[Joisten, Charles. ]
Contes populaires du Dauphiné: Contes merveilleux. Contes religieux. Histoires d'ogres et de diagles dupés
'. Musée dauphinois, 30, rue Maurice-Gignoux, 1971. pp. 184-187 and 188ff.
References
External links
*
*
"Princess Belle-Etoile"in ''The Song of Sixpence'', by
Walter Crane
Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...
, from
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...
Edition of Princess Belle-Etoile''at ''WalterCrane.com'']
{{The Three Golden Children
Works by Madame d'Aulnoy
French fairy tales
Belle-Etoile
Belle-Etoile
Piracy in fiction
Female characters in fairy tales
ATU 700-749