The Little Good Mouse is a French 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 ...

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 ...

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 Red 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 collections ...

''.

Synopsis

A king and queen were in love and happy, and made their entire kingdom happy. Nearby lived a cruel king, who heard of their joy and attacked them. The king went to fight him but was killed and defeated. The cruel king then captured the dead king's queen. Because she was to have a child, he threatened to kill but actually intended to marry her child, if a daughter, to his son. He consulted 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 encouraged the queen and told the cruel king that the child would be a beautiful and accomplished daughter; the king said if it were not true, he would kill both mother and child. A mouse came into the queen's tower cell one night and danced, amusing her. Although she received only three peas a day, she gave one to the mouse. She found a cooked partridge for herself on the table. She exchanged the peas for better food this way, but feared for her child. Finding the mouse playing with straw, she wove a basket and rope from them, to lower the child once born. One day, she saw an old woman there. The woman offered to help her if she would throw her the mouse, which she loved to eat; the queen refused, and the woman stalked off. The baby was born, and the queen named her Joliette and went to lower her. The mouse jumped in the basket, and the queen told it that if she had sacrificed it, she might have saved her baby. The mouse turned into the fairy and offered to care for the child. She lowered the baby, and climbed down the rope as a mouse; then, in distress, she climbed back up, because her enemy had stolen the princess. Meanwhile, the jailer went to the king with the news the baby had been born. The king came. The queen told him a fairy had taken it. He took her to the woods to hang her, but the fairy made her invisible, and they escaped. Fifteen years later, they heard that the prince was to marry a turkeyherd. Going to see, they found the ugly prince arguing with the beautiful turkeyherd, while her turkeys trampled the jewels and fine garments he had given her. The fairy talked with her, and realized she was the princess. She dressed her in fine clothing and went to tell the queen. The king heard that the turkeyherd was refusing his son, and sent for her. His soldiers were astounded to find her dressed as she was, but brought her, and the king ordered her to love his son. She refused, and they decided to shut her up in a tower. The mouse crept into their bedrooms and bit them while they slept. When they met, they were in a rage, and killed each other. The fairy freed the princess and spoke to the people. They agreed to take her as their queen. The fairy brought her a handsome prince to be her king, and they married.

References

External links

"The Good Little Mouse"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Good Mouse, The French fairy tales Mice and rats in literature Works by Madame d'Aulnoy