The White Doe or The Doe in the Woods is a French

literary fairy tale A literary fairy tale is a fairy tale that differs from an oral folktale in that it is written by "a single identifiable author", as defined by Jens Tismar's monograph. They also differ from oral folk tales, which can be characterized as "simple ...

written by

Madame d'Aulnoy Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (September 1652 – 14 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French author known for her literary fairy tales. Her 1697 collection ''Les Contes des Fées'' (Fairy Tales) ...

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 folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...

included it in ''

The Orange 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 Leonora Blanche Alleyne, a married couple. The best known books of the series are the 12 col ...

''.

Alternate names

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, translated the tale as ''The Hind in the Woods''. Further English translations renamed it ''The Story of the Hind in the Forest'', ''The Enchanted Hind'', ''The Hind of the Forest''. and ''The White

Fawn A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family (biology), family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, a ...

''. French illustrator Edmund Dulac included another version in his book ''Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations'', entitled, ''The Hind of the Wood''.

Synopsis

A crayfish (or a crab, or a lobster, in some translations) brought a childless queen to a

fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

palace, where she was revealed as the fairy of the spring and took the form of a little old lady. The fairies promised the queen that she would soon birth a daughter that should be named Desirée. The crayfish took offense for being the only one not to be invited to the princess's christening. The crayfish would not be placated by the excuses of the fairies for the slight, warned them that the princess was in danger but did not explain the curse, should sunlight touch Desiree in the first fifteen years of her life. On the advice of the other fairies, the king and queen built a subterranean castle for the princess to live in. When her fifteenth birthday approached, the queen had her portrait made and sent it to all the neighboring princes. One fell so in love with her that he often shut himself up with the portrait and talked to it. When the king, his father, learned this, the prince persuaded him to break a betrothal with the Black Princess and send an ambassador to Desirée. The fairy Tulip, who loved Desiree best, warned not to let the ambassador see her before the birthday. At his suit, however, they agreed to bring the portrait to the princess, who was much taken by it, and to hold the wedding in three months, after her birthday. The prince was so love-sick that the king sent messages to implore them to put forward the wedding. Meanwhile, the Black Princess was deeply offended. Though she declared that he had his freedom, because she could not love a dishonorable man, she implored the aid of her fairy godmother, the fairy of the spring, who was reminded of the injury and resolved to harm Desirée. Hearing that the prince was dying for love of her, Desirée proposed that she travel by closed carriage, and open it for food only at night. When this was put into effect, the mother of a jealous lady-in-waiting, persuaded by her daughter, cut open the coach and let light on the princess. She instantly turned into a white doe and bounded off. The fairy of the spring created a thunderstorm that frightened off the servants. A faithful lady-in-waiting chased the doe, and the jealous one disguised herself as the princess and went on. She pleaded the thunderstorm for her condition, but her ugliness astounded the prince. He left the palace rather than endure such a marriage, and went to the forest with only the ambassador. The fairy Tulip led the faithful lady-in-waiting to the doe and after witnessing their reunion, appeared. She could only turn the princess back to a woman by night and direct them to a hut where they might stay. An old woman took them in there; somewhat later, the ambassador found it, and the old woman gave him and the prince shelter. The next day, the prince saw the doe and shot at it, but the fairy Tulip protected her. The day after, the doe avoided where he had shot, and the prince hunted long for her, until he, exhausted, slept. The doe came upon him and, seeing she had the advantage of him, studied him. She woke him, and he chased her until she was exhausted and let him catch her. He treated her as a fond pet, but she escaped before nightfall, for fear that her change would shock him. The next day, the prince wounded her and was much distressed, but took her back by force to the hut. The lady-in-waiting objected and the prince had to give up the doe. The ambassador told him that he had seen the lady-in-waiting at Desiree's court. They had made a hole in the partition between the rooms, and saw the princess and heard her laments. They were joyously united. At dawn, she did not retransform into a doe. An army of his father's came, and the prince went out to explain what he had learned. The prince married the princess, and the ambassador married the lady-in-waiting.

Legacy

The tale was one of many from d'Aulnoy's pen to be adapted to the stage by

, as part of his ''Fairy Extravaganza''. The tale was retitled as ''The Prince of Happy Land, or, The Fawn in the Forest'' when he translated it to the stage. The tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 403, "The White and Black Bride".Trinquet, Charlotte. ''Le conte de fées français (1690-1700): Traditions italiennes et origines aristocratiques''. Narr Verlag. 2012. p. 218.

References

External links

''The Hind in the Wood''
{{DEFAULTSORT:White Doe, The Works by Madame d'Aulnoy Fictional princesses Fictional deer and moose Anthropomorphic deer and moose Fairy tales about talking animals Animal tales ATU 400-459 Fairy tales about fairies Fairy tales about princes Fairy tales about princesses

Alternate names

Synopsis

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links