Princess Rosette

About this episode

This episode explores the whimsical fairy tale 'Princess Rosette' by Madame d'Aulnoy and its cultural significance.

Our Lang Fairy Tale for today is another Madame d'Aulnoy story, Princess Rosette. Also known in some places as The King of the Peacocks or The Black and the White Bride, it's packed full of whimsy, but what is it actually about? We get lists of fun foods and wonderful creatures, sojourn with side characters with nothing to do, and end up with a kind of take on The Goose Girl. Considering d'Aulnoy is most known for writing fairy tales for adults, and coined the term 'Fairy Tale' in the first place, perhaps she knew better what ought to go into one. Then again, should you lock your children up in towers for all their lives? Or impulsively decide to marry a ruler of birds? Also, what the heck is a cockchafer?! If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne. Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into…

People in this episode

Host: Three Ravens

Topics covered

• fairy tales
• whimsy
• children's literature
• cultural folklore
• Madame d'Aulnoy

Keywords

• Princess Rosette
• Madame d'Aulnoy
• fairy tales
• Lang Fairy Tales
• children's literature

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Princess Rosette, The King of the Peacocks, The Black and the White Bride, The Goose Girl, Lang Fairy Tales, Fairy Books

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