[In the essay below, Mitchell outlines the major characteristics of d'Aulnoy's style in her fairy tales, including the personification of animals and other aspects of the natural world, wordplay, and the use of rhythmic repetition.]

The themes of love and metamorphosis, coupled with an insight into the manners of seventeenth-century France as revealed in Mme. d'Aulnoy's Contes des fées, are enhanced by her imaginative style, her unusual vocabulary and her natural flow of language. Edmond Pilon, in his Muses et bourgeoises de jadis, compares Mme. d'Aulnoy with other women fairy tale writers of her era and concludes that her contes “l'emportaient encore en charme et en malice.”¹ It is this ambiguity that intrigues the reader and makes him plead for more.

A part of this charm and malice stems from her delightful, enigmatic fairies. In later publications of her tales, the title becomes Les Contes des fées ou les enchantemens des bonnes et mauvaises fées. Their very names distinguish their malefic or benefic nature. Tourmentine, Fanferluche, Feintise, Magotine, Ragotte and Carabosse are obviously to be feared while Gentille, Bénigne, Protectrice, Tulipe and Souveraine are just as obviously to be trusted. Throughout the tales Mme. d'Aulnoy unmasks their equivocal natures.

J'ai de l'inquiétude de cette fée de belle humeur, car la plupart sont malicieuses, et ce n'est pas toujours bon signe quand elles rient.

(II, p. 286)

This fairy causes the queen to give birth to a young boar. Later the three fairies explain themselves.

Nous sommes trois sœurs, répliqua la fée; il y en a deux bonnes, l'autre gâte presque toujours le bien que nous faisons.

(II, p. 299)

The queen in “La Princesse Carpillon” wonders what her family has done to deserve the fairy's protection.

J'ai toujours entendu dire, répliqua la reine, qu'il est de bonnes et de mauvaises fées, qu'elles prennent des familles en amitié ou en aversion selon leur génie.

(II, p. 47)

Alidor in “Le Dauphin” simply sits on Grognette's rock, and she takes immediate dislike to him.

Il sentit que la roche s'agitait fortement, ensuite elle s'ouvrit pour laisser sortir une vieille petite naine déhanchée, qui s'appuyait sur une béquille: c'était la fée Grognette, qui n'était pas meilleure que Grognon. “Vraiment, dit-elle, seigneur Alidor, je te trouve bien familier de venir t'asseoir sur ma roche, je ne sais ce qui m'empêche te jeter au fond de la mer, pour t'apprendre que si les fées ne peuvent rendre un mortel plus heureux que toi, elles peuvent au moins le rendre malheureux dès qu'elles le veulent.”

(II, p. 330)

The fairy in “La Princesse Printanière” waits years to avenge the king for a childhood prank he played on her.

Hélas! ma mie, nous sommes perdus, dit le roi, c'est ici la fée Carabosse. La méchante me haïssait dès le temps que j'étais petit garçon, pour une espièglerie que je lui fis avec du soufre dans son potage.

(I, p. 114)

The fairy who helps Gracieuse's stepmother with the tasks she imposes on Gracieuse later repents and goes back to strangle the stepmother. This is no more than poetic justice since the stepmother had tried to strangle her earlier.

Lorsque cette marâtre la vit revenir, elle se jeta sur la fée, qu'elle avait retenue; elle l'égratigna, et l'aurait étranglée, si une fée était étranglable.

(I, p. 27)

Another example of poetic justice is seen at the end of “L'Oiseau bleu” when the deceiving sister is changed into the animal for whom she had been named.

Dès qu'elle voulut ouvrir la bouche pour lui dire des injures, l'enchanteur et la fée parurent, qui la métamorphosèrent en truie, afin qu'il lui restât au moins une partie de son nom et de son naturel grondeur.

(I, p. 77)

Mme. d'Aulnoy's fairies are not always all-powerful. Often they must elicit the help of an enchanter in order to carry out their magic (“L'Oiseau bleu”). There are also demi-fées whose efficacy is only half as influential as that of a full-fledged fairy. The fairies captivate us with the ingenuity of their magic, with their curses and their blessings, and especially with their penchant for performing all good or all evil deeds. We know the nature of their acts, but we are kept in suspense as to how they will bring it about.

Just as enchanting as the fairies is the animal-like vocabulary Mme. d'Aulnoy employs. It reveals an understanding of animals and a feeling for them that makes them real and winsome to the reader. To begin with, there is a whole new lexicon of verbs used to disenchant each species. Laideronnette will not be happy until her green serpent is “déserpentiné.” The other fairies beg Carabosse to “déguignonner” Princesse Printanière. When Prince Marcassin is most depressed about his fate, a lady approaches him and assures him that he will soon be “démarcassiné.” Some of these newly formed verbs are reflexive as if to imply that the personage can disenchant himself. These are used in cases where the characters are changing back and forth. Prince Lutin, for example, is endowed by a fairy whom he has helped: “Soyez lutin lutinant” (I, p. 84). He can become an invisible sprite or remain himself when it suits him. “Lutin, se délutinant, parut tout d'un coup à la porte de la salle” (I, p. 88). Désirée's curse makes her a doe (“biche”) during the day, yet she resumes her own form at night. “L'heure de se débichonner étant arrivée, la belle reprit sa forme ordinaire” (II, p. 101). The hero of “Le Rameau d'or” has been given the clue to his own disenchantment by his protective fairy. “Il faut, dit-il, chercher le Rameau d'or, peut-être que je me dégrillonnerai” (I, p. 175).

Not only does Mme. d'Aulnoy create new verbs to discuss her animal characters, she also forms adjectives to describe those characteristics peculiar to each creature. Prince Marcassin's father wants to have the little monster drowned, but his mother protects him and tries to make him presentable at court. “Enfin, on lui ôtait, autant qu'il était possible, les manières marcassines” (II, p. 288). Further in the tale he begins courting a young lady, and we learn that he hasn't lost all of his boarish manners, for his gifts to the lady are not ordinary ones. “Il lui donnait toutes les truffes que son instinct marcassinique lui faisait trouver dans la forêt” (II, p. 291). How typically French for a young boar to provide his lady with the one delicacy that he alone can offer! There are many such passages of ironic humor throughout Mme. d'Aulnoy's contes that enliven her tales in a way that surpasses Perrault.

In “La Chatte blanche” there is a hunt. Quite naturally, their hunt is for birds. The master of the hunt is a monkey who brings the white cat an eagle's nest so that she can “disposer à sa volonté des petites altesses aiglonnes” (II, p. 117). The young hero is amazed at this strange pageantry. “Il lui semblât que tant de chatonnerie tenait un peu du sabbat ou du sorcier” (II, p. 117). However, our young hero has just begun to witness the strange happenings at this fairy court. When he returns on his third quest, Madame Minette orders a naval battle between her cats and the neighboring rats. The rats seem to be winning until her admiral makes a decisive move.

Minagrobis, amiral de la flotte chatonnique, réduisit la gent ratonienne dans le dernier désespoir. Il mangea à belles dents le général de leur flotte.

(II, p. 126)

The adjectives “chatonnique” and “ratonienne” add to the satiric effect of the whole war. This tale is so filled with feline terms that the reader experience the same feeling as the hero. “C'est peutêtre le premier mortel qui se soit si bien diverti avec des chats, sans avoir d'autre compagnie” (II, p. 121). From his entrance past the history of famous cats to the music of the cat orchestra which begins to “miauler sur différents tons,” and the white cat's greeting “Fils de roi, sois le bienvenu, ma miaularde majesté te voit avec plaisir” (II, p. 115) to her final request that he cut off her “chatonique figure,” the whole atmosphere is filled with “cat-ness.” It is Mme. d'Aulnoy's special animal vocabulary and her attention to details about these animals that set her tales apart from those of other fairy tale writers of the period. Her tales are a mixture of fable and fairy tale, combining the best features of both. They are didactic as when the hero of “La Chatte blanche” comes in out of a rainy night, “Il était mouillé comme je l'ai dit, et l'on avait peur qu'il ne s'enrhumât” (II, p. 114) and pleasing in that magic hands appear to undress him and warm before the fire, “les mains qui lui semblaient fort belles, blanches, petites, grassettes et bien proportionnées le déshabillèrent” (II, p. 114).

In other tales Mme. d'Aulnoy uses her animal vocabulary but to a lesser extent than in “La Chatte blanche.” When the queen of “La Grenouille bienfaisante” arrives in the underworld, her first act is to save the frog from the crow. “La grenouilla tomba, resta quelque temps étourdie, et reprenant ensuite ses esprits grenouilliques” (II, p. 57), she speaks. The queen is amazed when the frog speaks to her. Mme. d'Aulnoy's interest in languages, and especially the desire to communicate with other creatures, is evident in many of the tales. When the monkey king, Magot, sends his ambassador to ask for Babiole's hand in marriage, he sends along a parakeet as interpreter and even a magpie as sous-interprète! Not only does the parakeet interpret, he writes poetry too. He addresses a rather lengthy poem to Babiole in behalf of his king. The ambassador delivers Magot's gifts to Babiole in person.

L'ambassadeur lui fit entendre en grommelant, qui est la langue dont on se sert en Magotie que son monarque était plus touché de ses charmes qu'il l'eût été de sa vie d'aucune guenon.

(I, p. 273)

Babiole, although encompassed in a monkey's body, keeps her human heart. Therefore, she confesses her love to the prince, who makes fun of her and assures her she should marry Magot and adds “et en faveur de la bonne amitié entre nous, envoie-moi le premier Magotin de ta façon.” Magot's kingdom, then, is “Magotie”; his people are “Magotins”; and they communicate “en grommelant.”

The pigeon of “Le Pigeon et la colombe” regrets that he has not been given the power of speech as “L'Oiseau bleu” was. He tries to commit suicide by throwing himself from a high cliff, forgetting “quel secours peuvent être des plumes.” He next decides to pluck out his feathers in order to try again. At this point two young girls find him and plan to put him in a pie for the fairy, Souveraine. When the fairy caresses him, his reaction and gestures are appealing.

Il lui faisait la révérence à la pigeonne en tirant un peu le pied; il la becquetait d'un air caressant: bien qu'il fût pigeon novice, il en savait déjà plus que les vieux pères et les vieux ramiers.

(II, p. 227)

When the fairy tells him his love is being held in a tower by a giant and that her only help can come from his own willingness to fly to her with a magic ring that will enable her to become a dove and escape, he is impatient to be on his way.

Le pigeonneau était dans la dernière impatience de partir, il ne savait comme le faire comprendre; il tirailla la manchette et le tablier en falbala de la fée, il s'approcha ensuite des fenêtres, ou il donna quelques coups de bec contre les vitres. Tout cela voulait dire en langage pigeonique: “Je vous supplie, madame, de m'envoyer avec votre bague enchantée pour soulager notre belle princesse.”

(II, p. 229)

Mme. d'Aulnoy's description of his efforts to communicate is poignant. Who can remain unmoved before the poor bird's sad plight and his noble efforts to communicate “en langage pigeonique?” Later he is granted his speech again so that he can declare his love to his lady.

Another feature of Mme. d'Aulnoy's style is the use of personification. In “Belle-Etoile et le Prince Chéri” there is a singing apple (“la pomme qui chante”), a green bird of truth (“le petit oiseau vert qui dit tout”) and water that dances (“l'eau qui danse”). In “L'Oranger et l'abeille” there is even a bean (“fève”) that talks in order to answer the ogre's questions while Aimée escapes with her cousin. The strangest of the talking objects, however, appear in “Fortunée.” It is as though Fortunée's kindnesses disenchant all the objects around her. The chicken talks and we learn she was the laborer's garrulous wife who was changed into a chicken because it was her nature to “caqueter.” When Fortunée's brother replaces her carnation (“Oeillet”) with a cabbage, she throws it out the window. To her amazement, the cabbage utters a complaint. “Ha! je suis mort. Elle ne comprit rien à ces plaintes, car ordinairement les choux ne parlent pas” (I, p. 258). Finally, the carnation speaks in order to declare his love for her. It is too much for poor Fortunée.

La princesse, tremblante et surprise d'avoir entendu parler un chou, une poule, un œillet et d'avoir vu une armée de rats, devint pâle et s'evanouit.

(I, p. 261)

The merveilleux of this tale lacks the charm and humor of many of the other tales, most probably because it is not convincingly real. Mme. d'Aulnoy's animal vocabulary is missing, and with it, much of the allure of the tale. The magic seems artificial and contrived if compared with “Le Prince Mascassin,” “L'Oiseau bleu,” or even with “Belle-Etoile et le Prince Chéri,” which also has talking objects in lieu of animals.

Some of Mme. d'Aulnoy's human characters have difficulty with their language too. Aimée of “L'Oranger et l'abeille” speaks the language of her foster parents, the ogres. “Elle ne savait ni lire, ni écrire, ni aucunes langues; elle parlait le jargon d'ogrelie” (I, p. 182). When she falls in love with her cousin, Aimé, who is shipwrecked on her island, they communicate through kinesics, “… leurs yeux et quelques gestes servaient d'interprètes à leurs pensées” (I, p. 184). In order to save Aimé from being eaten by the ogre, Aimée removes the crown from one of the little ogre's heads and places it on her cousin's. This is the same situation as in Perrault's “Le Petit Poucet.” If we compare the passage by Perrault with Mme. d'Aulnoy's, we can note that Perrault simply states that the ogres wear a crown at night while Mme. d'Aulnoy explains the custom and the ogres' attitude toward the custom.

On les avait fait coucher de bonne heure et elles étaient toutes sept dans un grand lit, ayant chacune une Couronne d'or sur la tête.²

Or, c'est la coutume en ogrichonnerie, que tous les soirs, l'ogre, l'ogresse et les ogrichons, mettent sur leur tête une belle couronne d'or, avec laquelle ils dorment: voilà leur seule magnificence, mais ils aimeraient mieux être pendus et étranglés que d'y avoir manqué.

(I, p. 190)

The addition of “la coutume en ogrichonnerie” and the enumerating of “l'ogre, l'ogresse et les ogrichons” contribute to the mocking quality of the passage. The explanation of the ogres' strong feeling about their custom enhances the burlesque tone. Mme. d'Aulnoy even names her ogres Ravagio and Tourmentine while Perrault's remain impersonalized. After saving Aimé from Ravagio, Aimée steals Tourmentine's magic wand. Her first wish is that she speak the same language as the one she loves. Since she is new at this language, she explains her ineptness. “Mes expressions sont plus simples, répliqua la princesse, mais elles ne seront pas moins sincères” (I, p. 193).

All of these references to language indicate Mme. d'Aulnoy's overwhelming interest in language and words. She even based an entire local legend on one word in her Relation du voyage d'Espagne.³ Mme. d'Aulnoy coins new words that suit her personages and add to their personalities at the same time. Marcassin would be just another ordinary boar without his “instincts marcassiniques” and the white cat would be only half as appealing without her “chatonique figure.”

The manner in which her metamorphosed animals show emotions is ingenious. We have already referred to the pigeon's homage to the fairy by pecking her with a caressing manner (“becqueter d'un air caressant”). The fairy serpent in “Le Prince Lutin” is equally engaging when she flaunts all her charms before the young man who saved her life. “Dès qu'elle l'apercevait, elle venait au-devant de lui, rampant et faisant toutes les petites mines et les airs gracieux dont une couleuvre est capable” (I, p. 81). When Aimé and Aimée are changed into an orange tree and a bee, they are visited by Princess Linda who enjoys the fragrance of the orange blossoms. The bee stings Linda out of jealousy and the orange tree reprimands the bee.

Elle pleura en cet endroit, autant qu'une Abeille est capable de pleurer; quelques fleurs de l'amoureux Oranger en furent mouillées, et son déplaisir d'avoir chagriné sa princesse alla si loin que toutes ses feuilles jaunirent, plusieurs branches séchèrent, et il en pensa mourir.

(I, p. 201)

Thus a jealous bee cries and the leaves of a chagrined orange tree turn yellow and dry up when they have a lovers' quarrel. Mme. d'Aulnoy's personification of her animals and plants is singular in that it is truly personal. Not every tree will respond emotionally by drying up its leaves nor will every serpent crawl up to her guardian and flirt with him. All the animals and plants react individually and according to their nature. This is Mme. d'Aulnoy's own interpretation of Cartesianism. Serpentin Vert emotes quite differently from the fairy serpent of “Le Prince Lutin.” He falls in love with Laideronnette, but she scorns him. “Serpentin Vert fit un long sifflement (c'est la manière dont les serpents soupiraient), et sans répliquer, il s'enfonca dans l'onde” (I, p. 315). None but a lady writer who understands and loves animals would think of a serpent's hiss as a sigh. Even her dolphin (“Le Dauphin”) endeavors to empathize with his friend to the best of his ability. “Le Dauphin en eut pitié, il pleura un peu quoique les dauphins ne pleurent guère” (II, p. 334).

Mme. d'Aulnoy's humor is heightened by her own tongue-in-cheek remarks about some of the unusual happenings in her tales. For example, Prince Lutin profits from his invisibility to be near the princess he loves, yet he is not satisfied because “il est rare qu'un invisible se fasse aimer” (I, p. 103). Prince Adolphe, another invisible character, makes his way into Princess Felicité's garden, but finds no way of entering her palace. Finally, a basket is lowered from a window for the gardener to fill with flowers and Adolphe jumps in, hoping that his invisibility will also make him weightless.⁴ When Torticoli's father seeks to arrange a marriage between his deformed son and Trognon, a legless cripple, her father is delighted, “car tout le monde n'est pas d'humeur de se charger d'un cul-de-jatte” (I, p. 150).

Another instance of such a comment is in “Belle-Belle ou le Chevalier Fortunée.” Grugeon, one of the seven endowed ones, has just completed the task imposed by the emperor of eating all the bread baked in his city that day. As a result, no one has bread for supper that evening. “Il fallut que ce jour-là, depuis l'empereur jusqu'au chat, tout dînât sans pain” (II, p. 179). This attention to minor details intensifies the vraisemblance by adding a realistic touch. It reinforces the magic and makes it seem desirable, if not probable.

Many of Mme. d'Aulnoy's descriptions are filled with a similar mocking tone. When Fanfarinet comes to ask for Princess Printanière's hand for his lord, he is so dazzled by her beauty that he behaves like someone who is drunk.

Fanfarinet avait beaucoup d'esprit, mais quand il vit la belle Printanière avec tant de grâces et de majesté, il demeura si ravi, qu'au lieu de parler, il ne faisait plus que bégayer; l'on aurait dit qu'il était ivre, quoique certainement il n'eût pris qu'une tasse de chocolat.

(I, p. 120)

The comparison between a man who is struck speechless before a beautiful lady and a blubbering drunk may be apt, but the added explanation that he had had only one cup of chocolate is unexpected and, for that reason, it delights the reader all the more with its mockery. The description of the fairy frog's arrival at the king's palace with the message from his queen in the underworld is a perfect vignette of the manner in which women behave in court.

Elle était un peu coquette de son métier, cela l'avait obligée de mettre du rouge et des mouches; l'on dit même qu'elle était fardée, comme sont la plupart des dames de ce pays-là; mais la chose approfondie, l'on a trouvé que c'étaient ses ennemis qu'en parlaient ainsi.

(II, p. 62)

This passage is reminiscent of Perrault's irony in “Griselidis.” Although he is dealing with a virtuous wife, he describes all the conniving women at court. Mme. d'Aulnoy's experience in courtly circles permits us this insight into petty comments and jealousies among the women at court. This is the reason many critics refer to her depiction of courtly society in her tales. Her personages exude the mentality and the language of the lords and ladies in the salons and at court.

There are also examples of exaggeration in Mme. d'Aulnoy's contes. We have referred to the fact that her characters are always perfect in beauty or sometimes perfect in ugliness (Laideronnette). In describing Finette Cendron, Mme. d'Aulnoy writes that “Finette était trente fois plus belle que la belle Hélène” (I, p. 252). Prince Marcassin recounts how he looked at himself in a stream and found his appearance so horrible that he cried. Then he adds, “Sans hyperbole, j'en versai assez [de pleurs] pour grossir le cours du ruisseau” (II, p. 315). When Belle-Belle and her seven endowed ones arrive at the Emperor Matapa's city, they are amazed at its size.

Elle était plus grande que Paris, Constantinople et Rome ensemble; et si peuplée, que les caves, les greniers et les toits étaient habités.

(II, p. 178)

At other times Mme. d'Aulnoy uses the technique of rhetorical questions. Perhaps the best example is when Laideronnette learns that she must go to the underworld to get the essence of long life for the evil fairy who has enchanted her beloved Serpentin Vert. She overcomes her surprise sufficiently to ask, “Par où va-t-on aux enfers?” (I, p. 336). The innocence with which it is uttered only adds to the irony. Another example is Carpillon's musing over the injustice of the way fate endowed the two men in her life.

Pourquoi, disait-elle, bizarre fortune, donnes-tu tant de grâces, de bonne mine, et d'agrément à un jeune berger, qui n'est destiné qu'à garder son troupeau, et tant de malice, de laideur, et de difformité à un grand prince destiné à gouverner un royaume?

(II, pp. 34-35)

These questions serve almost the same purpose as the asides to the reader which we mentioned earlier.⁵ They both act as vents to the author's own mockery of the situation. They both add to the reader's pleasure, for they tend to give the reader the feeling that he, too, is a part of the burlesque. Such a case is when Babiole eats a nut given to her by King Magot and from the shell come architects, sculptors, masons and painters, who go to work immediately to build her a city five times the size of Rome. It was all done in three quarters of an hour. The aside states, “Voilà bien des prodiges sortis d'une petite noisette” (I, p. 281). The reader agrees, for he is thinking the same thoughts himself. Nevertheless, it delights us all the more to have the author emphasize the improbability of her own magic.

Another area of the magic in which Mme. d'Aulnoy excels is the naming of names. We alluded to some of the names earlier when discussing the attributes of the heroes and heroines.⁶ The names are certainly part of the charm and the humor of Mme. d'Aulnoy's contes. This is the reason we have not attempted to translate them in this work. The names are an integral part of the characters and they make them real, at least for the duration of the tale. Such an addition as calling the corsair's wife Corsine in “Belle-Etoile et le Prince Chéri” makes the wife authentic by establishing her firmly as part of a couple. The same is true of the ogres in “L'Oranger et l'abeille.” They are not simply classified as ogres, they are given a name commensurate with their nature. He is Ravagio (Ravager) and his partner is Tourmentine (Tormentor). King Magot who sends ambassadors to ask for Babiole in marriage, is aptly named, for his name's literal meaning applies to his grotesque appearance and its figurative interpretation to the hidden treasures he gives Babiole which enable her to disenchant herself later. Emperor Matapa, the king's enemy in “Belle-Belle ou le Chevalier Fortuné,” probably gets his name for killing the peace, which is truly an understatement if we consider his atrocities. The seven endowed ones in the same tale are identified by their talents. Hence, Forte-échine is strong; Léger is swift; le bon Tireur has exceptional vision; Fine-Oreille hears all; l'Impétueux has lungs strong enough to blow windmills; Trinquet is a great drinker and Grugeon is a heavy eater. There is never any question about a character's nature, for it is inherent in his name. Good and evil are easily distinguishable in the fairy tale.

Other qualities of Mme. d'Aulnoy's talent which enhance the appeal of these fantasies are her use of imitative harmonies and repetition. One example of the former is the “cric croc” that accompanies Trognon's metamorphosis in “Le Rameau d'or.” She was a legless cripple, and with the simple “cric croc” she sprouted legs and became a lovely lady. The “tic toc” that Grognon makes knocking on the barrels filled with diamonds, pearls and other treasures in her cave recalls the techniques and sounds made by the traditional storytellers.

There are repetitions, usually to the customary tertiary rhythm of the fairy tale. For instance, in “La Belle aux cheveux d'or” each of the three animals Avenant helps repeats the same phrase, “Je vous revaudrai.” Such a repetition satisfies in its simplicity and in its announcement of what is to come. We know that something will happen so that they will be able to repay the young hero's kindness. The same sort of repetition occurs in “Belle-Belle ou le Chevalier Fortuné” when each of the three sisters starts out disguised as a male. The first two sisters will not stop to help an old shepherdess whose sheep is in the ditch. To each the old lady calls out “Adieu, belle déguisée.” They realize they have been discovered and return home. Only Belle-Belle helps the fairy shepherdess and receives her blessing.

Finally, Mme. d'Aulnoy uses a balanced structure of comparison that intensifies the good and evil duality of the fairy tale. In “La Chatte blanche” the king banishes the queen for having promised their daughter to the fairies in exchange for some fruit. The king soon relents and brings the queen back to court. “Il envoya quérir la reine avec autant de tendresse et de pompe qu'il avait fait mettre prisonnière avec colère et emportement” (II, p. 133). Whether the structure is labeled comparison or contrast, it serves both purposes. The structure uses comparison in the manner in which he sends her away and brings her back and uses contrast in the opposing intentions. The same structure is found in “Le Dauphin” and in “Serpentin vert.” In the former story the contrast occurs in the previous trials of the prince and princess as opposed to the bliss of their married life.

La vie du prince et de la princesse fut aussi longue et aussi heureuse qu'elle avait été triste et traversée dans les commencements.

(II, p. 330)

The latter story is similar in that the tale concludes by alluding to their former misfortunes and their future happiness.

Il y retournèrent sur-le-champ, et vécurent avec autant de bonne fortune qu'ils avaient éprouvé jusqu'alors de disgrâces et d'ennuis.

(I, p. 339)

Such a structure as this contributes to the happy ending, for it enables us to observe how great their past tribulations were and it leaves us to anticipate how blissful their future will be. This is part of the solace of the happy ending in fairy tales, and Mme. d'Aulnoy magnifies it by the contrast.

In conclusion, Mme. d'Aulnoy's style makes her tales vivid and colorful. The magic of her enigmatic fairies is equaled only by the author's own mocking comments about their magic. Her animal vocabulary is comparable to La Fontaine's in its compassion for the creatures. The ironic humor of many passages surpasses Perrault's in its directness. Her tales may be comprised of mixed motifs from folklore, but her ingenuity blends each motif selected into one harmonious tale. She has also combined artistry with taste to produce twenty-five charming and entertaining contes de fées.

Notes

1. Edmond Pilon, Muses et bourgeoises de jadis (Paris: Editions Excelsior, 1933), p. 16.

2. G. Rouger, ed., Contes de Perrault (Paris: Editions Garnier, 1967), p. 193.

3. Princess Mira was so named because everyone who saw her exclaimed “Look” (Mira). She was indifferent to all men until she saw Nios who was indifferent to her. She died of grief and her sighs still come from the castle. R. Foulché-Delbosc, [“Madame d'Aulnoy et l'Espagne.” Madame d'Aulnoy, Relation du Voyage d'Espagne. Paris: Klincksieck, 1926], pp. 187-88.

4. See supra [in original publication], p. 91.

5. See supra [in original publication], pp. 48-49.

6. See supra [in original publication], pp. 92-96.