Les Fées

The Fairies

1Des perles et des crapaudsPearls and toadsFree5m

A widow has two daughters. The elder, Fanchon, is like her mother, unpleasant and proud; the younger is like her father, gentle, honest and very beautiful. The mother dotes on the elder and makes the younger eat in the kitchen and work without rest, and fetch water twice a day from a spring far from the house. One day a poor old woman at the spring asks her for a drink; the girl rinses her jug, draws the clearest water and holds the jug for her. The woman is a fairy and gives her a gift: at every word, a flower or a precious stone falls from her mouth. At home roses, pearls and diamonds fall as she asks her mother's pardon, and the mother, calling her «ma fille» for the first time, sends Fanchon to the spring. Fanchon goes grumbling with the finest silver flask; there the same fairy, now dressed like a princess, asks her for a drink, and Fanchon answers rudely. Her gift: at every word, a snake or a toad. The mother blames the younger sister and runs to beat her; the girl flees into the forest, where the king's son, coming back from the hunt, finds her crying. Pearls and diamonds fall as she tells her story; he falls in love, takes her to his father's palace and marries her. Fanchon makes herself so hated that her own mother drives her out, and she dies alone at the edge of a wood. Perrault's morals: gentle words are worth more than diamonds, and honesty is rewarded sooner or later.

Retold from Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (Claude Barbin, Paris 1697): Les Fées by Charles Perrault (public domain).