Riquet à la houppe

Riquet with the Tuft

A queen gives birth to a son so ugly and misshapen that people wonder if he is human; a fairy at his birth promises he will be lovable for his great wit, and that he can give as much wit to the person he loves best. He is born with a little tuft of hair, so he is called Riquet à la houppe. Seven or eight years later the queen of a neighbouring kingdom has two daughters: the elder as beautiful as the day but, the same fairy says, as stupid as she is beautiful; the younger very ugly but so clever no one will notice. The fairy gives the elder the gift of making beautiful the one she likes. As they grow, everyone admires the elder at first but soon gathers round the clever younger one, and the elder would give all her beauty for half her sister's wit. Crying alone in a wood, she meets Riquet, who has fallen in love with her portraits. He offers her all the wit she could want if she will marry him, and gives her a year to decide; she promises, and at once speaks finely and cleverly. The court is amazed, her sister is unhappy, the king takes her advice, princes come to court her, and a rich, clever, handsome prince pleases her; her father lets her choose, and she asks for time. Walking in the same wood, she hears a noise underground: the earth opens on a great kitchen, and twenty or thirty cooks come out to work round a long table, singing; they are preparing Prince Riquet's wedding, tomorrow. She remembers her promise of a year ago. Riquet appears, dressed for his wedding. She says she cannot decide: if she could not when she was stupid, how can she now? He answers that clever people should not be worse off than fools, and asks if anything but his ugliness displeases her; nothing does. Then, he says, she can make him handsome, for the same fairy gave her that gift. She wishes it with all her heart, and he becomes the handsomest man she has ever seen; some say it was not the fairy but love that changed how she saw him. Her father, who knows Riquet as a wise and clever prince, gladly accepts him, and the wedding takes place the next day, as Riquet had planned.

Retold from Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (Claude Barbin, Paris 1697): Riquet à la houppe by Charles Perrault (public domain).