Fairy Tale Flip is a monthly collaboration between @donnaleefields and myself where we choose one fairy tale each month and find its deeper meanings. We are giving audience members THREE options from which to choose. Please help us choose which story you’d like us to look deeper into. (original story from here)
And the princess says, no, I cannot MARRy you. This is an unnatural marriage. It would not be right. It would not be virtuous. But the king speaks with his druid priest, and the druid priest, seeking favor, encourages the king’s delusion. Instead of helping him to regain his sanity. The princess then consults her fairy godmother for a solution. The fairy godmother, the lilac fairy, says, you cannot marry your father. But I have the answers. You must ask him for a dress that is impossible for him to find. So ask him for a dress that is the color of weather. And the king says, okay, I will do anything you ASK. And so he returns with a dress that is exactly the color of weather, and it’s beautiful. So once again, the fairy godmother says, okay, ask him for address the color of the moon.
He won’t be able to do that. It’s impossible. But the king then produces address the color of the moon and once again, the fairy godmother says, okay, he cannot find a dress the color of the sun. But once again, the king is able to produce a dress that is stunning and beautiful and everyone agrees is the color of the sun. The princess is so distraught and goes back to the fairy godmother and says, what can I do? What can I do? And the fairy godmother says he will never, no matter his insanity, he will never kill his beloved donkey who gives him riches on a daily basis. Ask him to have a dress made. Ask him for the skin of the donkey, of his beloved donkey. And the princess does so.
And the king, in his insanity, follows the request and actually has his beloved donkey killed and gives the skin of the donkey to the princess. Now, the princess doesn’t know what to do at this point because she feels like there’s nothing for her to do except for escape. And the fairy godmother helps her to do this. And so she covers herself in dirt and soot and puts this donkey skin on her and she tells her, you must walk as far as you can get as far away from the kingdom as you can, where you won’t be found. But here is my fairy godmother wand and I will keep all of your beautiful dresses and jewelry and everything that belongs to you in this chest. And anytime that you want it, you can tap this magical wand and your things will appear.
Now go quickly before anyone finds that you’re missing. And so the princess disguises herself and she comes across this farm and they take her in as a kitchen maid. And she’s made fun of by everybody there. She’s despised and said she’s ugly, and they call her donkey skin. That’s the name that they give her. And the princess is safe. But she’s sad because no one wants to be ridiculed. No one wants to feel like an outcast and no one wants to feel ugly, and especially this princess, who is actually beautiful. And so one day, she decides that she’s going to use this magic wand and become beautiful only on holidays and on Sundays. So on holidays and Sundays, she makes herself into a beautiful princess once again.
And one of these days, a prince comes by and looks in a keyhole and sees this beautiful princess. And she does not see him, we don’t think. But when the prince asks about this kitchen maid, he’s told not to bother, that her name is Donkeyskin and she’s horrid and she’s ugly. And so the prince goes home and falls ill, and he is heart sick. Basically, he looks like he’s on his deathbed. And his mother, the queen, says, what can I do to make you feel better? How can I save you? And the prince says, I need a cake, and the cake needs to be made by DoNKEYSkIn. And so the queen does what he requests and has a cake made by DONkEYSKIN. And that day, DonkEYSkin was wearing her beautiful princess attire and the prince a cake.
But one of her rings, either intentionally or unintentionally, falls into the CAKe batter and is baked in. And so when the king receives the cake, he eats it with such veracity, he merely chokes and dies on the ring. But he pulls it out, and he sees how beautiful and dainty it is. It’s an emerald ring. And he kisses it. And he says to his queen, his mother, I want to marry whomever this ring belongs to. And so the mother calls all the females in the kingdom and says, you must try this ring on to see if it fits you, because you will get to marry my son if it is actually yours.
So princesses and duchess and baroness and all the rich folk, beautiful women come and they try it on, but it does not fit their fat fingers because the princess had small, tiny, dainty fingers. And so, finally, kitchen maids and scullery, the lowest of the low women of the kingdom, are also called. And at last, donkey skin comes, and she is in her beautiful attire underneath her donkey skin. She puts on the ring, and everyone gasps. They cannot believe that it belongs to this creature. And then she removes her disguise, and it is revealed that she’s actually a beautiful princess. Her fairy godmother, the lilac fairy, descends, and she tells the story of how the princess became this donkey skin Gullory maid. And they decide that they must have a wedding immediately. But the prince has to get approval from her father, the king.
Well, luckily for her, the king has regained his sanity and has remarried someone that is not his own daughter. And he comes and he approves and he says yes and they have a beautiful wedding and everybody who’s anybody arrives at the wedding and celebrates their union. And the young couple’s love is so strong it is celebrated for months and the prince is then crowned and the love endures between the two forever and ever and they live happily ever after. So that was donkey skin.
The other TWO OPTIONS
So if you have listened to this story and you like this story and this is the one that you want us to talk about further in detail and see how what the historical context is and the different meanings behind the story, make sure that you vote for this one and there will be a poll on my Facebook group page, fabric of folklore group and you can vote for whichever story you prefer there.
Thank you so much for joining us on fairy tale flip storytelling time. And until next time.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks