“The Fair One With the Golden Hair.” Old French Fairy Tales, D’Aulnoy, Madame, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1899, pp. 279-301.

Tale Summary

There was once a beautiful princess that a young king sought to marry. He attempted to swoon her with extravagant gifts, but she refused to marry him. Graceful, the king’s handsome and kind ambassador, stated that he alone could persuade the princess to marry the king. He set off to her palace, and on this journey, encountered three animals in distress: a golden carp, a crow, and an owl. After saving all three creatures, each promised Graceful a good turn for his kindness.

Upon arriving at the palace and presenting the princess with countless good words about the king, she still refused to marry him unless Graceful could return to her a ring she lost in the river some time ago. Graceful succeeded in this task with the help of the golden carp he had saved. The princess then asked Graceful to defeat a horrible giant who had threatened her kingdom. Graceful returned later with the giant’s head after being assisted by the crow he had rescued, who plucked out the giant’s eyes. The princess then asked Graceful to fetch a vial of water from the fountain of beauty and health, which is guarded by two dragons. The owl that Graceful encountered earlier retrieved this water for him by flying past the dragons. Finally, the princess agreed to marry the king.

Upon her marriage to the young king, the princess could not stop praising his ambassador, Graceful. The king became jealous and locked Graceful away in a dungeon. The king believed that, by washing his face with the water from the fountain of beauty, he would become as handsome as Graceful and the princess would forget about him. However, the vial of water had mistakenly been replaced with poison that killed the king. After his death, the princess freed Graceful from his dungeon and made him king. They lived happily ever after.