Fairer-than-a-Fairy by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force

Plus Belle que Fée, qui commençoit à s'accoûtumer aux prodiges prenant Désirs par la main repassa dans sa chambre, & trouvant le quarré où étoit la serrure dont on lui avoit parlé, elle l'ouvrit avec la clé d'or, & entra dans une chambre, dont la magnificence la surprit & la toucha, parce qu'elle y vit partout des soins de son amant. Elle étoit jonchée des plus belles fleurs, elle exhaloit un parfum divin. Il y avoit à un des bouts de cette charmante chambre, une table couverte de tout ce qui pouvoit contenter la délicatesse du goût, & deux fontaines de liqueurs qui couloient dans des bassins de Porphire. Les jeunes princesses s'assirent dans deux chaises d'ivoire enrichies d'Emeraudes, elles mangèrent avec appétit, & quand elles eurent soupé, la table disparut, & il s'éleva à la place où elle étoit un bain délicieux, où elles se mirent toutes deux. A six pas de là on voyoit une superbe toilette & de grandes mannes d'or trait, toutes pleines de linge d'une propreté à donner envie de s'en servir. Un lit d'une forme singulière & d'une richesse extraordinaire, terminoit cette malheureuse chambre, qui étoit bordée d'orangers dans des caisses d'or garnies de rubis, & des colonnes de cornaline soutenoient tout autour la voûte somptueuse de cette chambre,

 Fairer, who was beginning to grow accustomed to the miraculous, took Desire by the hand and passed through again to her own chamber. Finding the square panel with the lock about which she had been told, she unlocked it with the golden key and entered a chamber whose magnificence both surprised and touched her, for everywhere she saw the care of her suitor. She was undone by the sight of the loveliest flowers and breathed their divine perfume. At one end of this enchanting room, there was a table covered with everything that could gratify the most refined tastes and two fountains of liqueurs that flowed into basins of porphyry. The young Princesses seated themselves on two ivory chairs enriched with emeralds. They ate with appetite, and when they had finished, the table disappeared, and in its place appeared a delightful bath where they admired their reflections. Six steps away, they saw a superb toilette and several large golden wicker baskets filled with linens so clean they could not help but ache to make use of them. A bed of singular style displaying extraordinary wealth completed this prison chamber. The room was bordered by orange trees in gold planter boxes garnished with rubies. Columns of carnelian supported its sumptuous vaulted ceiling, {LC}

 Fairer than a Fairy, who began to be accustomed to wonders, leading Désirs by the hand, returned into her own chamber, and finding the panel obtaining the lock of which the stranger had spoken, she opened it with her golden key, and entered an apartment, the magnificence of which both surprised and affected her, as she saw in everything it contained the attention of her lover. It was strewn with the most beautiful flowers, and exhaled a divine perfume. At one end of this charming room there was a table covered with all that could gratify the most refined taste, and two fountains of liqueurs which flowed into basins of porphyry. The young Princesses seated themselves in two ivory chairs, enriched with emeralds; they eat with a good appetite, and when they had supped, the table disappeared, and in its place arose a delicious bath, into which they stepped together. At a few places from them they observed a superb toilet-table, and large baskets of gold wire full of linen of such exquisite purity that it made them long to make use of it. A bed of singular form and extraordinary richness, occupied the further end of this marvelous chamber, which was lined with orange-trees in golden boxes studded with rubies, while rows of cornelian columns sustained the sumptuous roof, {JP}

 Plus belle que Fée, who was beginning to become accustomed to marvels, taking Désirs by the hand, returned to her room; and finding the panel with the lock that had been described to her, she opened it with the golden key, & entered a room the magnificence be of which surprised and touched her because, everywhere, she saw the cares of her lover. It was strewn with the most beautiful flowers; it emitted a divine aroma. At one end of this charming room, there was a table covered with all that could satisfy a delicate taste, and two fountains of liqueur, flowing in basins of porphyry. The young princesses sat in two ivory chairs enriched with emeralds; they ate with appetite, and when they had eaten, the table disappeared, and in its place, a tantalizing bath arose in which they both entered. Six pace away, a superb dressing-table could be seen, and large baskets of gold weave, entirely filled with fabric of such freshness that it made one want to use them. A singularly-shaped bed of extraordinary richness completed this unfortunate room, which was bordered with orange-trees, in golden boxes encrusted with rubies, columns of carnelian around the room held its sumptuous vault. {ML}

   Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force is best known today as the author of Persinette, a forerunner to Rapunzel. One storyteller of a cluster of aristocratic French women in the salons near the end of the 17th century engaging with tales of Faeries. In 1697 she also conceived of Plus Belle que Fée, translated in English as Fairer-than-a-Fairy or simply Fairer. A tale with beautiful people particularly a princess so known, and as so boldly named as to incur the anger of a Faerie Queen. Alongside another abducted Princess Désirs, the previously sheltered Fairer is tasked with seemingly hopeless trials. Yet aided by Phraates, who up and announces to Fairer his devotion, the defiant son of the Queen of the Faeries Nabote. Ultimately Fairer better comes into her own, experiencing companionship, pleasure, and love in the process.

British dramatist James Robinson Planché translated and included the story in the English collection Four-and-twenty Fairy Tales in 1858. And so, it has since been republished in different collections for over a century. Too showing up in academic sources. Additionally, fully translated anew (though only in eBook) in 2019 by Laura Christensen who has an abiding love for French folklore and the period. Christensen through the introduction and translator notes goes into several details of the process itself, perspectives, choices, offering many details and parallels as well as areas of divergence with Planché. Whose translation is further included for the reader to compare. Both translations and the original do lend themselves to questions.

I had not read the tale in translation before, only the French. Further intrigued because of scholarship by Associate Professor Marianne Legault with a Sapphic reading to the tale. Which I admit I favour. (See Legaults’s Female Intimacies in Seventeenth-Century French Literature translated in collaboration with Ramine Adl.) So, in the spirit of the more the merrier, I copied the English translation from the discussion there of the scene I choose to quote up above. One moment among others where intimacy between women is reflected. An appeal at the heart of Fairer is the centering of the female characters, how they behave towards each other and contain different aspects.

There’s a playfulness to the work of Mlle de Le Force I’ve read which bids layers and subtext. She could deliver a good bit historical fiction and satire too. For several of the women associated with the salons there was gossip and scandal of one kind or another. Mlle de La Force not untouched by it either, but writing attributed to her in her 40s is apparently what eventually resulted in King Louis XIV expelling her from court for a decent number of years, spent in a convent. Her intimate fantasy world also has a fire, seems tinged with suggestion, and eroticism. For Fairer Mlle de Le Force refashions previous Greek and Roman classical mythos including those of Eros & Psyche and Artemis.

Countless tales can mirror an implicit bias and conflation of goodness as youth and beauty vs evil as age or infirmity and unattractiveness. Mlle de La Force too lingers on the beautiful nobility, divine and gives her antagonist a pejorative name also borne of a belief about some Faeries in folklore. Yet, as the heroines who are confined but daring conform or not to certain patterns, so there is more to Nabote than being a slightly silly timeworn little Faerie Queen who tricks and abducts pretty princesses. Like Aphrodite in Eros & Psyche an offense has been committed, as herself and other Faeries are relegated, neglected, or forgotten. It’s too a problem of status and influence. The tasks Nabote dole out to the young women, set to be unachievable or better deadly, also at a closer look appear to hold other points. Mlle de Le Force particularly raises questions of authority and injustice in that the protagonists also suffer for having no need of the blessings of the powerful Faeries. Or about the judgement of the powers that be over Faeries too. The figure of the Goddess Artemis greatly comes in nearer the end. Where others have failed, Fairer is tasked in liberating an exceedingly virtuous Queen of the Faeries who some time ago was turned by Supreme Intelligences into a silver footed doe after things went awry with an admirer. I won’t spoil more but the ending makes one think on variations amid the usual HEA and how it settles things with Nabote.

During a trend in a still enduring folklore genre Mlle de Le Force was able to convey a number of ideas when it comes to education, friendship, sexuality, courting, marriage, love, agency, justice and power. The intertextuality, symbolism, and language all present fun with dual meaning. Overall, too being a bit difficult to clue in a very different audience today or, emulate in another language. But that’s also one of the neat elements about folklore. It’s cultural and social not static. It fades and rises with us. In both large and personal ways. Every moment and form it appears, another bit passed over, taken, added, transformed in the art of language and storytelling old as time.