Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine

On the other hand, Myrtle is punished for her rudeness by the exit of snakes and insects from her mouth every time she talks. She is domineered by her greedy fiancé Prince Harold, who only proposed to attain Rosella’s jewels, and the inhabitants of his castle, and instead of being happy, Rosella experiences worse treatment than under her mean mother and sister. Rosella spits out jewels when she speaks as a reward for her kindness to Ethelinda, but this new “gift” only results in more troublesome exploitation of Rosella. Ironically, they also land in opposite situations when they encounter the fairy Ethelinda. Rosella and Myrtle are twins who look alike but have opposite temperaments. The Fairy’s Mistake is based on Toads and Diamonds, but Levine quickly turns the original tale around by comparing how a reward may be an undeserved punishment and vice versa. Interchangeably caustic and humorous, each tale focuses on the ridicule and punishment of human offenders and the reward of all characters that are just. The author takes into account countless human reactions and emotions while exhibiting the reality and severity of human vice to its fullest.

The time frame also allows for several generations of Biddle royalty to interact in distinct circumstances with their subjects. The settings are consistently numerous locations in the magical kingdom of Biddle, which is comparable to a land permanently fixed in the Middle Ages, and the time frame over which The Princess Tales is spread illustrates the history of Biddle’s royal family and its descendants.

This collection narrates the interrelated short stories in chronological order. Gail Carson Levine’s “series”, The Princess Tales, is an excellent example of fairy tale “metamorphosis.”Īlthough initially published individually, all six retellings of various fairy tales have been compiled into one volume, entitled The Fairy’s Return and Other Princess Tales.

However, due to the insightful and trenchant imaginations of numerous authors, there is still hope that rudimentary works of fiction like fairy tales can yet achieve greater literary significance than popularity alone by being revised and expanded with more sophisticated and creatively detailed content.

Can any moral lessons be derived from these stories? The majority of fairy tales is not only badly written but also lacking any profound metaphors or intelligent messages that can educate or inspire its diverse audience. A writer or avid reader could immediately question the purpose of fairy tales upon perusal, aside from being an age-old form of entertainment.

Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine