THERE was once upon a time a king who was so much beloved by his subjects that he thought himself the happiest monarch1 in the whole world, and he had everything his heart could desire. His palace was filled with the rarest of curiosities, and his gardens with the sweetest flowers, while in the marble stalls of his stables stood a row of milk-white Arabs, with big brown eyes.
Strangers who had heard of the marvels2 which the king had collected, and made long journeys to see them, were, however, surprised to find the most splendid stall of all occupied by a donkey,1 with particularly large and drooping3 ears. It was a very fine donkey; but still, as far as they could tell, nothing so very remarkable4 as to account for the care with which it was lodged5; and they went away wondering, for they could not know that every night, when it was asleep, bushels of gold pieces tumbled out of its ears,2 which were picked up each morning by the attendants.
After many years of prosperity a sudden blow fell upon the king in the death of his wife, whom he loved dearly. But before she died, the queen, who had always thought first of his happiness, gathered all her strength, and said to him:
‘Promise me one thing: you must marry again, I know, for the good of your people, as well as of yourself. But do not set about it in a hurry. Wait until you have found a woman more beautiful and better formed than myself.3’
‘Oh, do not speak to me of marrying,’ sobbed6 the king; ‘rather let me die with you !’ But the queen only smiled faintly, and turned over on her pillow and died.
For some months the king’s grief was great; then gradually he began to forget a little, and, besides, his counsellors were always urging him to seek another wife. At first he refused to listen to them, but by-and-by he allowed himself to be persuaded to think of it, only stipulating7 that the bride should be more beautiful and attractive than the late queen, according to the promise he had made her.
Overjoyed at having obtained what they wanted, the counsellors sent envoys8 far and wide to get portraits of all the most famous beauties of every country. The artists were very busy and did their best, but, alas9 nobody could even pretend that any of the ladies could compare for a moment with the late queen.
At length, one day, when he had turned away discouraged from a fresh collection of pictures, the king’s eyes fell on his adopted daughter,4 who had lived in the palace since she was a baby, and he saw that, if a woman existed on the whole earth more lovely than the queen, this was she! He at once made known what his wishes were,5 but the young girl, who was not at all ambitious, and had not the faintest desire to marry him, was filled with dismay, and begged for time to think about it. That night, when everyone was asleep, she started in a little car drawn10 by a big sheep, and went to consult her fairy godmother.6
‘I know what you have come to tell me,’ said the fairy, when the maiden11 stepped out of the car; ‘and if you don’t wish to marry him, I will show you how to avoid it. Ask him to give you a dress that exactly matches the sky.7 It will be impossible for him to get one, so you will be quite safe.’ The girl thanked the fairy and returned home again.
The next morning, when her father (as she had always called him) came to see her, she told him that she could give him no answer until he had presented her with a dress the colour of the sky. The king, overjoyed at this answer, sent for all the choicest weavers12 and dressmakers in the kingdom, and commanded them to make a robe the colour of the sky without an instant’s delay, or he would cut off their heads at once. Dreadfully frightened at this threat, they all began to dye and cut and sew, and in two days they brought hack13 the dress, which looked as if it had been cut straight out of the heavens! The poor girl was thunderstruck, and did not know what to do; so in the night she harnessed her sheep again, and went in search of her godmother.
‘The king is cleverer than I thought,’ said the fairy; ‘but tell him you must have a dress of moonbeams.8’
And the next day, when the king summoned her into his presence, the girl told him what she wanted.
‘Madam, I can refuse you nothing,’ said he; and he ordered the dress to be ready in twenty-four hours, or every man should be hanged.
They set to work with all their might, and by dawn next day, the dress of moonbeams was laid across her bed. The girl, though she could not help admiring its beauty, began to cry, till the fairy, who heard her, came to her help.
‘Well, I could not have believed it of him!’ said she; ‘but ask for a dress of sunshine,9 and I shall be surprised indeed if he manages that!
The goddaughter did not feel much faith in the fairy after her two previous failures; but not knowing what else to do, she told her father what she was bid.
The king made no difficulties about it, and even gave his finest rubies14 and diamonds to ornament15 the dress, which was so dazzling, when finished, that it could not be looked at save through smoked glasses!
When the princess saw it, she pretended that the sight hurt her eyes, and retired18 to her room, where she found the fairy awaiting her, very much ashamed of herself.
‘There is only one thing to be done now,’ cried she; ‘you must demand the skin of the ass1610 he sets such store by. It is from that donkey he obtains all his vast riches, and I am sure he will never give it to you.’
The princess was not so certain; however, she went to the king, and told him she could never marry him till he had given her the ass’s skin.
The king was both astonished and grieved at this new request, but did not hesitate an instant. The ass was sacrificed, and the skin laid at the feet of the princess.
The poor girl, seeing no escape from the fate she dreaded19, wept afresh, and tore her hair; when, suddenly, the fairy stood before her.
‘Take heart,’ she said, ‘all will now go well! Wrap yourself in this skin,11 and leave the palace and go as far as you can. I will look after you. Your dresses and your jewels shall follow you underground, and if you strike the earth whenever you need anything, you will have it at once.12 But go quickly: you have no time to lose.’ So the princess clothed herself in the ass’s skin,13 and slipped from the palace14 without being seen by anyone.
Directly she was missed there was a great hue20 and cry, and every corner, possible and impossible, was searched. Then the king sent out parties along all the roads, but the fairy threw her invisible mantle21 over the girl when they approached, and none of them could see her.
The princess walked on a long, long way, trying to find some one who would take her in, and let her work for them; but though the cottagers, whose houses she passed, gave her food from charity, the ass’s skin was so dirty they would not allow her to enter their houses. For her flight had been so hurried she had had no time to clean it.
Tired and disheartened at her ill-fortune, she was wandering, one day, past the gate of a farmyard, situated22 just outside the walls of a large town, when she heard a voice calling to her. She turned and saw the farmer’s wife standing23 among her turkeys, and making signs to her to come in.
‘I want a girl to wash the dishes and feed the turkeys, and clean out the pig-sty,’ said the woman, ‘and, to judge by your dirty clothes, you would not be too fine for the work.’
The girl accepted her offer with joy, and she was at once set to work in a corner of the kitchen,15 where all the farm servants came and made fun of her, and the ass’s skin in which she was wrapped. But by-and-by they got so used to the sight of it that it ceased to amuse them, and she worked so hard and so well, that her mistress grew quite fond of her. And she was so clever at keeping sheep and herding24 turkeys that you would have thought she had done nothing else during her whole life !
One day she was sitting on the banks of a stream bewailing her wretched lot, when she suddenly caught sight of herself in the water. Her hair and part of her face was quite concealed25 by the ass’s head, which was drawn right over like a hood26, and the filthy27 matted skin covered her whole body. It was the first time she had seen herself as other people saw her, and she was filled with shame at the spectacle. Then she threw off her disguise and jumped into the water, plunging28 in again and again, till she shone like ivory. When it was time to go back to the farm, she was forced to put on the skin which disguised her, and now seemed more dirty than ever; but, as she did so, she comforted herself with the thought that to-morrow was a holiday, and that she would be able for a few hours to forget that she was a farm girl, and be a princess once more.
So, at break of day, she stamped on the ground, as the fairy had told her, and instantly the dress like the sky lay across her tiny bed. Her room was so small that there was no place for the train of her dress to spread itself out, but she pinned it up carefully when she combed her beautiful hair and piled it up on the top of her head, as she had always worn it. When she had done, she was so pleased with herself that she determined29 never to let a chance pass of putting on her splendid clothes, even if she had to wear them in the fields, with no one to admire her but the sheep and turkeys.
Now the farm was a royal farm, and, one holiday, when ‘Donkey Skin’ (as they had nicknamed the princess) had locked the door of her room and clothed herself in her dress of sunshine, the king’s son rode through the gate, and asked if he might come and rest himself a little after hunting. Some food and milk were set before him in the garden, and when he felt rested he got up, and began to explore the house, which was famous throughout the whole kingdom for its age and beauty. He opened one door after the other, admiring the old rooms, when he came to a handle that would not turn. He stooped and peeped through the keyhole16 to see what was inside, and was greatly astonished at beholding30 a beautiful girl, clad in a dress so dazzling that he could hardly look at it.
The dark gallery seemed darker than ever as he turned away, but he went back to the kitchen and inquired who slept in the room at the end of the passage. The scullery maid, they told him, whom everybody laughed at, and called ‘Donkey Skin;’ and though he perceived there was some strange mystery about this, he saw quite clearly there was nothing to be gained by asking any more questions. So he rode back to the palace, his head filled with the vision he had seen through the keyhole.
All night long he tossed about, and awoke the next morning in a high fever.17 The queen, who had no other child, and lived in a state of perpetual anxiety about this one, at once gave him up for lost, and indeed his sudden illness puzzled the greatest doctors, who tried the usual remedies in vain. At last they told the queen that some secret sorrow must be at the bottom of all this, and she threw herself on her knees beside her son’s bed, and implored31 him to confide32 his trouble to her. If it was ambition to be king, his father would gladly resign the cares of the crown, and suffer him to reign33 in his stead; or, if it was love, everything should be sacrificed to get for him the wife he desired, even if she were daughter of a king with whom the country was at war at present!
‘Madam,’ replied the prince, whose weakness would hardly allow him to speak, ‘do not think me so unnatural34 as to wish to deprive my father of his crown. As long as he lives I shall remain the most faithful of his subjects! And as to the princesses you speak of, I have seen none that I should care for as a wife, though I would always obey your wishes, whatever it might cost me.’
‘Ah! my son,’ cried she, ‘we will do anything in the world to save your life — and ours too, for if you die, we shall die also.’
‘Well, then,’ replied the prince, ‘I will tell you the only thing that will cure me — a cake made by the hand of "Donkey Skin."’
‘Donkey Skin ?’ exclaimed the queen, who thought her son had gone mad; ‘and who or what is that ?’
‘Madam,’ answered one of the attendants present, who had been with the prince at the farm, "Donkey Skin" is, next to the wolf, the most disgusting creature on the face of the earth. She is a girl who wears a black, greasy35 skin, and lives at your farmer’s as hen-wife.’
‘Never mind,’ said the queen; ‘my son seems to have eaten some of her pastry36. It is the whim37 of a sick man, no doubt; but send at once and let her bake a cake.’
The attendant bowed and ordered a page to ride with the message.
Now it is by no means certain that ‘Donkey Skin ‘ had not caught a glimpse of the prince, either when his eyes looked through the keyhole, or else from her little window, which was over the road. But whether she had actually seen him or only heard him spoken of, directly she received the queen’s command, she flung off the dirty skin, washed herself from head to foot, and put on a skirt and bodice of shining silver. Then, locking herself into her room, she took the richest cream, the finest flour, and the freshest eggs on the farm, and set about making her cake.
As she was stirring the mixture in the saucepan a ring that she sometimes wore in secret slipped from her finger and fell into the dough39.18 Perhaps ‘Donkey Skin’ saw it, or perhaps she did not; but, any way, she went on stirring, and soon the cake was ready to be put in the oven. When it was nice and brown she took off her dress and put on her dirty skin, and gave the cake to the page, asking at the same time for news of the prince. But the page turned his head aside, and would not even condescend40 to answer.
The page rode like the wind, and as soon as he arrived at the palace he snatched up a silver tray and hastened to present the cake to the prince. The sick man began to eat it so fast that the doctors thought he would choke; and, indeed, he very nearly did, for the ring was in one of the bits which he broke off, though he managed to extract it from his mouth without anyone seeing him.
The moment the prince was left alone he drew the ring from under his pillow and kissed it a thousand times. Then he set his mind to find how he was to see the owner — for even he did not dare to confess that he had only beheld41 ‘Donkey Skin’ through a keyhole, lest they should laugh at this sudden passion. All this worry brought back the fever, which the arrival of the cake had diminished for the time; and the doctors, not knowing what else to say, informed the queen that her son was simply dying of love. The queen, stricken with horror, rushed into the king’s presence with the news, and together they hastened to their son’s bedside.
‘My boy, my dear boy!’ cried the king, ‘who is it you want to marry? We will give her to you for a bride, even if she is the humblest of our slaves. What is there in the whole world that we would not do for you ?’
The prince, moved to tears at these words, drew the ring, which was an emerald of the purest water, from under his pillow.
‘Ah, dear father and mother, let this be a proof that she whom I love is no peasant girl. The finger which that ring fits has never been thickened by hard work. But be her condition what it may, I will marry no other.’
The king and queen examined the tiny ring very closely, and agreed, with their son, that the wearer could be no mere42 farm girl. Then the king went out and ordered heralds43 and trumpeters to go through the town, summoning every maiden to the palace. And she whom the ring fitted would some day be queen.
First came all the princesses, then all the duchesses’ daughters, and so on, in proper order. But not one of them could slip the ring over the tip of her finger,19 to the great joy of the prince, whom excitement was fast curing. At last, when the high-born damsels had failed, the shopgirls and chambermaids took their turn; but with no better fortune.
‘Call in the scullions and shepherdessses,’ commanded the prince; but the sight of their fat, red fingers satisfied everybody.
‘There is not a woman left, your Highness,’ said the chamberlain; but the prince waved him aside.
‘Have you sent for "Donkey Skin," who made me the cake ?’ asked he, and the courtiers began to laugh, and replied that they would not have dared to introduce so dirty a creature into the palace.
‘Let some one go for her at once,’ ordered the king. ‘I commanded the presence of every maiden, high or low, and I meant it.’
The princess had heard the trumpets44 and the proclamations, and knew quite well that her ring was at the bottom of it all. She, too, had fallen in love with the prince in the brief glimpse she had had of him, and trembled with fear lest someone else’s finger might be as small as her own. When, therefore, the messenger from the palace rode up to the gate, she was nearly beside herself with delight. Hoping all the time for such a summons, she had dressed herself with great care, putting on the garment of moonlight, whose skirt was scattered45 over with emeralds. But when they began calling to her to come down, she hastily covered herself with her donkey-skin and announced she was ready to present herself before his Highness. She was taken straight into the hail, where the prince was awaiting her, but at the sight of the donkey-skin his heart sank. Had he been mistaken after all ?
‘Are you the girl,’ he said, turning his eyes away as he spoke38, ‘are you the girl who has a room in the furthest corner of the inner court of the farmhouse46?’
‘Yes, my lord, I am,’ answered she.
‘Hold out your hand then,’ continued the prince, feeling that he must keep his word, whatever the cost, and, to the astonishment47 of every one present, a little hand, white and delicate, came from beneath the black and dirty skin. The ring slipped on with the utmost ease, and, as it did so, the skin fell to the ground, disclosing a figure of such beauty that the prince, weak as he was, fell on his knees before her, while the king and queen joined their prayers to his. Indeed, their welcome was so warm, and their caresses48 so bewildering, that the princess hardly knew how to find words to reply, when the ceiling of the hall opened, and the fairy godmother appeared, seated in a car made entirely49 of white lilac. In a few words she explained the history of the princess, and how she came to be there, and, without losing a moment, preparations of the most magnificent kind were made for the wedding.
The kings of every country in the earth were invited, including, of course, the princess’s adopted father (who by this time had married a widow),20 and not one refused. But what a strange assembly it was! Each monarch travelled in the way he thought most impressive; and some came borne in litters, others had carriages of every shape and kind, while the rest were mounted on elephants, tigers, and even upon eagles. So splendid a wedding had never been seen before; and when it was over the king announced that it was to be followed by a coronation, for he and the queen were tired of reigning50, and the young couple must take their place. The rejoicings lasted for three whole months, then the new sovereigns settled down to govern their kingdom, and made themselves so much beloved by their subjects, that when they died, a hundred years later, each man mourned them as his own father and mother.
1. Donkey: Donkeys, or asses17, have long been a source of ridicule51. The donkey is not expected to have special magical qualities since it is stereotyped52 as a stupid animal of drudgery53.
According to Marina Warner, Perrault had many animals to choose from for her version of the story, but purposely chose a donkey. "Perrault picked the ass for effect; he was well acquainted with the vast Aesopian folklore54 about the jackass as fall guy." She speculates that Perrault wanted to mock the atmosphere of enchantment55 in the story with the donkey. She also notes that "A. A. Milne's Eeyore stands in direct line of descent from this classically pathetic figure of fun" (Warner 1994).
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2. Tumbled out of its ears: This version of the story was sanitized for a Victorian sensibility. In the original story by Charles Perrault, the donkey's feces are gold.
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3. Wait until you have found a woman more beautiful and better formed than myself: The queen's requirement for her successor in marriage is often considered to make her an accomplice56 in her husband's future transgressions57. The mothers in fairy tales are usually given more blame and responsibility than the fathers. The fathers are almost always forgiven while the mothers are almost always punished. The implication in this story is that the mother is just as much to blame for dying and leaving rigid58 final instructions. The father is simply obeying his wife like the fathers in Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel.
In some versions of the story, the queen declares that the next queen will be the woman upon whose finger her wedding band fits. Donkeyskin, like Cinderella and her slipper59, is the only woman whose finger fits the band.
As incest has become a more open topic and acknowledged in modern society, Donkeyskin has become less popular as an uncomfortable story for adults to share with children.
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4. Adopted daughter: The "adopted" has been added to this story once again to suit Victorian and modern sensibilities. In the original version by Perrault, Donkeyskin is the full-blooded daughter of the king and queen. If Donkeyskin is adopted, the marriage ceases to be incestuous and morally wrong, only undesirable60 to Donkeyskin herself.
Other famous incest stories include Oedipus from Greek mythology61 and Lot and his daughters from the Old Testament62.
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5. Made known what his wishes were: In some versions of the story, the king's desire to marry his daughter is excused as madness resulting from his grief. Once again, the father is blameless for his actions in most versions of the story.
Saint Dympna, a seventh century princess and now the patron saint of the insane, was also wanted in marriage by her father, a king of Brittany, Britain or Ireland. When she refused and ran away, having already committed herself to her Christian63 faith, he found and beheaded her. She even has a "godmother" figure in her elderly confessor who dies with her (Warner 1994).
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6. Fairy godmother: This fairy godmother dispenses64 advice instead of gifts to Donkeyskin, unlike her counterpart in Cinderella.
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7. Dress that exactly matches the sky: The setting of impossible tasks, especially to avoid a marriage, is a common device found in fairy tales and folklore.
Donkeyskin's dresses are connected with celestial65 bodies--the sky, the moon, and the sun--and thus tie her to a natural setting.
Steven Olderr's symbolic66 meanings of the sky include: the active male principal, the father, holiness, purity, the supreme67 being or his dwelling68 (Olderr 1986).
The king's ability to give dresses with these celestial qualities implies that even the heavens and gods are conspiring69 against Donkeyskin's wishes at this point in the tale.
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8. Moonbeams: Among his many symbolic meanings of the moon, Steven Olderr includes: the feminine principle, resurrection, inconstancy, the transitory, potential evil, serene70 loveliness, chastity, virginity, imagination, lunacy, magic, death, silence, opposing values, isolation71, imagination, and the rejection72 of reason (Olderr 1986).
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9. Sunshine: Olderr's symbolic meanings for the sun include: potential good, the will, the hero, the eye of God, sovereignty, the active power of nature, the male, guiding light, heaven, and domination (Olderr 1986).
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10. Demand the skin of the ass: This last attempt to spare her virtue73 is essentially74 a demand of her father's fortune. Amazingly enough, perhaps justifying75 the excuse of his madness made in the tale, the king has the ass killed and gives the skin to his daughter.
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11. Wrap yourself in this skin: In other versions of the tale, the coat is made up of a different type of fur or many different furs sewn together, such as in Catskin and All-Kinds-of-Fur.
As animals, and in turn their fur, often represent the carnal nature and physical acts, Donkeyskin is essentially donning the disguise of what she is trying to escape. The skin can also represent the violations76 and sin of which she has been a victim.
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12. Your dresses and your jewels shall follow you underground, and if you strike the earth whenever you need anything, you will have it at once: Besides the magical donkey, this is another element of magic in the story which gives the story a fairy tale sensibility.
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13. Princess clothed herself in the ass’s skin: Here we are given the reason for Donkeyskin's name: when she dons the skin, she becomes Donkeyskin.
According to Maria Tatar, the donkey skin turns the heroine into an outcast, but it also affirms her connection to nature. She is both degraded and empowered by this clothing (Tatar 2002).
Marina Warner considers the skin one of shame, but "the pathetic degradation77 of her condition contains a kind of Christian grace of humility78, forbearance and lack of vanity" (Warner 1994). Donkeyskin's patient bearing of this burden is ultimately rewarded with her return to status and a suitable marriage.
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14. Slipped from the palace: The princess in this story is by no means passive such as many of her better known fairy tale counterparts. She attempts to protect herself as much as she can from the threat of immorality79. When she fails, she flees the palace and the threat, abandoning her birthright and the luxury of her life.
Some scholars believe the girl's active disobedience and aggression80 against a parental81 figure, albeit82 for moral reasons, are the reasons that the story has diminished in popularity.
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15. Set to work in a corner of the kitchen: Donkeyskin proves herself through domestic arts just as a woman would in the time period when this story was first recorded.
In her novelization of the tale, titled Deerskin, Robin83 McKinley gives Donkeyskin a talent with animal husbandry, specifically dogs, which she cares for on the prince's estate.
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16. Peeped through the keyhole: Note that the prince's curiosity has vastly different results from the woman in Bluebeard. She is almost murdered for her curiosity while the prince finds his future wife.
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17. High fever: High fever is always a medical threat and would be disturbing in the heir to the throne. The implication that the prince has made himself sick in love is a highly romantic element of the story.
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18. Fell into the dough: Hiding objects in food is another common device in fairy tales. Donkeyskin uses the ring to reveal her true heritage to her potential husband by placing a valuable ring in the item she knows he will eat.
In modern times, the most common romantic instance is perhaps the hiding of an engagement ring in a food item or drink as part of a marriage proposal.
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19. But not one of them could slip the ring over the tip of her finger: The ring is very much like Cinderella's slipper in that it only fits its owner. In some versions of the story, hopeful girls cut off their fingers hoping to get the ring to fit. The exclusivity of the fit also implies the divine and regal heritage of the owner.
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20. Who by this time had married a widow: Most versions of the traditional tale explain that the father has returned to sanity84 and/or remarried himself. He occasionally attends his daughter's wedding. No red hot shoes await him at his daughter's wedding as await the stepmother in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs85.
In Robin McKinley's novelization of the story, Deerskin confronts her father at his wedding ceremony to a young princess, exposing his crime of rape86 against her.
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