Donkeyskin

This fairytale can be compared to Cinderella because of the ring that only fits one hand. The main theme of the story is the love between a young princess and a prince.

A relationship between two families is being described so on one side we have the desperate princess’s father who wants to marry his daughter, but he is stopped by a fairy that helps the girl escape. On the other side, we have a king and a queen who would sacrifice everything in order to keep their son happy.

The moral of the fairytale is that we shouldn’t give up on true love and that we should fight for it and resist all temptations. The prince was truly in love with a beautiful princess and thanks to his persistence he married the girl with the emerald ring.

Genre: fairytale

Time: once upon a time

Place: Castle

Theme: the love between a young princess and a prince

Book Summary

Once upon a time a king lived and he was so worshiped by his people that he was believed to be the happiest king alive. His people loved him, and his counselors respected him. Except for being married to a princess he also had a lovely girl with her.

Everything was perfect in their kingdom. A capable king ruled it with the help of his wise counselors, devoted helpers and servants. Only the best horses with the best equipment could be found in this kingdom and also a very special donkey. He held his special place in the kingdom because underneath him the servants would pick gold.

The good and evil are a package, so something bad had to happen in the perfect kingdom. The queen got ill, and her illness couldn’t have been cured. All of the servants were desperate about the queen’s near death.

She was in her bed with her husband by her side. He cried because he knew her end was near. The queen had one last wish. She told him he should get remarried and the king refused to have another wife. She insisted he finds himself another queen because the kingdom has to have an heir and that the pressure will be forever growing on their daughter that had to find a husband who was as good of a king as her father is. She asked him to give in and find himself a beautiful princess because only if he agreed she could die in peace. The king was devastated by her desire.

The queen was a bit vain because she believed there was no woman on this earth as beautiful as she is and so she thought he would never find a woman worthy enough to replace her. She died, and the king was inconsolable. He cried for months.

The consultants didn’t cry for long, and they gathered a meeting in which they decided they had to force the king to get remarried. When they told him that he started crying because it was too soon for him to get another wife and because he told the queen he wouldn’t get remarried.

He thought about their suggestion and ordered his counselors to find a better, prettier and smarter woman than his deceased wife because he knew they won't find anybody like her.

The counselors didn’t like his promise to the queen at all because they didn’t consider looks to be relevant for marriage. The important thing to them was that the new queen gives birth to a boy.

Nobody wanted for the young princess to get married because then the children wouldn’t be from a pure bloodline and the prince might take her away or reign side to side with her which could lead to confrontations between kingdoms. The king promised his people to think about possible consequences.

He decided to grant his wife’s last wish. Every day he received pictures of beautiful girls, but he couldn’t find one that was good enough for him. While he was watching his little girl, he thought he could just marry her. When he told her that she fell to her knees and asked him not to commit such a crime.

The king went to the priest for a piece of advice and he convinced him marrying his daughter would be a good thing. The king was thrilled about the priest’s approval. He went to the castle and told his daughter to get ready for a great weeding.

The princess went to her fairy godmother for advice. When the night came, the princess sat in her carriage and headed towards her godmother. When she came there, the fairy told her not to worry because if she listens to her advice she will be alright.

The fairy told her to tell her father to get her a blue dress because she knew her father wouldn't be able to do it. The princess was happy and ran home to her father and asked for a blue dress if he wants her to go through with the weeding.

The king was a wise man, and he told his tailors to make the best dress or otherwise they’d get hurt. The next day the princess saw the dress and got extremely sad. She didn’t know how to avoid the weeding, and the king was rushing things.

The princes went back to the fairy and told her how her plan failed. The fairy told her to ask her father for a moon-colored dress. The same thing repeated because the servants made the dress that was even more beautiful that the first one. She asked for another dress again, and this time, she wanted the color of the sun. She was buying time, and the king wanted to grant her every wish so he took down all of the jewels from his crown and had them placed on the dress so it would shine as the sun itself.

When the tailors brought the dress, the princess couldn’t even look at it because it was so shiny. The other people wore glasses because they were unable to look at the dress. The princess didn’t know what to do so she ran to her room under the excuse that she can’t look at the dress.

The godmother thought wisely about her next plan because none of the previous ones worked. She told her to ask for the donkey’s skin because she knew how much the king loved that donkey.

The king granted her last wish. Without thinking it twice, he sacrificed the donkey to make sure the princess was happy. The animal got hurt, and the princess was desperate.

The fairy came to her and explained it was the happiest day of her life and that she shouldn’t be desperate. She told her to cover herself in donkey’s skin, cover her face and run away from the castle and she did it. The fairy godmother took care of her thing as well. She gave her a wand she had to use whenever she needed some of her things.

Her disappearance disappointed the king because he already started to prepare the weeding. He told his guard to go and look for the princess, but the fairy made her invisible so no one could see her.

The princess walked for days until she found a house in which she became a servant. She helped an older lady to wash her animals and rags. She was thrilled about resting after a long journey and finding a job.

In the beginning, the other servants made fun of her but when they realized she was very dedicated to her job they stopped. The lady was happy with the work the princess was doing. She took care of the animals and did her everyday choirs.

One day she walked by a lake and saw her reflection in the water. When she saw that she was a mess, she decided to wash her face and take off the donkey’s skin. She looked beautiful as she did before.

On her way home she placed on the donkey skin but the next day, since it was a holiday, she decided to wear a blue dress. She swung her wand, and her suitcase was in front of her. She placed on her dress, powdered her nose and fixed her hair. She looked like a princess again. She admired herself and decided to wear her beautiful dresses every Sunday and holidays. Only the animals could see her real beauty because they loved her immensely. They called her Donkeyskin.

One day she wore her sun-colored dress and the prince spotted her. He was beautiful, noticeable, his parent’s pet and the people’s pet. He had a delicious meal after his hunting trip and then decided to roam around the estate.

While he was walking, he stumbled upon a long lane and walked it to a door. When he peeked through the keyhole, he saw a true beauty in a long dress with beautiful skin and golden hair. He thought she was an extraterrestrial being. He wanted to kick down the door just to see her and make sure she’s real but in the end he didn’t.

He came back to the castle and asked about her. He found out she was called Donkeyskin and that she takes care of the animals and that because of that she looked pathetic. Nobody wanted to talk to her because she was always filthy.

The prince wasn’t pleased by what he had heard, so he decided not to talk to people about her. He was truly in love with the girl, and he fell into a fever. The mother was desperate about not being able to help him, and he knew his only cure was the girl.

The queen wanted to know at any cost what was happening to her son, so she went to ask him why he was so sad. She was even ready to give up the throne because of him and if a princess is a question she was ready to do anything to make her his wife. She begged him not to die.

The prince started crying after hearing his mother’s words and he told her he would never let anything bad happen to his parents because of him. He told her he isn’t rude enough to ask for the crown and that he hadn’t picked a princess for himself yet. He also claimed he was still ready to take his parents orders without any reclamation.

The mother kept on talking to him and told him to tell her what he needs to be happy again. He told her he would like for Donkeyskin to make him a cake.

The mother listened and ordered the girl to make a cake for her son. She did it and was thrilled about having a chance to prove her capability, but her ring fell into the batter, and she didn’t even notice it. One of the servants came for the cake and when she asked him about the prince he didn’t even respond.

As soon as the servant gave the prince the cake he started to eat it until he almost choked. The emerald ring got stuck in his throat. The prince saved it and looked at it now and then. He thought it was absurd to ask his mother to bring him donkey skin and that everyone would believe it's crazy if he tells them what he had seen. The doctors told his mother he was suffering from love.

The parents were very concerned about their son. They told him to say which girl he picked and that they’ll bring her to him. He told them he'd marry the one whose finger will fit the ring.

The king organized a search for the girl and promised their son they would make him feel better and he promised to marry the girl that owns the ring. First, the princesses and the duchesses tried the ring and then the servants. In the end, he asked for Donkeyskin to arrive and everyone started laughing. They told him she was too filthy to come here, but he claimed he wanted to be fair to everyone, so he sent his servants to get her.

She knew they were coming for her ever since she realized she lost her ring and found out about the prince looking for the ring’s owner. She placed on her prettiest dress and placed the donkey’s skin over it and came to the castle. Everyone was repulsed by her appearance, but the ring fit her. When he put the ring on her finger, she threw down the donkey’s skin and showed her real self.

Everyone saw a beautiful princess with long, gold her. Her future parents-in-law hugged her and then her fairy godmother appeared and told them her life story.

The prince was impatient and wanted to marry her as soon as possible. She told him she only had one wish and it was to have her father present in the weeding. He received an invitation like all of the other kingdoms. When the princess saw her father, she ran to hug him and forgave him for everything. Her father had married a widow with who he had no children.

The weeding lasted for three months, and the newlywed’s love grew by the day. They lived happily ever after.

Characters: princess, king, young prince and his parents

Characters Analysis

Princess - good, kind hearted and a working girl that ran away from her father who wanted to marry her. Despite her bad faith, she believed she would be able to find real love. Every day she worked as a maid even though that wasn’t a job for a princess. She took care of the animals that loved her. With the help of her fairy godmother, she found her prince and lived happily ever after. She even forgave her father for wanting to marry her.

Young prince - good-looking, handsome young man that laid an eye on the princess. He respected his parents and listened to them. When he saw the princess he fell in love immediately and got into a severe depression because of all of the excitement. The only cure was her agreeing to marry him which she did because she also loved him.

Charles Perrault Biography

Charles Perrault (1628. - 1703.) was born in Paris to a wealthy family as the seventh child. His father was very strict and imposed a particular kind of education upon him, so he decided to study law. When he finished school, he got a job in the public service.

Many consider him to be the founder of the most popular genre between children, and those are the fairytales. He took his inspiration out of folks tales. Some of them were carried mouth to mouth, and the Grimm brothers told some of them. The fairytales that Charles made famous: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and Puss in Boots.

This famous writer from France published another interesting book and it is Tales of Mother Goose. It consisted out of 8 fairytales.

Charles published this work under the name of his son. His fairytales were so popular that they were screen and TV adapted. The first fairytale The Sleeping Beauty was published in 1969.

Charles was considered to be one of the most influential people in the 17th century and a fighter for the younger generations. A conflict was going on back then between the old who believed that people should stick to the traditional way of writing and the young who were fighting for a new, fresh way of writing.