Fortunée facts for kids

"Fortunée," also known as "Felicia and the Pot of Pinks," is a classic French fairy tale. It was written by a famous author named Madame d'Aulnoy. This story was also included in a well-known collection of tales called The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

The Story of Fortunée

A Difficult Start

The story begins with a poor worker who is dying. He wants to divide his few belongings between his son and daughter. A kind lady had once visited him. She gave him a special pot of pink flowers and a silver ring for his daughter. He left these items to her. To his son, he left two stools, a straw mattress, and a hen.

Soon after their father passed away, the brother became very unkind. He would not let his sister sit on his stool. He also ate all the eggs the hen laid. He only gave his sister the empty eggshells.

A Magical Discovery

The sister went to her own small room. She noticed a wonderful smell coming from the pink flowers. She saw that the flowers were dry and needed water. So, she took them to a nearby stream to water them.

At the stream, she saw a grand lady. This lady was a queen. The queen called the girl over. The girl told the queen she wasn't afraid of robbers because she had nothing valuable to steal. The queen then asked if robbers could steal her heart. The girl replied that without her heart, she would die, and that did scare her. The queen kindly gave her some food.

The Queen's Help

The girl remembered her pinks needed watering. She found that her simple water pitcher had turned into gold! The queen told her to remember that the Queen of the Woods was her friend. The girl offered the pinks to the queen, as they were half of what she owned. But when she went back, her brother had stolen them. So, she returned and offered her silver ring instead.

Talking Plants and Animals

The girl went back home and kicked a cabbage in frustration. The cabbage actually spoke to her! It told her that if she replanted it, it would tell her where her brother hid the pinks. She replanted the cabbage, but she still didn't know how to get the flowers back.

Then, she decided to get revenge on the hen. She wanted to wring its neck. But the hen spoke too! It told her that she was not the worker's daughter at all. She was actually a princess!

A Princess's Secret

The hen explained that the princess's mother had already had six daughters. Her husband and his father had threatened her if she didn't have a son. The mother's fairy sister sent her own baby boy to replace the new daughter. But the princess's mother had already run away to this small cottage.

There, she met the hen, who was actually the worker's wife. A lady had visited, and the woman (now the hen) had told her the princess's story. The lady had then used magic to turn the woman into a hen. This same lady later returned to give the worker the ring and the pinks. She also turned some soldiers, who were looking for the girl, into cabbages. One of those cabbages was the one that spoke to the princess earlier!

Reclaiming What's Hers

The princess went to get the pinks back. She found an army of rats and mice guarding them! She remembered her golden pitcher. The water from it made the army of rats and mice disappear. The pinks then spoke to her, and she fainted from surprise.

Her brother returned and threw her out of the house. The Queen of the Woods offered to help her get revenge. But the princess refused. She also refused to claim she was a princess because she had no proof.

A Happy Ending

Then, a handsome young man arrived. The queen explained a secret. When she sent her son to her sister, an enemy had used magic to turn him into a pot of pinks. The queen had brought the pinks to this cottage so that her son would fall in love with the princess. If the princess married him with the special ring she had been given, she would be very happy.

The princess agreed to marry the prince. She also made her brother rich and turned the hen and the cabbages back into their original forms.

About the Story

This fairy tale has been translated into English in different ways. One English version was called The Pot of Carnations. Another translation of the story was simply The Pinks. This version was published in a book called The Wild Flower Fairy Book.

The story of Fortunée was also one of many tales by Madame d'Aulnoy that were turned into stage plays. These plays were part of a series called Fairy Extravaganza by James Planché.