Wicked fairy

Contrary to beautiful and good fairies, godmothers of the princesses of marvellous tales, the wicked fairy is very old, very ugly and very malicious. Its name really comes owing to the fact that it is Bossu E “with thirty-six Carat S”, i.e. very uneven. If its appearance in the tales is rare, it does not remain less famous about it to be at the origin of the Malédiction which strikes the princess heroin of Sleeping Beauty .

Origins

The oldest version of the tale which reached us is that of the Sun, the moon and Thalie , extracted the Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile. It is however not there question of a malicious godmother. If the destiny of Thalie is well prophesied, it does not result from a fate which is thrown to him.

In the two posterior versions of the tale, which remain most known, the wicked fairy does not appear as such:

in its version, Charles Perrault adds the character of the malicious godmother, but it is presented like a “old hag”, without precision on its name.

in the adaptation of the brothers Grimm, it becomes the “thirteenth fairy”, in opposition to the eleven first which offer to the princess marvellous gifts and with the twelfth which intervenes in the last arise to attenuate the curse.

The character of the malicious godmother is former to the writings of Charles Perrault. Its first appearance goes back to the 13th century, in the Chanson de geste “ the Prowesses and faitz of noble Huon of Bordeaux ”: Obéron, the king of the Elf S, explains to Huon why it owes his aspect with a fairy in anger which threw a fate to him the day of its baptism.

Madam d' Aulnoy takes again to this character in his tales the Hind with wood and the Spring Princess . Although its role is relatively different from that which it will hold in Sleeping Beauty , the malicious godmother receives in the Spring Princess the name of Carabosse . There is habit to since attach this name to Sleeping Beauty . Besides the wicked fairy becomes a character with whole share in the ballet Sleeping Beauty (Tchaïkovski) .

In the version of Disney, it changes aspect and takes the name of “Maléfique”.

Role

The princess is born under good omens: she is cherished by her parents who are king and queen, her godmothers the fairies, seven in the version of Perrault and twelve in that of the Grimm brothers, fill it gifts. The wicked fairy, angry not to be invited, presents himself to surprised of all and wastes the festival while launching a bad fate to him. This one cannot unfortunately be entirely cancelled by one of the godmothers but it nevertheless will be attenuated: the princess will prick well the finger with a spindle at the fifteen years age as announced, but the consecutive death promised by the malicious fairy will be commuted to a one hundred years sleep which will end the day when the prince (which is not described as “Charming” in the versions of Perrault and Grimm) will arrive until it in the version of Perrault and will give him a kiss in the version of Grimm.

In spite of his efforts, the king remains impotent to prevent the realization of the curse. He tries to make prohibit the use of the spindles but an old deaf person, not having heard the edict, keeps to it his, person in charge of the achievement of the Malédiction. In the oldest versions, the old deaf person is in good faith and acts by pure ignorance. In the ballet of Tchaikovsky, it is about Carabosse itself, being ensured thus that will achieve curse and revenge.

Extracts

Intervention of the old hag in the version of Perrault:

“One saw entering an Old hag which one had not requested because there was more than fifty years that it had not left a Tower and that it was believed dead, or magic. The King made him give a cover, but there was not average to give him a case of solid gold, as with the others, because one had made any make only seven for the seven Fairies. The old woman believed that it was scorned, and grommela some threats between its teeth. ”

(...)

“the row of the Old hag having come, it says by shaking the head, even more spite than of old age, than the princess would bore the hand of a spindle, and than it would die about it. ”

Tale analyzes

Bruno Bettelheim, in his Psychoanalysis of the fairy tales , sees in this account a manner of preparing the little girls with the changes which await them.

Despite everything the attention of the parents and the gifts lavished by her godmothers, the little girl is struck as of the cradle, i.e. as of her birth, by the curse which will be achieved with its adolescence. This curse, marked by the blood which runs (an allusion on arrival of the menstrual Cycle) has an ancestral origin, symbolized by the old age of Carabosse. Follows from there a fold on oneself (a one hundred years sleep) and a bramble forest which will rise only on arrival of the prince charming, the only one to find the way, with raising the obstacles and leaving the princess her sleep thanks to the kiss of the love.

Mythology

One can bring closer Carabosse to Éris which, in the Greek Mythologie, is the goddess of the Discord. The latter either was not invited to the weddings of Thétis and Pélée. To be avenged some, it throws a gold apple carrying the inscription “for most beautiful”. This gesture is at the origin of the release of the Trojan War and the death of Achille, occurring in spite of the precaution of his/her mother to make it invincible while plunging it in water of the Styx.

Interpretation

In the ballet of Tchaïkovski, the role of the Wicked fairy is held by:

Carlotta Brianza in 1921 for its good-byes
Marie-Agnes Gillot in 1997

and in the Odyssey of Alice Tremblay , by:

Pebble Robitaille in 2002

References

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