Princess Rosette | The Lang Fairy Tales: The Red Fairy Book (1890)
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Show notes
Our Lang Fairy Tale for today is another Madame d'Aulnoy story, Princess Rosette.
Also known in some places as The King of the Peacocks or The Black and the White Bride, it's packed full of whimsy, but what is it actually about?
We get lists of fun foods and wonderful creatures, sojourn with side characters with nothing to do, and end up with a kind of take on The Goose Girl.
Considering d'Aulnoy is most known for writing fairy tales for adults, and coined the term 'Fairy Tale' in the first place, perhaps she knew better what ought to go into one.
Then again, should you lock your children up in towers for all their lives? Or impulsively decide to marry a ruler of birds?
Also, what the heck is a cockchafer?!
Launched in 2025 to help us bridge gaps between main series, we began by sharing readings from us of the iconic stories found in the Blue Fairy Book compiled by Andrew Lang. From the Red Fairy Book onwards, we have also spent time digging into the stories, their histories and relationships to tale types, and are engaged in an ongoing mission to celebrate the woman truly behind the 12 coloured fairy books – Andrew’s wife Leonora, whose impact on children’s literature and fantasy fiction cannot be understated.
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Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.
Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’
We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.
Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.
Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…
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