Tale of Diamonds and Toads

## Story

A nice, pretty girl was the second daughter of a widow. The latter had a preference for her older daughter, Fanny, so her little sister had to do all the chores. Notably, draw water from a fountain. One day, she met there an old, miserable woman who asked if she could drink. The young girl said yes and gave her water. To thank her, the old lady, who was a fairy, gave her the gift of having diamonds, roses and pearls falling from her mouth every time she would talk.

When the mother saw that, she decided Fanny shall have said gift as well, and told her to go to the fountain with a carafe and give water to an old lady, if she spot one at the fountain. Fanny first protested, but had to obey at the end. At the fountain, a noble lady dressed as a princess asked for water. Fanny said she just have to serve herself, thinking that lady was not the fairy. Wrong: it was the very same, who took this apparence on purpose.

To punish Fanny of her rudeness, she cursed her with having toads and snakes falling from her mouth every time she would talk. The mother was horrified, and blame it all on her younger daughter, that she chase away. The poor girl met the king's son in the forest and told him her story, throwing diamonds in the process. The impressed prince took her back to her castle, and marry her. Fanny was so hated by everyone because of her curse, that she ended up all alone in the forest and died there.

## Trivia Edit

- Basile wrote an early version, called *The two cakes*. The two sisters are here two cousins, named Martiella and Puccia. Martiella is gifted with having roses and jasmines falling from her mouth, having garnets and pearls falling from her head when she would comb her hair, and lilies and violets growing from the ground she walked. Puccia is cursed with frothing when she would talk, having lice falling from her head when she would comb her hair, and brambles and nettles growing from the ground she walked.

-In french, the tale is called *The fairies,* despite there is only one; Perrault had heard versions where there were two fairies, one for each sister.

-Still in french, Fanny is called Fanchon, a diminutive for Françoise. It's implied the mother preferred her because they both had a bad temper, while the younger sister took after her kind but deceased father.

-The "gift" can actually seem odd or even cumbersome. The younger daughter was actually lucky to have an already rich fiancé, who like her for herself.

-Retellings of this story often lampshade the problematic side of the gift. In one, the diamonds's angles and roses 's thorns wounded the mouth of the heroin, while the smooth snakes thrown from her sister 's mouth with no effort. Still, the pain and disgust forced the sisters to remain silent for ever, which, according to the narration, delighted their husbands.

-In a modern version called *The tap fairy* by Pierre Gripari, Martine, the oldest daughter, was nice to the fairy out of pure interest. Her parents, and later a crook she met after running away, act greedy towards her power of throwing pearls. Marie, the kind sister, didn't dare to obey the fairy, fearing a "gift", and was cursed with snakes. This power was used by an anti poison and venom research laboratory. Fortunately the fairy realized her mistakes, and took back the sisters to normal.