"Cruel Sisters" is a short story by Patricia C. Wrede, is a retelling of the ballad "The Twa Sisters".
Three sisters live together, princesses caught in family drama. Anne and Eleanor, the eldest and youngest respectively, engage in a brutal sibling rivalry from the time they were born, and middle child Margaret fails to mediate between them. Things only get worse when Eleanor steals Anne's lover, Gold Digger "bonny" William. When Eleanor dies, ostensibly by accident while strolling with Anne, Margaret sees too late that tragedy can only befall the family, especially when a harpist appears.
Tropes for this story include:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: After Anne and Eleanor die, William tries to hit on Margaret, the heir, but she won't tolerate his presence.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- It's unknown if Anne murdered Eleanor in a fit of temper, out of genuine malice over William, or even did the deed at all, given Eleanor in life was a Consummate Liar and she could have easily fallen in the river by accident.
- The harpist may have not learned from making a harp out of a dead girl's bones. He doesn't repeat the deed with another body, but he does retell the tale, making himself look better in it, and often excludes Margaret from it.
- Ascended Extra: Margaret, the middle sister in the ballad who is ignored in most versions. She assumes this is because she chewed out the harpist for his actions.
- Bittersweet Ending: Eleanor dies in the river, and Anne is banished to a convent for ostensibly murdering Eleanor, where she later dies. Margaret as the surviving sister becomes the heir, where she sends away William after he tries to flirt with her. Despite the tragedy that makes her visit the palace chapel, she resolves to learn from her mistakes and speak up about disputes.
- Body Horror: The harpist cut up Eleanor's corpse after finding it to turn her bones into a harp, so that she could name her murderer. When the royal family buries her, they have a hard time dealing with the small coffin, and why it's so small.
- The Chains of Commanding: The king is forced to lock up Anne in a convent when she's accused of murder and smashes the bone harp that accuses her, despite the flimsy evidence. Margaret tries to get him to change his mind, to no avail.
- Consummate Liar: Eleanor in life; it's why Margaret doesn't believe the harp when it accuses Anne of murdering her.
- Death by Despair: Anne dies in a convent, six months after the harp accuses her of murder. She never confesses, or professes her innocence.
- Due to the Dead: Violently defied. Margaret chews out the harpist for desecrating Eleanor's body to make a harp, instead of simply giving it to the royal family for a proper funeral.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: As in the ballad it's based on. Eleanor drowns in the river, and her harp accuses Anne of pushing her into the fatal current.
- Foreshadowing: Eleanor lies about Anne spilling ink on her dress and ruining it, which leads to Anne ruining two of Eleanor's dresses by tossing a gown and her sister into a thorn bush. This leads to Margaret suspecting that Eleanor's bone harp lied about Anne murdering her, especially Anne's reaction to the accusation.
- Gold Digger: "Bonny" William pursued Eleanor and Anne for this reason; he then turns his attention to Margaret when Eleanor and Anne are both dead. She ignores him, so that he goes away.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: The plot's crux. Margaret avoids this from both her sisters, but as she realizes, she can't mediate between them after Anne ruins Eleanor's dresses.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Eleanor about William, given he had abandoned courting her elder sister in favor of a hand-fasting to her. After Eleanor dies, Anne refuses to get back together with William, and Margaret follows suit when Anne dies.
- It's All My Fault: Margaret blames herself for trying to handle her sister's problems on her own and not speaking up about them to her parents or someone else. She carries that burden for life, as the heir to the throne.
- I Won't Say I'm Guilty: Anne will suffer punishment when being accused of some act, be it dress tearing or murder, but she won't admit if she's guilty or innocent. This is why Margaret believes that Eleanor's bones lied out of spite to Anne, since she knows Anne was innocent on at least one occasion.
- Morality Pet: For what little it's worth, Anne and Eleanor leave Margaret out of their petty disagreements. This doesn't make her feel better, however, since their rivalry can turn violent. She tries to be their Morality Chain as well, but she has no power.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The harpist briefly when Margaret delivers her What the Hell, Hero? speech to him.
- Never My Fault: Anne doesn't show concern about Eleanor's safety when she pushes the latter into a thorny bush, even when Margaret mentions that the thorns have blinded some men.
- Not Now, Kiddo: When Margaret tries to tell her parents that the harp is an Unreliable Expositor and Anne could be innocent of murdering her sister, they ignore her in favor of taking the harp at its word.
- Only Sane Man: Margaret bears this burden, though she realizes that it's a valuable one for a princess and an advisor.
- Pet the Dog: Eleanor's bone harp before accusing Anne blesses her parents and Margaret since Margaret was her Morality Pet.
- Shrinking Violet: Margaret, before Anne and Eleanor die. She grows out of it after the harpist brings his sour news.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: This is how Anne responds to Eleanor's accusations towards her, which in life were untrue. Oh, Anne spilled ink on Eleanor's blue dress? Anne will destroy it for real, by tossing it into the thorns. Eleanor's bones accuse Anne of murdering her? Anne will smash the harp to pieces to "make the words true".
- Twice-Told Tale: Of "The Twa Sisters", #10 of the Child Ballads.
- Unreliable Expositor: Eleanor's bone harp, as Margaret tells the harpist. Eleanor in life was a liar and would blame Anne for the smallest infractions, and "bonny William, sweet and true" was not true at all given he flirted with both of the sisters.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Margaret suggesting that Eleanor and Anne talk out their problems concerning William leads to Eleanor drowning in the river. Whether it was Anne's temper or the river's swelling tides, Margaret doesn't know.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Margaret chews out the harpist for making a harp out of her sister's corpse instead of delivering the body to the royal family; he not only desecrated a dead body but also corrupted their "clean grief" into something poisonous, without considering that Princess Eleanor was a Consummate Liar and a Horrible Judge of Character where William was concerned. The harpist may or may not take this to heart, given he makes no more bone harps, but when he tells the tale he leaves Margaret out of it.
- Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Because sisters will ruin them out of spite, whether it's dresses, men, or lives.
- Youngest Child Wins: Subverted; Margaret, the only princess who survives the tragedy, is the middle child. Eleanor is younger than her, and Anne is the eldest.
