A Fairy Tale written by Mary de Morgan in 1886, "The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde" tells the story of the very beautiful Princess Fiorimonde, who, in order to escape an Arranged Marriage, uses an enchanted necklace to transform her suitors into beads.
The story is notable for being one of the earliest examples of the Villainous Princess, which de Morgan deliberately uses to subvert some common fairy tale tropes, particularly the Beauty Equals Goodness Princess Classic trope and Standard Hero Reward.
It is published as a collection with other fairy tales in "The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde and other stories".
It can be read in the Project Gutenberg
.
The story contains examples of:
- 13 Is Unlucky: After being outsmarted by Gervaise, Princess Fiorimonde becomes the thirteenth bead of her own necklace, and when her twelve captives are set free, she is left as the only bead remaining as punishment.
- Aborted Arc: The whole plot was triggered by Fiorimonde's father wanting to arrange a marriage the Princess so that her husband can succeed him as King. When the Princess's wickedness is revealed and is left as a bead, all her suitors (plus Gervaise and Yolande) return to their own countries, and the question of who will eventually succeed the widowed and now childless King when he'd eventually pass away, or what will happen to the Kingdom afterwards, is left unresolved.
- And I Must Scream: It is implied that the people who are transformed into beads are conscious during their transformation, and when the suitors are set free, they quickly denounce the Princess and complain about her wickedness.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted. Fiorimonde is very beautiful, and because of her beauty, everyone who see her assume that she's just as good. But she's actually a wicked Vain Sorceress who uses magic to enhance her beauty.
- Fatal Flaw: The princess's vanity turns out to be her undoing: she is so distraught when Gervaise tells her that he knows a woman more beautiful than she is, despite her mentor telling her that he must be lying, that she becomes careless and falls for his deception.
- Forced Transformation: Not wanting to marry, Princess Fiorimonde consults with her Wicked Witch mentor, who offers to get rid of her suitors by transforming them into either (1) dogs, (2) birds that sing of her beauty, or (3) necklace beads. The Princess picks the third option.
- Hero Antagonist: After losing his friend and master Florestan to Fiorimonde, Gervaise plots to defeat the Princess and free all her other captives. The Witch warns the Princess about him when he arrives as a new potential suitor, but Fiorimonde doesn't heed her mentor's words and ends up defeated by him.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: One of Fiorimonde's suitors, Florestan, has a dear friend named Gervaise, "whom he loved better than any one in the world". Gervaise, on his part, "would gladly die in service of his master". None of this is meant to be read romantically, however, as Florestan gets charmed by Fiorimonde's beauty and Gervaise falls in love with Yolande.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Fiorimonde ends up becoming one of the beads on her cursed necklace after tricking various suitors into becoming her jewelry.
- Karma Houdini: While Fiorimonde is punished for her crimes by being left as a bead on her own necklace, nothing is said of the witch who taught her dark magic and gave her the cursed necklace in the first place, since the heroes are unaware of her.
- Ugly All Along: Implied. Fiorimonde's famous beauty is caused by black magic, and the primary reason she doesn't want to marry is because having a husband would prevent her from practicing her magic with her witch, and this would cause her to lose her beauty. We are never told what she looks like without her magic, however.
- Standard Hero Reward: Subverted. The Princess is not a reward to be won by the hero, but rather the villain that must be vanquished. When Gervaise, the Hero Antagonist, discovers this and swears to defeat the Princess, he asks for his reward the hand of the Fiorimonde's maid, Yolande. He also doesn't to rule or become King after finally outwitting the Princess and rescuing her cursed suitors, but instead returns to his master's homeland with his new wife, where he presumably continues to serve Florestan.
- Vain Sorceress: The princess secretly studies sorcery under the tutelage of a Wicked Witch, who made her into the World's Most Beautiful Woman in exchange for her assistance.
- Villainous Princess: Fiorimonde is a deliberate subversion of the Princess Classic archetype. Her subjects thinks that she's as sweet and kind as she is beautiful, like a stereotypical princess, only for the narration to reveal that this was not so.… every one thought she must be good as well, instead of which the Princess was really very wicked, and practised witchcraft and black magic…
- Villain with Good Publicity: Most people are unaware of the Princess's wickedness, and see her as a typical Princess Classic because of her beautiful appearance.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Invoked. The witch's magic has made Fiorimonde into the most beautiful woman in the world, and any man who looks at her will almost certainly fall in love with her. Even Gervaise, who hates the Princess for taking his master and his lover from him, is not completely immune to her charms, and had to remind himself of his beloved Yolande to not get bewitched by the Princess's beauty.
