"Donkeyskin" () is a French literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Andrew Lang included it, somewhat euphemized, in The Grey Fairy Book.Bottigheimer, Ruth. "Before Contes du temps passe (1697): Charles Perrault's Griselidis, Souhaits and Peau". The Romantic Review, Volume 99, Number 3. pp. 175-189 It is classed among folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love.
Synopsis
An extremely fortunate and wealthy king lives with his beautiful wife and daughter. The source of the king's riches is his prized, marvelous donkey whose droppings are gold. Suddenly the king's wife is struck by an illness and dies, but not before making her husband promise not to remarry except to a woman whose beauty and attributes equal hers. The king grieves for a lengthy period, but is finally persuaded to seek another wife. It becomes clear that the only woman who fits the promise is his daughter.
The princess goes to her godmother, the lilac fairy, for guidance. The fairy advises her goddaughter to make impossible demands to the king as a condition of her consent: a dress the color of time, a dress the color of the moon, a dress as bright as the sun, and finally, the hide of his precious donkey. Despite the difficulty of the princess's requirements, such is the king's determination to marry her that he grants all of them. The lilac fairy gives her goddaughter a magic chest to contain the dresses, and tells her to leave home, wearing the donkey's skin as a disguise.
The princess flees to another kingdom and eventually finds work and lodging at a farm. The princess's appearance is so unsightly that she is nicknamed "Donkeyskin." On holidays, Donkeyskin locks herself in her room, primping and dressing herself in the fine gowns her father had given her. On one such day, the prince of the kingdom comes by her room and glimpses her through the keyhole. The prince falls madly in love and becomes ill with longing; he declares that only a cake baked by Donkeyskin will cure him.
While Donkeyskin bakes the cake, her ring somehow falls into the mixture. The prince finds it and declares that he will marry only the woman whose finger it fits. When every other woman in the kingdom fails to fit it, Donkeyskin is summoned to try it on. The ring, to everyone's shock, fits perfectly; and the princess removes the donkey's skin to reveal her rich dress underneath. The lilac fairy appears and explains the whole story to the prince's parents; who, upon learning Donkeyskin's true identity, are elated with the match. Donkeyskin and the prince celebrate their wedding. There, Donkeyskin is reunited with her father, who has remarried to a beautiful widow.
Analysis
Tale type The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as ATU 510B, "The Dress of Gold, of Silver, and of Stars (Cap O'Rushes)".Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. pp. 177-178. However, the tale type was renamed "Peau d’Asne" by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther in his 2004 revision of the folktale index, while still retaining its numbering.
Motifs According to scholarship, the tale type features the death of the heroine's mother, her father's incestuous desire, and her fleeing to another kingdom, where she finds work in a menial position.Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. p. 128. .Deker, Ton. "Assepoester". In: Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties. 1ste druk. Ton Dekker & Jurjen van der Kooi & Theo Meder. Kritak: Sun. 1997. p. 53.
Origins In a study, scholar Ruth Bottigheimer notes that, before Perrault's tale, French author Bonaventure des Périers had a heroine (named Pernette) dressed in a donkey's hide (albeit to repel a lover's advances), and, in a later tale, a heroine is called "Peau d’Asne", but she is helped by ants. Bottigheimer also suggests that Perrault did not introduce the incest motif, but must have reworked it from an earlier source, namely, Giambattista Basile's The She-Bear (from Pentamerone) and Straparola's Teobaldo (from The Facetious Nights).Bottigheimer, Ruth (2008). "Before Contes du temps passé (1697): Charles Perrault's 'Griselidis' (1691), 'Souhaits Ridicules' (1693) and 'Peau d'asne' (1694)". In: The Romanic Review, vol. 99, numbers 3–4, pp. 180–186.
Relation to other tales According to Ton Deker and Stith Thompson, after the heroine flees home and finds work elsewhere, the second part of the tale type (the three balls and three dresses) connects tale type 510B to type 510A, that is, Cinderella."The heroine assumes a peculiar disguise. [...] The story then proceeds much like Cinderella: ... the thrice repeated flight from the prince and the elaborate recognition ...". Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. p. 128. .Deker, Ton. "Assepoester". In: Van Aladdin tot Zwaan kleef aan. Lexicon van sprookjes: ontstaan, ontwikkeling, variaties. 1ste druk. Ton Dekker & Jurjen van der Kooi & Theo Meder. Kritak: Sun. 1997. p. 53.
Variants Europe Greece In a Greek variant from Epeirus collected by Austrian consul Johann Georg von Hahn with the title Allerleirauh, a widowed king declares he wants to marry his own daughter, despite her protests. To delay him, the princess asks him to fashion her two dresses of gold and a bed that can furrow through the ground to reach any other place. The king gives her the requested items; she takes the dresses, some ducats for money, jumps on the bed and goes to another city. The city's prince, during a hunt, finds the princess, wrapped in furs, in the forest and takes her in as a goose herder. Some time later, this prince holds a grand ball, and the princess attends it with her dress of gold. She dazzles the prince, but escapes the ball back to her low station, and throws some ducats to delay the prince. He becomes interested in finding her, so he holds two more balls. After the third ball, the princess loses one of her shoes and the prince tries it on every maiden, but cannot find its owner. At last, the princess, still wearing her golden dress underneath the animal furs, goes to bring some water to the prince, and he recognizes her.Hahn, Johann Georg von. Griechische und Albanesische Märchen 1-2. München/Berlin: Georg Müller, 1918 . pp. 151-154.
Von Hahn summarized a Greek tale from Smyrna: after his wife dies, a king promises to marry one that can fit the dead queen's ring on her finger. The ring fits on his daughter, and he tries to marry her. To stop her father, she is advised by a being named Miren to ask for three seamless dresses: one of silver, another of gold and a third of pearl. The devil, disguised as an old man, gives the king the dresses, to the princess's horror. Miren guides the princess to a cave in the outskirts of another town, and she gives food and water for the princess for six months. One day, a prince, during a hunt, stops to rest in front of the cave and prepares some food. Drawn by the smell, the princess comes out of the cave; the prince finds her and takes her in to his castle. The princess, called Μαλλιαρή (Malliarí; meaning "Shaggy") due to her hairy appearance, she only nods in agreement as she does her chores. The prince then holds three balls, one on each night, and the princess, doffing her shaggy appearance, wears each of the dresses for each night. The prince becomes ill with longing, and his mother asks for some food to be prepared for him. The princess bakes a bread for him and hides her ring, then a clock, and lastly a string of pearls.Hahn, Johann Georg von. Griechische und Albanesische Märchen 1-2. München/Berlin: Georg Müller, 1918 . pp. 364-366.
East Slavs Tale type ATU 510B also exists in the repertoire of the East Slavs. According to the East Slavic Folktale Catalogue (), last updated by scholar in 1979, the type is known as SUS 510B, "": on threat of an incestuous marriage with her own father, the heroine asks for three dresses to be made (one of stars, one of the moon and one of the sun); she wears a pigskin and finds work elsewhere; a prince holds three balls that she attends, and he goes after her.
Slovakia In a Slovak tale collected by authors August Horislav Škultéty and Pavol Dobšinský with the title Myšacia bundička ("Mouse Coat"), a rich man has a lovely wife, but she falls ill and, on her deathbed, makes her husband promise to marry only one as lovely as her. After she dies, the man sends messengers all over the world to try to find another wife that fulfills his requirements, but, failing that, turns to his daughter and tells her he intends to marry her. Aghast at the idea, the man's daughter asks him for three dresses (one studded with stars, one like the moon and one like the sun), then a coat made of mousekin as wedding gifts. The man produces her the dresses; the girl takes them, wears the mouse-skin coat and leaves for parts unknown. She stops by a tree to rest for the night and, the next morning, a king, during his hunt, is alerted of her presence by the barking of his hounds. The king takes the mouse-skin clad girl with him to his castle, where she works as his servant, chopping firewood and helping in the kitchen. Some time later, the king holds three dances, which the mouse-skin clad girl attends, each time wearing one of the dresses her father gave her. She introduces herself to the king, who becomes fascinated with her. After the three dances, the king falls ill with longing, and the mouse-skin clad girl prepares him some food. While the cook is away, she drops the ring on a bowl, and takes it to the king. He finds the ring in his food and sends for the mouse-skin clad girl. He notices her sun dress underneath the mouseskin coat, and takes off the animal coat. He recognizes her as the woman from the dances and marries her.Slovenske povesti [Slovakische Erzählungen]. Vydavaju August Horislav Skultety a Pavel Dobsinsky. Kniha Prvá. V Roznave: Kek, 1858. pp. 49-55.
South Slavic