Melisande: body image
Today I reread E. Nesbit's "Melisande", because it's right there on the web now, and a pretty good fairy-tale. And I'm noticing and realising a few things that went right over my head before.
"Melisande" is, as mentioned, a fairy-tale. Princess Melisande was cursed with baldness when she was a baby; but her father has an unused wish that his fairy godmother gave him on his wedding, and when Melisande is old enough she wishes for hair that will keep growing, doubling its growth rate each time it is cut. This has unfortunate consequences (of course) but is all nicely resolved with a happy-ever-after in the end.
Interesting thing number one is that Melisande actually does not have any problem with being bald. When the wish is given to her, she initially tries to use it for the betterment of the kingdom, which doesn't work because the kingdom is already perfect as it is. It's her mother who tells her what to wish for, and it's clear that her mother is the only person who is uncomfortable with Melisande's baldness. Even her father seems to have no issue with his daughter's baldness, not even when the curse is first laid: he does not use the wish right away because, he says, "Melisande might want to use it for something else when the time comes." In short, Melisande, bald or not, is perfect just the way she is, and happy just the way she is, and it is only societal pressure that forces her into the unfortunate state of affairs.
Interesting thing number two is that her father the king pulls some decidedly ballsy, crafty moves over the course of the story, particularly with regard to the matter of the uninvited fairies. The situation is that, historically, no-one has ever managed to invite all of the fairies to a princess's christening, resulting in a curse laid on her by the one snubbed fairy. So the king convinces the queen to just have a private christening and not invite any of them at all. Of course they all turn up, ready to curse the poor child to kingdom come, but only one fairy manages to lay a curse ("she shall be bald!") before the king cites history and tradition (it's always only one fairy and only one curse) and dares any of the remaining fairies to lay another curse under the threat of winking out of existence for bucking tradition.
The queen gets to tell him "I told you so", but I can't help but think that this was the king's plan all along. By leading the entire fairy cohort into thinking that the princess would have to receive 600+ curses, he pretty much ensured that the first fairy would go easy on the girl in order to leave room for all the others. And then his handling of the situation was just ... so much chutzpah.
"Melisande" is, as mentioned, a fairy-tale. Princess Melisande was cursed with baldness when she was a baby; but her father has an unused wish that his fairy godmother gave him on his wedding, and when Melisande is old enough she wishes for hair that will keep growing, doubling its growth rate each time it is cut. This has unfortunate consequences (of course) but is all nicely resolved with a happy-ever-after in the end.
Interesting thing number one is that Melisande actually does not have any problem with being bald. When the wish is given to her, she initially tries to use it for the betterment of the kingdom, which doesn't work because the kingdom is already perfect as it is. It's her mother who tells her what to wish for, and it's clear that her mother is the only person who is uncomfortable with Melisande's baldness. Even her father seems to have no issue with his daughter's baldness, not even when the curse is first laid: he does not use the wish right away because, he says, "Melisande might want to use it for something else when the time comes." In short, Melisande, bald or not, is perfect just the way she is, and happy just the way she is, and it is only societal pressure that forces her into the unfortunate state of affairs.
Interesting thing number two is that her father the king pulls some decidedly ballsy, crafty moves over the course of the story, particularly with regard to the matter of the uninvited fairies. The situation is that, historically, no-one has ever managed to invite all of the fairies to a princess's christening, resulting in a curse laid on her by the one snubbed fairy. So the king convinces the queen to just have a private christening and not invite any of them at all. Of course they all turn up, ready to curse the poor child to kingdom come, but only one fairy manages to lay a curse ("she shall be bald!") before the king cites history and tradition (it's always only one fairy and only one curse) and dares any of the remaining fairies to lay another curse under the threat of winking out of existence for bucking tradition.
The queen gets to tell him "I told you so", but I can't help but think that this was the king's plan all along. By leading the entire fairy cohort into thinking that the princess would have to receive 600+ curses, he pretty much ensured that the first fairy would go easy on the girl in order to leave room for all the others. And then his handling of the situation was just ... so much chutzpah.