The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Song of Sixpence
This illustration is from Walter Crane’s retelling of Madame d'Aulnoy’s fairy tale Princess Belle-Etoile (“Beautiful Star”) and one of his many toy books, for which he is known.
Princess Belle-Etoile is about a queen with three daughters: Roussette (“redhead”), the oldest, Brunette, the middle, and Blondine, the youngest. Because the queen was in poverty, despite her status, she sold sauces for a living. One day, a fairy disguised as an old woman begged the queen and her daughters to feed her a fine meal. In exchange for their hospitality, the fairy promised the queen and her daughters that their wish would come true, if they had one without thinking of her. One day, when the king came by, Roussette said that she would make sails for the king’s admiral’s ships if she married him, Brunette said that she would make the king’s brother enough lace to fill a castle if she married him, and Blondine said that she would bear the king two sons and a daughter with golden chains around their necks, stars on their foreheads, and jewels falling from their hair, if she married him.
All three marriages took place, and the fairy provided food on golden dishes for the wedding feast. When the jealous Roussette hid the golden dishes, they turned into earthenware. Combined with Roussette’s jealousy and the king’s mother’s fury upon hearing that her sons married “lowly” women, Brunette died after giving birth to her son. While Blondine gave birth to two sons and a daughter, Roussette and the queen replaced the three babies with three puppies, before bringing them and Brunette’s son to a maid, ordering her to kill them, but put them in a boat with their necklaces that might pay for their support upon discovery. The fairies guided the boat with the four babies, until they were discovered by the Middle Eastern-looking corsair that Crane depicted in his illustration.
I really like this painting because it shows a very emotional story. in the picture, four small babies are sleeping peacefully inside a small boat floating on the water, and a big pirate man is leaning down from his ship to look at them carefully. actually these poor kids were thrown into the water by some jealous and bad family members, but luck is on their side now. I find it very interesting how the artist put small glowing star symbols on the babies' foreheads and added old traditional designs to the wooden ships. when you look closely at the details, it feels like a fairy tale book coming alive. for me, the main message of this artwork is that even when life puts you in big danger and bad people try to destroy you, some unexpected help will always arrive to save you at the right time. it gives a very positive feeling about hope and second chances, showing that innocence is protected in the end.
