Wicked fairy godmother - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The wicked fairy godmother
Fairy godmother
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies...

, a figure rare in fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s, is nevertheless among best-known figures from such tales because of her appearance in one of the most widely known tales, Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...

, and in the ballet derived from it. Anonymous in her first appearance, she was later named in some variants Carabosse, and in others Maleficent
Maleficent
Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to the baby's christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a...

.

Origins

The oldest version of Sleeping Beauty that has been preserved is Sun, Moon, and Talia
Sun, Moon, and Talia
Sun, Moon, and Talia is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone...

from Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile

Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...

's Pentamerone
Pentamerone
The Pentamerone is a seventeenth-century fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile.-Background:...

. This version does not feature any fairy godmothers; Talia's fate is prophesied, but is not caused by witchcraft.

Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...

added the witch to his variant the story of Sleeping Beauty, "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" ("La Belle au bois dormant"), dating from 1697; he did not give her a name. The Brothers Grimm

Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...

included a version, "Briar Rose", in their collected tales; their version included the witch and her namelessness; the only difference relating to the witches that in Perrault's version, seven fairies were invited, and she is the eighth, and in the Grimms', twelve were invited and so she is the thirteenth.

The figure of the witch appeared before Perrault's tale. The first known appearance was in the chanson de geste
Chanson de geste
The chansons de geste, Old French for "songs of heroic deeds", are the epic poems that appear at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known examples date from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, nearly a hundred years before the emergence of the lyric poetry of the trouvères and...

Les Prouesses et faitz du noble Huon de Bordeaux: the elf-king Oberon appears only dwarfish in height, and explains to Huon that an angry fairy cursed him to that size at his christening. Madame d'Aulnoy

Madame d'Aulnoy

Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy , also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French writer known for her fairy tales...

had them appear in her fairy tales The Hind in the Wood and The Princess Mayblossom
The Princess Mayblossom
The Princess Mayblossom is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy in 1697.Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...

; although their roles in her tales had significant differences from Sleeping Beauty, in The Princess Mayblossom, she receives the name of "Carabosse". At some point, this name was attached to the wicked fairy godmother in Sleeping Beauty; she appears as such in Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...

's ballet of Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty Ballet

The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet in a prologue and three acts, first performed in 1890. The music was by Pyotr Tchaikovsky . The score was completed in 1889, and is the second of his three ballets. The original scenario was conceived by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, and is based on Charles Perrault's La...

Role in the tale

In Sleeping Beauty, the witch comes uninvited to the princess and declares that "because you did not invite me, I tell you that in her fifteenth year, your daughter will prick herself with a spindle and fall over dead." A good fairy mitigates the curse so that the princess will only fall into a deep sleep, and the king attempts to protect her by removing all spindles.

On the princess's fifteenth birthday, the princess meets a spinning woman

Weaving (mythology)

The theme of weaving in mythology is ancient, and its lost mythic lore probably accompanied the early spread of this art. In traditional societies today, westward of Central Asia and the Iranian plateau, weaving is a mystery within woman's sphere...

, pricks her finger on the bodkin and falls into a deep sleep. In the oldest variants, the old woman is merely ignorant and means no harm, but in some variants, such as Tchaikovsky's, the spinning woman is Carabosse herself, ensuring her curse.

Ballet

In Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

's ballet of Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty Ballet

, Carabosse was portrayed as a frightening figure, entering each time to forbidding and dramatic music. Carabosse's role in the story enjoyed a spectacular rendition with the ballet "The Sleeping Princess" in 1921, produced by Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Diaghilev

Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...

, employing the original choreography by Marius Petipa

Marius Petipa

Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....

as it was painstakingly recalled by several of its dancers, all now émigrés. Carabosse's costumes were designed by Leon Bakst

Léon Bakst

Léon Samoilovitch Bakst was a Russian painter and scene- and costume designer. He was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes...

; her medieval-inspired costume gave her the silhouette

Silhouette

A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...

of a rat.

Disney

In the Disney animated version of Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault...

the character of the witch is personified in Maleficent, a dark sinister being who is the "Mistress of all Evil

Evil

Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...

". She lays a curse on the princess (called Aurora

Aurora (Disney)

Princess Aurora is a fictional character and the title character from Disney's 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty , as well as an official Disney Princess.The Disney version of the character was based on the French version of the tale by Charles Perrault, written in 1634 in Histoires ou Contes du...

here) and the fairies are forced to take the princess away to protect her. Maleficent's monstrous minions hunt for Aurora in years to come, and on her sixteenth birthday Aurora returns to the palace and pricks her finger on the spinning wheel that is actually the witch in disguise. When Maleficent learns that Prince Phillip is in love with the princess, she captures him so that he will be too old and feeble to wield a sword when he can finally free Aurora. When the good fairies help him escape, Maleficent takes over the entire palace and later transforms into a giant black dragon to do battle with the hero. Prince Phillip defeats the villainess with his Sword of Truth, causing her to fall to her apparent death. All that is left of Maleficent is her robe.

Variants

In The Young Slave
The Young Slave
The Young Slave is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 410, Sleeping Beauty; other variants include The Glass Coffin and Sun, Moon, and Talia.-Synopsis:...

, Cilia, the baron's sister, gives her daughter Lisa to the fairies to raise. All of the fairies give gifts to Lisa, but the witch twistes her ankle, and curses Lisa to die when she was seven, because her mother, combing her hair, forgot the comb in her hair. In another variant, The Glass Coffin
The Glass Coffin
The Glass Coffin is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 163. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book as The Crystal Coffin.It is Aarne-Thompson type 410, Sleeping Beauty. Another variant is The Young Slave....

, the role of the witch is taken by a male traveler who curses the daughter of a rich count to be imprisoned in a glass coffin after she refuses to marry him.

Revisionist

The common knowledge of the witch has made the figure an obvious target for revisionist fairy tales. The wicked fairy godmother is widely spoofed and parodied. In Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...

's Prince Prigio
Prince Prigio
Prince Prigio is a literary and comic, fairy tale written by Andrew Lang in 1889, and illustrated by Gordon Browne. It draws in Lang's folklorist background for many tropes. This story was republished by Little, Brown and Company in 1942, with illustrations by Robert Lawson, and by David R...

, the queen, who does not believe in fairies, does not invite them; the fairies come anyway and give good gifts, except for the last one, who says that he shall be "too clever" -- and the problems with such a gift are only revealed later. In Patricia Wrede

Patricia Wrede

Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer from Chicago, Illinois.The eldest of five children, she graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology, married James Wrede in 1976 , and obtained an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977.She finished her first book in 1978,...

's Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Enchanted Forest Chronicles
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a series of four young adult fantasy novels by Patricia C. Wrede titled Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons....

, a princess lamented that she was not cursed at her christening, because the witch danced with her uncle and enjoyed herself instead of getting angry.

In George MacDonald

George MacDonald

George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...

's fairy tale The Light Princess
The Light Princess
The Light Princess is a fairy tale by George MacDonald. It was published in 1864.- Plot summary :A king and queen, after some time, have a daughter. The king invites everyone to the christening, except his sister Princess Makemnoit, a spiteful and sour woman. She arrives without an invitation and...

, it is the king's sister, Princess Makemnoit, who is not invited to his daughter's christening. Makemnoit arrives without an invitation and curses the princess to have no gravity. It is discovered that water makes the princess regain her gravity, so Makemnoit drains the water from the lake, making even the rain cease and babies cry no tears. Makemnoit eventually meets her fate when her house is undermined by the waters and falls in, drowning her. In another George MacDonald tale, Little Daylight
Little Daylight
Little Daylight is a fairy tale written by George MacDonald and included as a story within a story in At the Back of the North Wind, published in 1871. It has subsequently been published as an independent tale, and in collections of his other fairy tales....

, the sea-witch, arriving uninvited, tries to continue her curse, claiming that the fairy who had mitigated hers had broken in when she was not done, but the fairies had wisely kept two fairies from giving their gifts until she had come, and the second one was able to mitigate the curse she added.

In Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes "Misty" Lackey is a best-selling American author of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar...

's The Gates of Sleep
The Gates of Sleep
The Gates of Sleep is the third novel by Mercedes Lackey in her Elemental Masters series. It is based on the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The novel is set in Devon, England around the year 1912.-Plot summary:...

, like in MacDonald's The Light Princess, it is also the sister of the baby's father, this time named Arachne, who lays a curse upon the girl to die on her 18th birthday, even when Arachne was not supposed to possess any magical ability at all. The girl, named Marina, remains hidden during 17 and a half years until Arachne murders her parents and takes Marina with her. At some point, the curse is broken but Arachne manages to re-instates the curse, resulting in a battle between Marina and Arachne. In Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley is a distinguished author of fantasy and children's books who has written sixteen books to date. Her latest book Pegasus was published in 2010...

's Spindle's End
Spindle's End
Spindle's End is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty by author Robin McKinley, published in 2000.-Plot summary:In McKinley's version of the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, a wicked fairy named Pernicia appears on the princess' name-day and places a curse on the baby, claiming that the child will,...

, the wicked fairy is named Pernicia. Similar to the original fairy tale, Pernicia appears in the princess' name-day and places a curse on the baby, claiming that the child will, on her 21st birthday, prick her finger on a spindle and fall into deathly sleep. A powerful fairy named Ikor switches the identities of the princess, named Rosie, and her best friend Peony, to break Pernicia's spell when Rosie turns 21.

The witch also appears in Jetlag Productions

Jetlag Productions

Jetlag Productions was an American-Japanese animation studio that, just like the similar studio Golden Films, has created a number of animated films based on different, popular children's stories, while at the same time creating a few original productions...

' Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty (1995 film)
Originally released directly to video in 1995, Sleeping Beauty is a 48-minute animated film adapted from the classic fairy tale, "Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault...

, named Odelia in this version. Everyone in the kingdom thought Odelia was dead by the time of the christening of the princess, named Felicity, but the witch appears to give her gift to the child, the gift of death; one week after Felicity's sixteenth birthday, she is to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall dead,with the witch becoming fairest in the land, in a similar fashion to Snow White

Snow White

"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...

. Odelia disguises as an old spinning woman (somewhat a hag) like in the original fairy tale, and hands Felicity the spindle and she accidentally pricks her index finger. Throughout the hundred years, many princes and noble men try to break Odelia's spell, until Prince Richard and his faithful steed overcome the many obstacles to reach the sleeping Felicity and put an end to Odelia's curse and her own life.

Analysis

Some folklorists have analyzed Sleeping Beauty as indicating the replacement of the lunar year (with its thirteen months, symbolically depicted by the full thirteen fairies) by the solar year (which has twelve, symbolically the invited fairies). This, however, founders on the issue that only in the Grimms' tale is the witch the thirteenth fairy; in Perrault's, she is the eighth.