The Princess And The Hare and Other Princess Stories

The Princess And The Hare and Other Princess Stories

Compiled by Tig Thomas

40 pages

Published by Miles Kelly Publications Ltd (2013)

This book contains four lesser-known fairy tales that, nevertheless, still feature princesses who finally live happily ever after. They are The Princess and the Hare (a traditional German tale), Earl Mar’s Daughter (Joseph Jacobs), The Three Dogs, and The Sea-Hare (both by the Brothers Grimm).

The Princess and the Hare follows the story of Princess Letiko, who was taken away from her mother by the Sun because of a bargain the queen made with the Sun before Letiko was conceived. Letiko was always sad after the separation. Sympathetic, the Sun eventually decided to send Letiko back to the queen in the company of two hares.

Earl Mar’s Daughter tells the story of the said girl (who remained unnamed throughout the story), who secretly married the enchanted Prince Florentine. The Prince’s mother put a spell on him that he turned into a dove during the day and only became a man during the night (how convenient was that? 😏). The two were already married for seven years when Earl Mar decided to marry off his daughter to another man; Earl Mar never suspected anything of the dove living in his daughter’s chamber. Alarmed, Prince Florentine appealed for his mother’s help to rescue his wife from being married off to another man. Earl Mar’s daughter was flown away by flocks of various birds before the wedding was able to take place, and she lived happily ever after with Prince Florentine.

The Three Dogs is about a shepherd who traded his three sheep to get three special dogs: the first dog is able to bring its owner food, the second is able to kill anyone who tries to harm its owner, while the third dog is so powerful he can break iron with his teeth. The shepherd’s decision to get the three dogs was indeed an excellent idea; he did not only get an endless supply of food without having to work hard, but his other two dogs also killed a dragon for him and helped release him when he was unfairly imprisoned. And for his deed of killing the dragon, the shepherd was allowed to marry a princess and they lived happily ever after.

The Sea-Hare was unknown to me before: it tells the story of a proud princess who lived in a palace that had a tower with twelve magical windows that allowed her to observe everything that happened in her kingdom, and beyond. Nothing escaped her, as the twelfth and most powerful window allowed her to even see what happened under the earth. The princess did not want to share her kingdom and was determined not to marry – unless the man was able to hid himself where she could not see him. It was a challenge almost impossible to undertake, as her windows were so powerful that nothing escaped her. And men who dared take the challenge and failed will be imprisoned. So far, 99 men were already thrown into the dungeon. The princess was actually relieved that she will stay single and be free forever (she’s a RARE kind of fairy tale princess alright! 💪). Until she met a man who actually caught her eye for his handsomeness. The man was determined to take the princess’ challenge, and to win it. He dipped himself into a magical spring water which turned him into a sea-hare – a slug-like undersea creature. As a sea-hare, the man hid himself inside the princess’ hair braids, and she of course failed to spot him through her twelve powerful windows. The princess finally admitted defeat and she married the man – and luckily the feisty princess found her happily ever after with the man. As for the man, he never told his wife where he had hidden himself that made her magical windows failed to detect him!