Carabosse as envisaged by Leon Bakst

The wicked fairy godmother, a figure rare in fairy tales, is nevertheless among best-known figures from such tales, because of her appearance in one of the most widely known tales, Sleeping Beauty, and in the ballet derived from it. Anonymous in her first appearance, she was later named, in some variants, Carabosse, and in others Maleficent. Leon Bakst (1866-1942) was a Russian painter and scene- and costume- designer. ... In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy or person with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone. ... A fairy tale is a story, either told to children or as if told to children, concerning the adventures of mythical characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others. ... Sir Edward Burne-Jones painted The Sleeping Beauty. ... Painting of ballet dancers by Edgar Degas, 1872. ... Maleficent is a fictional character, the wicked dark fairy who appears in Walt Disneys 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. ...

Origins

The oldest version of Sleeping Beauty that has been preserved is Sun, Moon, and Talia from Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone^[1]. This version does not feature any fairy godmothers; Talia's fate is prophecied, but is not caused by evil magic. Giambattista Basile (1566 or 1575–February 23, 1632) was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector. ...

Charles Perrault added the wicked fairy to his variant the story of Sleeping Beauty, "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" ("La Belle au bois dormant"), dating from 1697,^[2]; he did not give her a name. The Brothers Grimm included a version, "Briar Rose"^[3], in their collected tales; their version included the wicked fairy godmother and her namelessness; the only difference relating to the wicked fairy is 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. Charles Perrault, 1665 Charles Perrault (January 12, 1628 – May 16, 1703) was a French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty), Le Chat bott... Events September 11 - Battle of Zenta, Prince Eugene of Savoy crushed Ottoman army of Mustafa II September 20 - The Treaty of Ryswick December 2 – St Pauls Cathedral opened in London Peter the Great travels in Europe officially incognito as artilleryman Pjotr Mikhailov Use of palanquins increases in Europe Christopher... Wilhelm (left) and Jacob Grimm (right) from an 1855 painting by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann The Brothers Grimm were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German professors who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales,[1] and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in...

The figure of the wicked fairy godmother appeared before Perrault's tale. The first known appearance was in the chanson de geste 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. ^[4] Madame d'Aulnoy had them appear in her fairy tales The Hind in the Wood^[5] and The Princess Mayblossom ^[6]; 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's ballet of Sleeping Beauty. The chansons de geste, Old French for songs of heroic deeds, are the epic poetry that appears at the dawn of French literature. ... Huon of Bordeaux is the title character of a 13th century French romance (chanson de geste). ... Oberon, also Auberon, King of the Fairies, is most well-known as a character in William Shakespeares play, A Midsummer Nights Dream, written in the mid-1590s. ... Marie-Catherine le Jumelle de Barneville, Baronne dAulnoy (1650/1651–4 January 1705) was a French writer known for her fairy tales. ... The Princess Mayblossom is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame dAulnoy. ... Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильич Чайкoвский, Pëtr Il’ič ÄŒajkovskij;  )[1] (7 May [O.S. 25 April] 1840 – 6 November [O.S. 25 October] 1893), was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. ... Sleeping Beauty (Op. ...

Role in the tale

In Sleeping Beauty, Carabosse 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."^[7] A good fairy mitigates the curse it 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, 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.^[8] The theme of weaving in mythology is ancient, and its lost mythic lore probably accompanied the early spread of this mysterious art. ... Bodkin point arrows were invented in the Middle Ages, as an improvement of the earlier broadhead arrow. ...

In modern media

Ballet

In Tchaikovsky's ballet of Sleeping Beauty, Carabosse was portrayed as frightening figure entering to her own 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, employing the original choreography by Marius Petipa as it was painstakingly recalled by several of its dancers, all now emigrés. Carabosse's costumes were designed by Leon Bakst; her medieval-inspired costume gave her the silhouette of a rat.^[9] Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильич Чайкoвский, Pëtr Il’ič ÄŒajkovskij;  )[1] (7 May [O.S. 25 April] 1840 – 6 November [O.S. 25 October] 1893), was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. ... Sleeping Beauty (Op. ... Portrait of Sergei Diaghilev by Valentin Serov (1904) Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (Russian: / Sergei Pavlovich Dyagilev), also referred to as Serge, (March 31, 1872 – August 19, 1929) was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise. ... Marius Petipa, Circa 1890 Marius Petipa (11 March 1818 – 14 July 1910) - Unrivaled ballet master of the Tsars Imperial Ballet of St. ... Leon Bakst (1866-1942) was a Russian painter and scene- and costume- designer. ... A silhouette is a view of an object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior. ...

Revisionist

The common knowledge of the wicked fairy godmother has made the figure an obvious target for revisionist fairy tales. The wicked fairy godmother is widely spoofed and parodied. In Andrew Lang's Prince Prigio, 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 George MacDonald's Little Daylight, the evil swamp-fairy, 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 Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, a princess lamented that she wasn't cursed at her christening; when another character points out that many princess aren't (even in the fairy tale setting they live in), she says that that is not true when the wicked fairy comes to the christening, and the fairy had come, her family had appeased her, and now the princess has no way to assume her proper, fairy tale role. Revisionism is a word which has several meanings. ... For the former National Basketball Association player, see Andrew Lang (basketball). ... Prince Prigio is a literary, and comic, fairy tale written by Andrew Lang and illustrated by Gordon Browne. ... George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. ... 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. ... Pat Wrede Patricia Collins Wrede (pronounced REED-ee) is an American fantasy writer, born 1953 in Chicago, Illinois; she is the eldest of five children. ... The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a series of four books by Patricia C. Wrede entitled Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons. ...

Disney

In the Disney animated version of Sleeping Beauty the character of Carabosse is personified in Maleficent, a dark sinister being who is the "Mistress of all Evil". She lays a curse on the princess (called Aurora here) and the faeries 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 evil faerie in disguise. When she learns that Prince Phillip is in love with the princess, she captures him so he will be ancient 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 European dragon to do battle with the hero, Prince Phillip who defeats the evil villainess with his Sword of Truth and casts her into a fiery pit before rescuing the princess. Sir Edward Burne-Jones painted The Sleeping Beauty. ... In religion and ethics, Irish evil refers to the morally objectionable aspects of the behaviour and reasoning of human beings — those which are deliberately void of conscience, and show a wanton penchant for destruction. ... Look up Aurora, aurora in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

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 wicked fairy the thirteenth fairy; in Perrault's, she is the eighth.^[10]

The legend of a bad fairy spinning coupled with the advent of death can also be found in the Slavic myths of Kikimora.^{[citation needed]} Kikimora or Shishimora is a usually female spirit in Slavic mythology. ...

The character of Carabosse was probably inspired by Eris the Goddess of Chaos in the Iliad.^{[citation needed]} Eris (ca. ... It has been suggested that Deception of Zeus be merged into this article or section. ...

References