The story is, according to the author’s inscription, “one of the many variants of the Cinderella story; readers will recognize it as being similar to the English ‘Catskin’ and to the Grimms’ ‘Many Furs’ or ‘Thousand Furs.
The title princess (who is actually nameless) grows up without a mother but with a serious indifferent father. Her only comfort is her nanny, who teaches her writing, reading, dancing, and cooking; a standard gamut of royal tutorage except for the cooking. But when her nanny dies, her father decides to marry her off to an ogre for the price of fifty wagons of silver (at least we know the going rate for daughters in this situation). Crazily not wanting to marry a literal ogre, the princess acquiesces to the marriage dependent on four things; her father being able to deliver a dress “as golden as the sun,” a dress “silvery as the moon,” and a dress “as glittering as the stars”, and a coat made from a thousand types of fur. Amazingly (and unfortunately), her father is able to deliver upon all of this, and the wedding becomes imminent. Seeing no other option, the princess runs away, taking her dresses and her coat, as well as the small golden ring, thimble and spinning wheel her mother left her, all encased in walnut shells (and Nymphadora Tonks envied her mother’s packing ability). Found in the woods by a hunting party, she’s taken to work in a palace’s kitchen in a kingdom far away. Anonymity is her goal, until the prince decides to hold a ball to find himself a bride. It would be a crime to let those dresses go to waste after all….
It’s the art again; it’s always the art. I love the story; I love how it’s a different take on Cinderella, I love that the princess takes her fate into her own hands time and time again, but the art is what has made this a favorite since my childhood.
(Do I want a coat made out of a thousand types of fur? No. Do I want that coat in a faux fur version? Heck yes. Look at it; I bet it has epic pockets.)
I love how the princess has the wildest blonde hair I’ve ever seen in a fairy tale book. I love how the prince is an indeterminable age; could be in his teens, could be in his twenties; heck, could even be in his thirties. I love the dresses; I don’t really wear dresses and I would wear the dresses.
There are countless retellings of Cinderella out there, and some of them are better than others; this is one of the best.