The Fairies

Written by Charles Perrault

ebook, 2003

Genre: Children's fiction; fairy tale

Reading level: 4-8

1 page

The Fairies is a tale of a woman and her two daughters. The eldest daughter is very much like her mother, and both are disagreeable and mean. The younger daughter however is extremely beautiful and very kind, even though she is treated horribly by her mother and elder sister. One day the younger daughter was fulfilling her daily duty of going to a spring to draw water from it, and a fairy disguised as an old woman approached her and asked her to give her some water. Being sweet and kind the girl said of course and gave her some water. Seeing how kind the girl was she told her that with every word she now spoke out of her mouth would come a flower or precious stone. The girl thanked her and returned home and told the story to her mother as diamonds and flowers fell out of her mouth. The mother realizing what happened and wanting it for her eldest daughter sent her to do the same thing. The elder daughter reluctantly went to the spring and was approached by a fairy disguised as a princess. The elder daughter was mean to the princess and told her if she was thirsty to get her own water, the fairy told her she was very unkind and that with every word she spoke a snake or toad would come out of her mouth. When she spoke to her mother and the snakes and toads came out, her mother became furious and went to beat her younger daughter who hid in some bushes. A prince found her and fell in love with her and married her. The mother moved away and the elder daughter laid down in the forest and died.

I would recommend this book to any child who enjoys fairy tales.

I don't think any one would have a problem reading this tale to their child.

I really enjoyed this story. I'm pretty sure i've read about 20 different versions of it, and this is probably the original and i really liked it.

My rating: 5 out of 5

I also read: Cinderella, Little Tom Thumb, and Sleeping Beauty