William Makepeace Thackeray 1 hr 50 min read

A fairy's careless gift of 'a little misfortune' to two royal infants sets in motion a comic tangle of usurped thrones, a magic rose and ring, and princes and princesses at cross-purposes.

William Makepeace Thackeray's 1855 fairy tale is a beloved comic classic for children. Witty, satirical, delightful. Read it for a sparkling burlesque of the fairy-tale form by a great Victorian novelist, Prince Giglio, Princess Rosalba, and a wickedly funny romp of magic, mistaken fortune, and royal folly.

In its time

Published in 1855, during the 1850s, fairy tale and moral fantasy for a mass reading public; the sensation novel stirs.

Reading it

1 hr 50 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).