The Story of Prince Fairyfoot

Name: The Story of Prince Fairyfoot
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett

Prince Fairyfoot is a Frances Hodgson Burnett fairy tale set in Stumpinghame, a kingdom where enormous feet are the mark of beauty and noble birth. When a royal prince is born with small, delicate feet, the King and Queen are humiliated; the court goes into mourning, and the baby is sent away to live with a swineherd deep in a great forest, with money and clothes provided yearly for his upkeep. The swineherd's wife strips the infant of his royal clothes for her own children and raises him roughly. Named Fairyfoot in contempt by the courtiers, the boy grows up lonely, beaten whenever the swine he tends wander off, but finds companionship in the forest's trees, birds, and a brook, which he treats gently and imagines as friends. One day his swine vanish while he daydreams, and his search leads him deep into unfamiliar forest. He rescues a small brown bird from a hawk, and the bird transforms into Robin Goodfellow, a fairy who explains he was turned into a robin by his ill-tempered great-aunt's grandmother and can only be restored by a kind rescuer. Robin gives Fairyfoot a golden whistle that summons the swine instantly, ensuring he'll never be beaten again. Robin also invites Fairyfoot to a midnight fairy party, and that night the boy attends, meeting fairy folk including Gauzita, whom Robin once courted before his transformation. Gauzita treats Robin's reunion attempt with cool indifference, having enjoyed herself thoroughly in his absence, which offends him deeply. Fairyfoot is shrunk by a magic potion to fairy size for the dance and returned to normal size before dawn. All summer he attends these nightly fairy revels, becoming close friends with the fairies, and Gauzita gives him a parting ring when the fairies depart for the winter. Lonely again, Fairyfoot wanders the forest and discovers an enchanted pool surrounded by roses. Drinking from it grants him the ability to understand birds. Two nightingales reveal that the King of Stumpinghame's son (Fairyfoot himself) is known to them, and describe another pool, ringed with red-berried bushes, where the Princess Goldenhair once bathed her feet after a hunting mishap, causing them to swell enormously and leaving her miserable; bathing three times in the nightingales' own pool, the birds say, would shrink and beautify her feet again, but the birds keep this secret to protect their home from crowds. Fairyfoot resolves to help the Princess. Using Gauzita's ring, which transports him magically, he travels to her kingdom and finds her sorrowful in her palace garden. He tells her his own story and what the nightingales revealed. She takes him to her father the King, and a small party travels to the nightingales' pool, where her feet are restored to smallness and beauty; incidentally, the ugly Lord High Chamberlain washes his face there and becomes handsome, prompting an instant engagement to a Maid of Honour. Grateful and enamored of each other, Fairyfoot and the Princess grow close. Before settling with her, Fairyfoot visits Stumpinghame, first bathing his feet in the red-berry pool so they become enormous, delighting his parents, who now embrace him with pride. Yet he prefers his natural small feet, and returns to the nightingales' pool to shrink them again before rejoining the Princess Goldenhair. They marry when old enough, live happily, and each summer dance with the fairies in the forest moonlight. When visiting Stumpinghame, they enlarge their feet at the red-berry pool and shrink them again afterward at the nightingales' fountain. They remain friends with Robin Goodfellow, who continues grumbling about Gauzita and threatening to marry another fairy to spite her—but never does.

By Frances Hodgson Burnett · First published 1889 · Genre: Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fairy Tale · 3 chapters · 10,842 words

First lines

Once upon a time, in the days of the fairies, there was in the far west country a kingdom which was called by the name of Stumpinghame. It was a rather curious country in several ways. In the first place, the people who lived there thought that Stumpinghame was all the world; they thought there was no world at all outside Stumpinghame. And they thought that the people of Stumpinghame knew everything that could possibly be known, and that what they did not know was of no consequence at all.

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The Story of Prince Fairyfoot is listed on Textopian as a short story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, dated 1889 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Date: 1889 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fairy Tale, Adventure, Allegory
Length: 10,842 words
Structure: 3 chapters, 189 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Similar titles

Genres

Fantasy — The story features magical elements, including fairies and enchanted creatures, central to the plot.
Children's Literature — The narrative is aimed at a young audience, with themes of innocence, adventure, and moral lessons.
Fairy Tale — The structure and themes align with traditional fairy tales, including a royal character and magical transformations.
Adventure — The protagonist embarks on a journey filled with challenges and encounters with magical beings.