Grimaçon

Grimaçon by Violet Jacob (1904)

Violet Jacob's "Grimaçon" is a fairy tale about Princess Moonflower, so named for her golden hair, two and a half yards long and radiant as moonlight, which is so heavy that she requires a devoted French dwarf named Grimaçon to carry it wherever she goes. Orphaned young, Moonflower is set to inherit her kingdom at seventeen, but her scheming aunt, who governs as regent, cannot bear to relinquish power. The aunt conspires with the wicked, squint-eyed Prince Blackwig, who offers to poison the princess in exchange for her hand in marriage and a fee of ducats. When Moonflower refuses the match, her aunt threatens her life, forcing the princess and Grimaçon to flee into a forest. There, Moonflower unknowingly earns two magical favors: helping a disguised fairy (appearing as a crooked old woman) earns her an enchanted leaf that grows into a boat when touched with the third finger of the left hand, and clearing a blocked stream earns her the promise of aid from the Fairy of Rivers and Streams, invoked with a rhyming charm — though the stream warns not to be summoned except in direst need. Soon after, Blackwig captures the pair while hunting and imprisons them in a dungeon. Moonflower prematurely invokes the stream's help; the resulting flood nearly drowns them until the enchanted leaf saves them, carrying them out through the dungeon window and down the river for seven days into a distant land. Washing ashore, they are discovered by a woodcutter serving the King of the Crystal Mountains. The King and his mother bring Moonflower and Grimaçon to court, where Moonflower becomes a maid-of-honor and the King falls in love with her, favoring her at every ball and hunt. The other maids-of-honor, jealous, poison the Queen Mother's opinion of Moonflower, accusing her of scheming to steal the King's affections. In a furious confrontation, the Queen Mother berates Moonflower, who, in despair, again invokes the stream's aid — this time wishing harm on the Queen. A flood bursts into the palace, sweeping Moonflower away through a network of waterways into a cavern beneath the Crystal Mountains, and she loses the enchanted leaf in the chaos. Emerging in a desolate marsh, Moonflower is taken captive by a monstrous crocodile-obsessed Enchanter, who forces her into servitude in his mud palace, feeding her only dried frogs and threatening to transform her into a crocodile like his other victims. Meanwhile, Grimaçon finds the dropped enchanted leaf in the flooded palace and deduces what happened to Moonflower. He confides the story (withholding her royal identity, as sworn) to the King, who resolves to search for her with him. Using the enchanted leaf as a boat, the two follow the stream through the same cavern into the marsh, arriving at the Enchanter's palace. The King slays the crocodile guarding the threshold, which instantly reverts to a young man — one of the Enchanter's many transformed victims. When the Enchanter himself attacks, Grimaçon shatters his magic wand, and the King kills him in single combat. This breaks the enchantment over more than a thousand crocodiles, restoring them to their true forms as youths and maidens. The marsh itself transforms into a paradise of golden palms, emerald leaves, and crystal streams. The King asks Moonflower to marry him, and she agrees, conditional on their safe return to his kingdom. Guided by the glowing enchanted leaf, the group ascends a crystal staircase out of the cavern. At the top, two fairies arrive in magnificent chariots: the Fairy of Rivers and Streams, who reveals she has watched over Moonflower since the forest kindness, and the Fairy of the Green Woods, who reveals she was the disguised old woman who gave Moonflower the leaf. Both bless the marriage. The King and Moonflower wed amid twenty days of celebration, after which the King wages war on Moonflower's usurping aunt, reclaims her kingdom, and kills Blackwig himself. The story closes with two contrasting fates: the King's proud, cruel mother dies in a chariot accident on her son's wedding day, still muttering vengeance; and the loyal dwarf Grimaçon is rewarded by being made Prime Minister, living out his life honored and beloved, visited daily by the King and Queen in a palace built especially for him beside their own. The tale follows the conventions of literary fairy tales in the tradition of Madame d'Aulnoy — ornate description, a persecuted heroine, magical helpers bound by rules that must be respected, and a loyal, resourceful companion whose fidelity is ultimately rewarded as richly as the royal marriage itself. Grimaçon, despite being a secondary character in the title's shadow of Moonflower's beauty and suffering, functions as the story's true engine of competence and loyalty — his talents (established in the opening as dancing, cooking, mimicry, and worldly sophistication) prove less important than his steadfastness, and the narrative rewards that loyalty with an ending as significant as the heroine's marriage.

By Violet Jacob · First published 1904 · Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Adventure · 9,615 words

First lines

Once upon a time there lived in a very large and important kingdom a Princess called Moonflower; she was thus named on account of her golden hair, which was two yards and a half in length and shone like the moon. The weight of this marvellous adornment was so very great that she was obliged to have a dwarf, who followed her wherever she went, and who carried it as though it had been the train of her gown. The dwarf, who was French, was called Grimacon; he was so clever that there was hardly an accomplishment suitable to his position in which he was not perfect. He could dance in a manner which caused those who beheld him to insist upon the performance being repeated again and again; he could cook the most delicate ragoûts and pasties; he could make such unrivalled grimaces that all who saw them were transfixed-in short, he was everything that a dwarf should be. He had lived in all the most celebrated capitals in Europe, and was acquainted with the manners and customs of every country, and, while at Berlin, had learnt to play the German bagpipe in the most accomplished manner.

Genres

Tags

French literature · Brittany · regional fiction · rural life · village society · Breton culture · early twentieth century · literary fiction · social observation · country life · provincial life · tradition

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Grimaçon is listed on Textopian as a short story by Violet Jacob, dated 1904 CE.

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