The Ram

Title: The Ram

Sources:
D'Aulnoy, Marie Catherine Baronne. The Fairy Tales of Madame D'Aulnoy. Miss Annie Macdonell and Miss Lee, translators. Clinton Peters, illustrator. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892.

Summary: The youngest of three princess was the most beautiful and loved. Her name was Merveilleuse. Her father, the king, had to go off to war. When he returned victorious, he sat down to dinner with them and asked them why they chose the dresses they were wearing. The older daughters both said the colors of their dresses symbolized joy. Merveilleuse said she chose her dress she looked best in white. He called her vain, but she said she thought that would please her father and he forgave her and admired her wit. Then he asked about their dreams while he was gone. The older sisters told him that they dreamt he brought them gifts. Merveilleuse said that she had a dream that on the day of her second sister's wedding, her father held out a golden ewer for her to wash her hands in. He was very annoyed at this, because he thought she wanted him to be her servant. He was so angered by this he sent for his captain and told him to take Merveilleuse and kill her and return her heart and tongue to him. 
The captain tricks Merveilleuse into following him into the forest, accompanied by her servant, her monkey, and her dog. When the time comes, he cannot kill her. Instead, he confesses what he was ordered to do. The servant, monkey, and dog all offered up their lives so that the king would not know Merveilleuse was still alive. They fought over who should die, but as each loyal companion killed themselves, it was discovered that the king would not be fooled by any of them. The princess was heartbroken to lose three that she loved. She buried them and walked sad and alone through the forest until she heard a sheep. 
When she discovers the source of the noise, she is surprised to see a great ram with jewels and fine foods all around, almost as if it were holding court. He listened to her troubles. After trying to take care of her in his kingdom of sheep, the ram sees that she is afraid and tells her his story. He was once a prince, but a fairy turned him into a ram when he wouldn't love her. All the other animals there were also this fairy's victims. When she cried over her servants some more, one of the ram's servants brought their ghosts to his magical land where they could all live together. 
One day she heard that her oldest sister was getting married. She attended the wedding, but was not recognized. Then she heard her second sister was going to be married. The ram was worried about letting her go, but he did. When she arrived, the king was so captured by her beauty that he locked her in the room with him and brought her a ewer to wash in. This caused her to reveal who she was and the king realized that nothing bad had happened. The family celebrated their reunion, but this meant she was delayed in returning to the ram. Worried about his love, he went to the town but was turned away because the people guarding the gates did not want Merveilleuse to leave again. Overcome by sadness, the ram died. Merveilleuse's father took her on a carriage ride, but on her way out of the palace she saw her beloved dead on the pavement. She was heartbroken. 

Cultural Origins: Also known as The Wonderful Sheep. France, 1892.

Audience: This is an interesting story. I would say that any teenager could relate to the princess in this story, because the parent here clearly overreacted. I think this would be an interesting story to work on with teenagers in a high school. 

Adaptation Ideas: I was really sad when all of the princess's servants died. If I were going to tell this story to a large and varied group, I might cut that part out for time and so I can focus on details that I find more enjoyable about the story.