Collected Item: ““Donkey Skin.” The Grey Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900, pp. 1-16.”
Full bibliographic citation (MLA)
“Donkey Skin.” The Grey Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900, pp. 1-16.
Title of the complete book/anthology (not a single chapter/fairy tale)
The Grey Fairy Book
The name of the author or editor of the complete book/anthology (leave blank if none are listed)
Andrew Lang
Illustrator(s) of the book/anthology (leave blank if none are listed)
H.J Ford
City where the book/anthology was published
91 and 93 fifth avenue, New York London and Bombay
The country where the book/anthology was published (use United States for US publications)
US
The publisher of the book/anthology (as written on the title page)
Longmans, Green, and CO.
Date of publication (or date range from the library catalog, if no dates are listed in the book)
1905
The decade the book was published (use the drop down menu)
1900-1909
The fairy tale type (use the drop down menu)
Persecuted Maidens
What is special about this version of the tale?
The maiden wears the skin of a magical ass/ donkey to hide herself amidst the public of the kingdom. This is unique because instead of her hiding in a dresser or being shipped away to another land, she is instead hiding under a second skin to make herself unrecognizable.
A brief summary of the plot that highlights any unique variations
The King has a donkey that at night pours gold out of its ears. Once the Queen dies she says that the king should remarry a woman more beautiful than her. The King wants to marry his adopted daughter, but she doesn’t want to. So she runs away to consult her fairy godmother. The fairy godmother said that the daughter must ask for a dress that is the color of the sky. The king gets it done. She goes back to the fairy godmother. The fairy godmother said that the daughter must ask for a dress of moonbeams. The King gets it done. She goes back to the fairy godmother. The fairy godmother said that the daughter must ask for a dress of sunshine. The King gets it done. She goes back to the fairy godmother. The fairy godmother said that the daughter must ask for the skin of the donkey that pours gold out of its ears. He does it in an instant and lays it at her feet. Quickly she leaves the castle in the skin of the ass. The castle soon realizes and sends out search parties, she is at a nearby farm. It is a royal farm, she is renamed as donkey skin and works there now. While she was dressing up for a holiday, the king’s son stopped by and took a peek through the keyhole to see a gorgeous girl. The king’s son leaves and sleeps with a vision of the girl(the princess) and awakes up with a fever. The king’s son requests a cake made by the donkey skin girl to cure his fever. She makes the cake, and a ring from her hand falls into the cake. The prince eats the cake and secretly finds the ring and tells no-one about it. The prince wishes to marry the woman who’s finger fits the ring. They find her at the farm and her hand fits the ring, magically the donkey skin falls off. They live happily ever after.
The original source of the fairy tale, if easily identifiable (Straparola, Basile, de Beaumont, Perrault, Grimm, etc.)
Basile’s “The She-Bear
A link to a digital copy of the book
https://archive.org/details/greyfairybook00lang/page/2/mode/2up
Your full name (this entry will not appear on the public site)
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