The Green Serpent

The Green Serpent (a green dragon, known as "Serpentin Vert" in French), is a French fairy tale written by Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy and published in her book "New Tales, or Fairies in Fashion" ("Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fées à la Mode") written in 1698. The serpent is representative of a European dragon. His description is: "he has green wings, a many-coloured body, ivory jaws, fiery eyes, and long, bristling hair."

The Green Dragon is really a handsom king placed under a spell for seven years by Magotine a wicked fairy. In many ways the tale based on the story of Eros and Psyche, to which the narration pays conscious homage when referring to the "discovery" of the Green Dragon.

Plot

This story begins with a celebration feast for two twin princesses, who would later be named Laidronette and Bellotte. The King and Queen invite many fairies but forgot to invite Magotine, the older sister of Carabosse. Magotine was the oldest and most wicked fairy that existed. Magotine found out about the party, and was so furious for not being invited, that she placed a spell on one of the infant princesses, to become the ugliest woman in the world, Laidronette. The other fairies intercede and persuade her to stop before she casted a similar spell on Bellotte. Laidronette becomes immediately the ugliest female in the world.

Years pass by. Laidronette grows up intelligent but lonely. She asks to live in a tower so that she does not have to see anyone. However one day she roams outside, and the Green Serpent sees her and begins to take an interest in her. She is terrified of the Green Serpent at first site and flees from him, and accidentally gets swept out to sea. The Green Serpent appears swimming alongside her boat, but she refuses his help. She nearly dies in the ocean.

When Laidronette gains consciousness she finds she has been saved and taken to be the guest of an unknown king in a far away kingdom. The Green Serpent is really a handsome king placed under a 7-year spell by the same wicked fairy Magotine, however he is not showing himself to Laidronette anymore and Laidronette does not know who the king is or what he looks like, only that she is very well taken care of. Then the serpent starts talking to her at night, and is such a good companion over the years she falls in love with his conversation, sight unseen, and they get married.

The Green Serpent king convinces his wife to wait until the end of the 7-year period, to see what he looks like, or else his wicked enchantment in the form of a dragon will start all over again. Laidronette compares her own marriage with Eros and Psyche in Greek Mythology and tries to resist being "like Psyche" and to wait patiently for seven years before she can discover who her husband is. However, like Pysche, she is convinced by her family to take one look at her husband. When Laidronette discovers he is the same Green Serpent she once was so afraid of, war breaks out with Magotine, ruining the Serpent's kingdom. The Green Serpent is sent into Hades while Laidronette is taken to become Magotine's prisoner and servant. The serpent sends a good fairy to assist Laidronette in very difficult trials that Magotine thinks up. In one of Laidronette's errands as a servant, she finds the "waters of discernment" and when she drinks it, she becomes wiser, when she splashes it on her face, her ugliness vanishes and she regains her natural beauty.

The good fairy then sends Laidronette into an enchanted forest to hide for several years. Finally however when a period of time or imprisonment for the Green Serpent has come to an end, Laidronette returns to Magotine and Magotine tells her to go into Hades and get her the "water of life." The personification of "Love" comes to assist her in going down into Hades and speaking to Prosperina, reminding her that is where her husband is held captive. Once she goes into Hades, "Love" restores the dragon back to his original human form. After Laidronette and her husband are united in Hades, "Love" brings the couple back to Magotine, and forces Magotine to break her spells, and then sends the couple back to Laidronette's homeland. Love is said to be stronger than Magotine.

ource

* [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/aulnoy/1892/greenserpent.html The SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages - The Green Serpent] (a reprint from "The Fairy Tales of Madame D'Aulnoy" by Miss Annie Macdonell and Miss Lee, English translators. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892.)