SOURCE: Duggan, Anne E. “Nature and Culture in the Fairy Tale of Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy.” Marvels and Tales 15, no. 2 (2001): 149-67.

In the following essay, Duggan examines the tales “The Bee and the Orange Tree” and “Gracieuse et Percinet” to consider how d'Aulnoy employs cultural notions about women's nature.

Fairy tales of late-seventeenth-century France are replete with images of nature. Stories often take place in forests and idyllic gardens serving as the backdrop for the actions of animal-like characters, as well as princes and princesses momentarily metamorphosed into animals. At the same time, these tales put forth ideals of behavior that seem more appropriate for a court or city culture than for wild forests or the countryside. Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy's “L'oranger et l'abeille” (“The Bee and the Orange Tree”) is particularly striking in its representation of a savage nature that sharply contrasts with the civility of the tale's main protagonist, princess...