Belle-Belle ou Le Chevalier Fortuné

Did You Know?

• When translated into English, the tale was renamed The Story of Fortunio or Fortunio by Laura Valentine in The Old, Old Fairy Tales.
• James Planché adapted the tale to the stage as part of his Fairy Extravaganza, renaming it Fortunio, and His Seven Gifted Servants.

Plot summary

A king, driven from his capital by an emperor, demanded one soldier from every noble household or a heavy fine. An impoverished nobleman, too old to serve, had three daughters and no sons. His eldest daughter offered to go but was recognized as a girl by a shepherdess and returned home. The second daughter also failed when the same shepherdess called her a lovely girl. The youngest, Belle-Belle, helped the shepherdess, who was a fairy. The fairy gave Belle-Belle a magical horse and equipment, including a chest that could appear and disappear, and told her to call herself Fortuné. Fortuné sent gold and jewels home, but when her sisters touched them, the jewels became glass and the gold counterfeit. She joined the king, and on her horse's advice, recruited a woodcutter who felled many trees, a hunter who tied one foot, a man who bandaged his eyes, a man who heard everything, a man who blew hard enough to move windmills, a man who could drink a lake, and a man who ate enormous bread. She asked them to keep their abilities secret.

Motifs

This story type appears in older works by Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile, with more influence from Straparola. The woman disguised as a man is a common folk and fairy tale motif, seen in tales such as Vasilisa the Priest's Daughter and The Lute Player. The motif of talented servants is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 513 and appears in many tales, including How Six Made Their Way in the World and The Six Servants.