Belle-Belle ou Le Chevalier Fortuné is a French literary fairy tale, written by Madame d'Aulnoy.
The first two fail to convincingly pass as men, but Belle-Belle the youngest daughter acquires magical help from a fairy shepherdess.
A king, driven from his capital by an emperor, was forming an army and demanded that one person from every noble household become a soldier or face a heavy fine.
The shepherdess, a fairy, told her that she had punished her sisters for their lack of helpfulness and stopped them from their mission.
At the horse's advice, she met a woodcutter who cut down an enormous number of trees, and took him into her service.
The queen managed to question Fortuné and learn that "he" was not in love, though he sang love songs after the custom of the land, but eventually grew so displeased with his refusal that when news of a dragon came, she told the king that Fortuné had begged leave to be dispatched against it.
At the horse's advice, he had the drinker drink a lake, the strong woodcutter fill it with wine and spices that would make the dragon thirsty, and had all the peasants hide in their houses.
Fortuné went with his men, and the emperor said he could have back the treasure only if one man could eat up all the fresh bread in the city.
The emperor's daughter suggested a race against her, and shared with the fleet-footed hunter the cordial she used, but it put him to sleep.
This story type is found in the older works of Costanza / Costanzo, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola, and The Three Crowns by Giambattista Basile.
[2] The woman disguised as a man is found in folk and fairy tales as well, such as Vasilisa the Priest's Daughter or The Lute Player.
The motif of talented servants is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 513, "How Six Made Their Way Into The World"[3] and is commonly found in folk and fairy tales, such as How Six Made Their Way in the World, The Six Servants, Long, Broad and Sharpsight, The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, How the Hermit Helped to Win the King's Daughter, The Clever Little Tailor and one of the stories in Baron Munchausen.
[5] The tale was one of many from d'Aulnoy's pen to be adapted to the stage by James Planché, as part of his Fairy Extravaganza.