The White Doe

[5] French illustrator Edmund Dulac included another version in his book Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations, entitled, The Hind of the Wood.

The crayfish would not be placated by the excuses of the fairies for the slight, warned them that the princess was in danger but did not explain the curse, should sunlight touch Desiree in the first fifteen years of her life.

When the king, his father, learned this, the prince persuaded him to break a betrothal with the Black Princess and send an ambassador to Desirée.

Hearing that the prince was dying for love of her, Desirée proposed that she travel by closed carriage, and open it for food only at night.

When this was put into effect, the mother of a jealous lady-in-waiting, persuaded by her daughter, cut open the coach and let light on the princess.

The fairy Tulip led the faithful lady-in-waiting to the doe and after witnessing their reunion, appeared.

The day after, the doe avoided where he had shot, and the prince hunted long for her, until he, exhausted, slept.

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.

[7][8][9] The tale was retitled as The Prince of Happy Land, or, The Fawn in the Forest when he translated it to the stage.