The Wise Princess

One day, she ventured to a dark cave where she met a wise wizard who agreed to teach the princess everything he knew.

When the Princess asked them what made them happy, she was not satisfied with their answers, such as, “The sky is so blue, and the fields are so green”[1] and “plenty to eat, and a soft cushion to rest upon”.

Princess Fernanda continued on her walk and came upon a church where a wounded soldier smiled while laying in his coffin.

From her childhood, when she was described as “downright and determined,” to her adulthood, when she became known as a “talented woman”,[3] De Morgan represented a counterpoint to most Victorian stereotypes of femininity.

As Marilyn Pemberton notes, De Morgan was capable of introducing “serious social and political issue[s] into fairyland”, and her tales display a tendency to critique “faulty or unsustainable economies”.

[5] Pemberton and Fowler note that her tales critique unfair labour practices and the consumption of mass-produced goods.