Diamonds and Toads

Now imagine that just came out of your mouth.

Hello, reader. This week's story comes to us from France. Diamonds and Toads is a story about two sisters and a fairy. Also, spoilers, one of the sisters marries a prince.

It's interesting what this story does with appearances, or, what it almost does. We have the beautiful younger daughter whose words literally become pearls and the older daughter whose harsh words become vermin. I would like the parallel better if the younger sister weren't already pretty and the older sister already ugly, or at least not beautiful. With the fairy's spell, she's letting what they're like on the inside come out. But we could already tell that just by looking at them. I know the good, younger daughter almost has to be beautiful, but still...

The sisters aside, what happened to their father? We know he was sweet and kind, because the younger daughter had that in common with him, but that's all we know about him. Why did he marry such a mean woman? What happened to him? Did he die or is he just conveniently on a journey for this whole story? I would assume he wouldn't let his wife turn either of their daughters out of the house if he were there. Maybe it's just the dramatist in me, but since we know nothing about him, I assume he died. It makes the story simpler, anyway.

I have another question. Wouldn't the younger daughter cause the price for these precious gems to plummet because they were now super plentiful? Gems are so expensive partially because they're so rare and difficult to get. Now the princess makes gems and flowers every time she talks. You do the math on how quickly her fortune would be worth nothing. Maybe she mostly drops semi-precious stones with only a few diamonds here and there, but that would still make them worth very little after awhile. For the good of the kingdom, they'd have to hide away most of the gems she spat out and never let on they existed. This prince brought a troubling bride home.

While we're on the subject, it's also interesting that the youngest daughter would marry the prince right away. I have to assume she didn't realize how much power she could have with the gem mine in her mouth. She was alone in the world, which was a terrible state for a woman to be in at that time, but she could have built up her own fortune and security. Instead, she chose to marry a prince she barely knew. I suppose I'm also assuming that he gave her a choice in marrying him. What peasant girl would say no to that? Troubling.

The moral of this story is to think through your actions before you make them because that could have saved both sisters a lot of grief. Alternatively, if you're suddenly spitting something strange out of your mouth, make sure you can profit off of it.