University of Virginia Library

Diverting Works, Volume IV (1707)

The Diverting Works collection includes the nine tales of Tomes I and II of Mme d'Aulnoy's Contes des fées (1697) and the eleven tales of the Chevalier de Mailly's Les Illustres fées, which had appeared anonymously in France in 1698.[8]

Mme d'Aulnoy:

• Graciosa and Percinet (Gracieuse et Percinet)
• The Fair One with Golden Locks (La Belle aux cheveux d'or)

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• The Blue-Bird (L'Oiseau bleu)
• The Hobgoblin Prince (Le Prince Lutin)
• Verenata (La Princesse Printanière)
• Rosetta (La Princesse Rosette)
• The Golden Bough (Le Rameau d'or)
• The Orange Tree and the Bee (L'Oranger et l'abeille)
• The Good Little Mouse (La Bonne petite souris)

Chev. de Mailly: (This section of the Diverting Works is subtitled "The Tales of the Fairies, or, the Illustrious Fairies.")

• The White Beauty (Blanche belle)
• The Royal Magician (Le Roy magicien)
• Prince Roger (Le Prince Roger)
• Fortunio (Fortunio)
• Guerini (Le Prince Guerini)
• The Queen of the Island of Flowers (La Reine de l'isle des fleurs)
• The Favorite of the Fairies (Le Favory des fées)
• The Well-Doer, or, Quiribini (Le Bien-faisant, ou Quiribini)
• The Princess Crown'd by the Fairies (La Princesse couronnée par les fées)
• The Baffl'd Stratagem (La Supercherie malheureuse)
• The Inaccessible Island (L'isle inaccessable)

That the eleven tales of de Mailly were not universally accepted as Mme d'Aulnoy's is made apparent in the 1716 History of the Tales of the Fairies, where "B. H." (the translator and author of the book's preface) maintains that there are several tales in existence "which go under the name of the Countess d'Anois's Tales, which indeed are spurious . . . ."[9] Indeed, de Mailly's stories clearly lack the gentle charm that colors Mme d'Aulnoy's tales and are quite a bit shorter.[10]