The Enchanted Prince
The Enchanted Prince. According to a Latvian folk tale. Der verzauberte Prinz. Nach einer lettischen Volkssage Caroline Stahl, 1816 The title of this tale might lead you to expect that the main character is the enchanted prince; however, as soon as we begin to read, we find out that women, specifically three sisters, are at the heart of this story. Three sisters, one after another, are tempted into a magical forest where they discover an enchanted prince who cannot speak. What follows bears a resemblance to the tale of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, except it is the prince who needs to be rescued, and a young woman who becomes his saviour. Though many fairy tales feel didactic and moralising, I was delighted to see that this tale encourages young women to be brave rather than silently passive. In the early 1800s, technological developments were enabling women to enter the public literary sphere. This story, for example, was first published in a reputable transnational literary jo...
