The Rose and the Ring

In the kingdoms of Paflagonia and Crim Tartary, a magic rose and a magic ring make whoever owns them seem beautiful and lovable to everyone, whatever they are really like. The objects pass from hand to hand among a cast of comic royals: the greedy usurping King Valoroso, his vain daughter Angelica, the lazy Prince Bulbo, the true heir Prince Giglio, who must learn to be good, and Betsinda, a little servant girl who turns out to be a lost princess, all watched over by the Fairy Blackstick, who gives the gift of 'a little misfortune'.

William Makepeace Thackeray wrote this comic fairy tale for children in 1854, with his own illustrations, as a gentle parody of pantomime and royal pomp. Read Thackeray's Vanity Fair.