Line #37 Literature/TheLostPrincess


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_lost_princess021.jpg]]
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3	''The Lost Princess: A Double Story'' (originally published under the title ''The Wise Woman: A Parable'') is a fairy tale novel written in 1875 by Creator/GeorgeMacDonald. The novel is notable for its [[ValuesResonance surprisingly progressive views on childrearing.]]
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5	The story concerns two little girls born on the same day under very different circumstances: Princess Rosamond is born in a palace to a king and queen, while Agnes is born in a croft in the countryside to a common shepherd and his wife. Both girls, however, are equally spoiled, Rosamond through overindulgence, Agnes by being overly praised.
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7	Both girls are stolen away by a mysterious Wise Woman, who takes them to live in her magical cottage hidden deep in the forest, where she teaches them the valuable lessons of discipline and self-restraint. One of them gets better. The other one is worse than even the Wise Woman could possibly imagine.
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9	Not to be confused with ''Literature/TheLostPrincessOfOz''.
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11	----
12	!!''The Lost Princess: A Double Story'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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14	* AnAesop: Children require patience and guidance to learn good behavior; bad children result from bad parenting.
15	* AllGirlsLikePonies: Rosamond is over the moon when she meets [[{{Pegasus}} a beautiful white pony with blue wings.]]
16	* AndCallHimGeorge: Rosamond loves pets but has no idea how to be gentle with them. When she's too rough and the pets fight back, she gets angry and abuses them.
17	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Lost in the woods, Rosamond bursts into tears when she thinks about her parents. It's the first time she's missed them ''because'' they're her parents, rather than because she's uncomfortable.
18	* BeingGoodSucks: At the shepherd's hut, Rosamond sincerely tries to behave herself, but since she's never been taught proper behavior, she keeps screwing up. Because she keeps screwing up, she gets easily frustrated. And because she's frustrated, her behavior's even worse.
19	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: As Rosamond becomes a better person, she grows more physically beautiful. By the time she makes her way home, her parents don't recognize her anymore.
20	* BigEater: Rosamond's greed also manifests as an enormous appetite.
21	* BiggerOnTheInside: Rosamond finds a enormous marble gallery filled with magical paintings inside the Wise Woman's tiny cottage; the Wise Woman implies there are many such hidden rooms in her home.
22	* BreakTheHaughty: In both cases, the girls have to be broken with discipline before they can realize how bad they truly are. It works with Rosamond, but Agnes turns out to be too haughty to break.
23	* CoolOldLady: The Wise Woman. She's a mature, magical lady of infinite patience and kindness, but she's also stern, no-nonsense, and sort of terrifying. At one point she takes on an entire pack of hungry wolves with her bare hands, picking them up and throwing them aside as she walks back toward her cottage.
24	* CorporalPunishment: Averted. Despite the time it was published and the themes of discipline, the Wise Woman never lays a finger on Rosamond or Agnes and nowhere in the text is it suggested that this might help. At the very worst, Rosamond is DeniedFoodAsPunishment, and even that is presented as less "punishment" than a consequence: if you don't put in the work required to gather and prepare food, there'll be nothing to eat when you're hungry.
25	* DeniedFoodAsPunishment:
26	** The magical hole in the wall refuses to produce food until Rosamond does all the chores the Wise Woman set for her. (Earlier in the chapter, it refused to produce food when she was eating out of boredom rather than true hunger.)
27	** Likewise the shepherdess won't give Rosamond any breakfast until she does her morning chores. Having learned this lesson earlier from the hole in the wall allows Rosamond to obey the shepherdess without too much objection, proving that she's begun to change.
28	* EtherealWhiteDress: What the Wise Woman hides under her dull cloak.
29	* EvilDetectingDog: Prince, who seems to sense whenever Rosamond has mischief in mind.
30	* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Outwardly, Agnes is an ordinary, obedient little girl who initially seems preferable to Rosamond, since Agnes doesn't share Rosamond's overt laziness or tendency for tantrums. Inwardly, she's so corrupted by her own egotism that even the Wise Woman's magic is unable to change her.
31	* HeelFaceTurn: Rosamond finally understands she's terribly naughty and begs the Wise Woman to help her.
32	* TheKindnapper: The Wise Woman kidnaps both Rosamond and Agnes in order to make them better people.
33	* LemonyNarrator: [=MacDonald=] occasionally pauses to address some rather pointy observations toward the audience, such as when he describes a certain sort of moral busybody who always knows exactly what's best for other people while making excuses for their own behavior. He then adds, "And such [people] never seem to know themselves--[[TakeThatAudience not even when reading about themselves in print.]]"
34	* MagicMirror: The Wise Woman possesses a mirror that shows one their innermost self.
35	* MeaningfulName: The book helpfully explains that Rosamond's name means "The Rose of the World," reflecting what her parents think of her and how they treat her. Ironically, this high regard is what causes Rosamond to believe she really ''is'' the most important person in the world, leading her to become a SpoiledBrat.
36	* TheMirrorShowsYourTrueSelf: The Wise Woman's magic mirror reveals that Rosamond's true self is a dirty, ugly piglet. Agnes's true self is a grotesque, smug worm.
37	* MagicalNanny: The Wise Woman is...sort of this. Except that Literature/MaryPoppins never straight-up kidnapped anyone.
38	* MoralityChain: The dog Prince becomes this for Rosamond. At first she obeys him because she's afraid of him; then she obeys him because she grows to love him and wants to please him.
39	* PortalPicture: Both Rosamond and Agnes travel through magical paintings to find themselves at the other girl's home.
40	* {{Pride}}: Agnes's downfall.
41	* ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: Because Agnes's parents made her the rotten person she is, their punishment is getting her back.
42	* Really700YearsOld: The Wise Woman's age is said to be "the old age of eternal youth": she's so old, she's grown young again.
43	* RoyalBrat: No one in the palace staff sheds a single tear when Rosamond vanishes. Even her parents admit that life's a little easier when she's not there.
44	* SavageWolves: The Wise Woman's cottage is surrounded by a dark forest filled with these.
45	* SpoiledBrat: Both Agnes and Rosamond are different versions of this. Rosamond's a Spoiled Brat Classic, with her temper tantrums, laziness, and greed. Agnes, on the other hand, is outwardly obedient, but morally reprehensible.
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Context Literature / TheLostPrincess