Histoire du Prince Pipo, de Pipo le cheval et de la princesse Popi ("Story of Prince Pipo, Pipo the Horse and Princess Popi") or Histoire du Prince Pipo for short, is a 1976 French fairy tale adventure book by Pierre Gripari, more famous for having written Contes de la rue Broca.
The story is about the titular Prince Pipo, how he was born, how he got his horse (also called Pipo) and how he is forced into an adventure after his parents and kingdom disappear, forced to wander the land at the mercy of forces of evil and mysterious magic.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Pipo finds himself no longer at his palace with his royal parents, but a dirty broken-down farm with a bitter old farmer couple. They are cold, guilt-tripping and force Pipo to work for them.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Whoever kills the dragon turns into the dragon. This happens to Pipo and the dragon turns out to be a human man who was victim to the curse, and he describes it to him after he is freed. Pipo does so again later.
- Bittersweet Ending: Pipo is finally home, has met and married Princess Popi... but his parents are gone and will never be back. He is now an adult, the king and has to handle a new responsible life.
- Cool Horse: Pipo's horse Pipo, who is red, sturdy and can talk - though only a few times.
- Dragons Are Demonic: A fearsome and threatening dragon attacks whoever approaches him inside his lair, and even armies are powerless and terrorized by his mere presence.
- False Friend: After leaving the Inn of Lost Children, Pipo meets a manipulative young man who sweet-talks him into following him into the wrong path, pretending to be his friend and only wishing the best of him.
- Only Smart People May Pass: Pipo is trapped in an inn, forced to sit down at a table due to an enchanted knife planted in the wood. The innskeeper says that he can leave only if he can tell her a story that she finds beautiful and that she hasn't heard before.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted as Prince Pipo's horse is also called Pipo. This is even in the title.
- The Promise: The King goes to the Land-That-Only-Sleepers-Reach and sees dozens of babies before they are born, about to be chosen by their future possible father. Pipo is the most popular baby-to-be as he is destined to be smart, brave, kind and glorious. Pipo rejects all dad candidates. The King promises Pipo that he'll give him a red horse when he grows up. Pipo accepts him as his future father, but grows weak and sickly as a teenager because the promise hasn't been fulfilled yet. So, the King hurridly brings him a red horse who was just born.
- Rule of Three: Pipo has three chances to tell the innskeeper a story that she likes or that she hasn't heard before.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Pipo tries killing a witch using an axe... and this makes pop into two smaller witches. He tries killing them, but they just keep reducing into smaller, multiple witches. And each time, they giggle, bounce, asking to be hit even more.
