Line #16 Literature/Melisande


1	[[quoteright:342:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/melisande_cover_342x475.jpg]]
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3	''Melisande: or, Long and Short Division'' is a comedic fairy-tale by Creator/ENesbit. It was first issued in the collection ''Nine Unlikely Tales'' (1901) and later released as its own book in 1989 with illustrations by P.J. Lynch.
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5	The story begins with the birth of princess Melisande on a fictional island. The king and queen, deciding not to have a christening party to avoid offending any accidentally uninvited fairies, offend them all, and Melisande is cursed to be bald. Coming of age, she makes a [[SarcasmMode slightly]] ill-advised wish for fast-growing hair, which quickly makes her life hell, until her beloved Prince Florizel finds a clever solution. Said solution, however, has an even worse side-effect, which takes even more brains to solve...
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7	It can be read online [[http://web.archive.org/web/20190411020253/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/shortstories/melisande.html here.]] or [[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/49913/pg49913-images.html#Page_159 here]]
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9	!! ''Melisande'' contains examples of the following tropes:
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11	* AffectionateParody: Of ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}'' and {{fairy tale}}s in general.
12	* AnachronismStew: Melisande, a princess in a classic fairytale setting, has read ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland.''
13	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Melisande, while miles tall, manages to disarm the invading army completely (although she does her best not to kill or hurt anyone.)
14	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Young Melisande regrets having wished for her hair to grow twice as fast every time it's cut, since dealing with all that hair has made her life impossible.
15	* BlessedWithSuck: Melisande's fast-growing hair.
16	* {{Curse}}: Luckily, only one of the 700-odd fairies successfully delivered her curse, thanks to the King's quick thinking.
17	* DamselInDistress: First played straight, and then later inverted as Melisande single-handedly saves her entire island from attack.
18	* TheFairFolk: Seven hundred fairies that are trying to curse the princess.
19	* FairyDevilMother: Malevola, who cursed Melisande to be bald.
20	* FairyGodmother: Fortuna F for the king. She provides the wish for Melisande, and her cryptic reference to "scales" makes the happy ending possible.
21	* FracturedFairyTale: Nesbit has riotous fun with many a fairy tale trope, most obviously from ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' and ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}''.
22	* GenreSavvy: Melisande has - the text itself states - read ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' and knows to avoid crying on people when expanded to giant size.
23	** The king is not only aware of the fairytale conventions but also mathematically adept—both traits which will serve you well in an [[SignatureStyle E. Nesbit story]].
24	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Of course, the hair comes later.
25	* LoveAtFirstSight: Melisande and Florizel.
26	* MagicPants: Lampshaded; when the princess grows to enormous size, it's mentioned that things could have been quite inconvenient if her clothes hadn't grown with her.
27	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
28	** Melisande (at her mother's bidding) wishing for her hair to grow twice as fast with every cutting.
29	** Florizel's first solution to Melisande's hair issues only creates a worse problem: she grows instead.
30	** The king is GenreSavvy enough to realize that a RevengeSVP is almost inevitable when it comes to royal christening parties and decided it’s safer not to have a party at all. Cue no fewer than seven hundred scorned fairies lining up to curse the baby.
31	* OneWordTitle: ProtagonistTitle of the Princess's name.
32	* PapaWolf: The king, when ''seven hundred fairies'' are attempting to put curses on his daughter. He manages to stop all but one by thinking quickly.
33	* ProtagonistTitle: It's the princess's name.
34	* RapidHairGrowth: Princess Melisande is cursed at birth to be bald. When she grows up she is given a magical wish, and at the prompting of her mother requests long, lovely, ''fast-growing'' hair.
35	* RescueRomance: The prince wishes to marry Melisande, and she is certainly grateful enough to marry him by the time he's cured her intractible hair problem.
36	* RevengeSVP: Seven hundred disgruntled, uninvited fairies are out to curse the princess.
37	* ShoutOut: To another Prince Florizel from ''Theatre/TheWintersTale''.
38	* {{Understatement}}: The parlourmaid tells the queen that “several ladies” are waiting for her. When the queen asks if they’re in the parlour, the maid says she’s shown them to the throne room, reiterating that there are “several of them.” “Several” turns out to mean “seven hundred.”

Context Literature / Melisande