Life is not easy, especially for pretty girls: they are often devoured by wolves or ill-treated by their sisters, mothers, fathers and husbands. As for boys, when they are ugly, they can also be tormented. Actually, there is always a cruel ogre looking for fresh flesh Needless to say that fairies, unpredictable creatures, can interfere and change the course of time but it is rarely helpful: magic is not as efficient as intelligence and humanity. Compared to virtue and honesty, I would even say it is useless... This is a new translation by Laurent Paul Sueur.