#docena

[mr-spinch]

So I’m writing a The Months (Basile)/Mother Hulda (Grimm) story that’s mixed with The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces.

Twelve Princesses find a portal to a magic world and dance every night with Twelve Princes. The Princesses are each named after their birth flower from January to December

I’m not sure if I want the Month that each princess dances with to match her birth month, or if I want the Months to go in order of age with March being the youngest and February being the oldest like in the Slovak version.

[svnny-ao3]

I’m brainstorming a retelling of twelve dancing princesses where each princess has another Grimm fairytale she’s subtly living out, more through use of allusions and plot devices than full storylines (abandoned slippers and red caps, etc). Hopefully I’m not juggling to many plates. The princesses are:

Clavela (23) - Aschenputtel

Violante (22) - King Thrushbeard

Amarilis (20) - Allerleirauh

Margarita (19) - The Summer & Winter Garden

Elorria (18) - Snow White

Rosalba (16) - The Frog Prince (Iron-Henry)

Liliana (16) - The Shoes That We’re Danced to Pieces

Celandina (14) - Little Briar Rose

Estela (12) - Hansel & Gretel

Oriana (11) - Rapunzel

Crisanta (10) - Little Red-Cap

Narcisa (7) - The Seven Ravens

Names, ages, and stories are not set in stone, but I know the setting will be a fantasy version of Edwardian era Spain (1904 vibes, but not regarding historical events). Fairies are heavily involved and the seventh princess is the MC. The story is mostly about father-daughter relationships and escapism.

[svnny-ao3]

Violante, the Second Sister

“A king had a daughter who was beautiful beyond all measure, but so proud and haughty withal that no suitor was good enough for her. She sent away one after the other, and ridiculed them as well.

“Once the King made a great feast and invited thereto, from far and near, all the young men likely to marry. They were all marshalled in a row according to their rank and standing; first came the kings, then the grand-dukes, then the princes, the earls, the barons, and the gentry. Then the King's daughter was led through the ranks, but to every one she had some objection to make.”

Blessed with the gift of music and an inflated ego, Vio has been trying all her life to prove that her father was wrong to abandon them. In this new castle, old castle, home castle, she’s forced to either confront the fact that she will never be good enough for her father or disappear into the fairy world forever. And all this while being paraded around for suitors that could never meet her standards in the first place.

(violets and primroses, amethysts and song)

[svnny-ao3]

Amarilis, the Third Sister

“When, therefore, the King's daughter saw that there was no longer any hope of turning her father's heart, she resolved to run away from him. In the night whilst every one was asleep, she got up, and took three different things from her treasures, a golden ring, a golden spinning-wheel, and a golden reel. The three dresses of the sun, moon, and stars she put into a nutshell, put on her mantle of all kinds of fur, and blackened her face and hands with soot. Then she commended herself to God, and went away, and walked the whole night until she reached a great forest.”

She's been devoted, dedicated, dutiful, a blind follower since she was little. If she could just ensure that the people around her need her, then she can never be abandoned again. But her new role as her father’s daughter demands only one thing of her: that she marry well. Mari is torn between her willingness to earn her father’s favor and her resentment towards the same demands being placed on her sisters.

(daffodils and jonquils, aquamarines and grace)

[svnny-ao3]

Rosalba, the Sixth Sister

“And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light he jumped up, hopped down stairs, and went out of the house. ‘Now, then,’ thought the princess, ‘at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.’

“But she was mistaken; for when night came again she ​heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more. And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same.”

Something about being banished from home after your parents’ divorce convinced Rosa that she can’t trust or depend on anyone but herself. She’s made it a habit not to ask for help and not to dwell on the pain of the past, but that fear of pain chases her right through a mirror and into a wonderland of indulgence from which she can’t seem to pry herself free.

(roses and honeysuckle, pearls and dance)

[svnny-ao3]

Elorria, the Fifth Sister

“Then she gazed thoughtfully upon the red drops that sprinkled the white snow, and said, 'Would that my little daughter may be as white as that snow, as red as that blood, and as black as this ebony windowframe!' And so the little girl really did grow up; her skin was as white as snow, her cheeks as rosy as the blood, and her hair as black as ebony; and she was called Snowdrop.

“But this queen died; and the king soon married another wife, who became queen, and was very beautiful, but so vain that she could not bear to think that anyone could be handsomer than she was.”

Lori was born beautiful, blessed beautiful even. She sees it everywhere, in everything, even in the tragedy of her broken family, and beauty is all anyone ever sees in her. Even her father sees her as nothing more than a pawn. If she could only escape these terrible people with their sharp teeth and hungry eyes, to her home… or through the mirror.

(hawthorns and lily-of-the-valleys, emeralds and beauty)

[svnny-ao3]

Margarita, the Fourth Sister

“Her heart was heavy because of all this, and she asked the beast to allow her to go home for a few days. The beast refused for a long time, but she grieved so much that he finally had pity on her and said, "Go to your father, but promise me that you will be back here in eight days.

“She promised, and as she was leaving, he called out again, "Do not stay longer than eight days."

Rita knows her father loves her and knows he doesn’t love her well. Even before the divorce, he was a beast to live with, but he did his best with what he knew. Now that they’re back home, she just wants to rekindle that relationship with him, but these suitors are definitely getting in the way. And the only boy who’s caught her eye is made of snow.

(daisies and sweet peas, diamonds and goodness)

[svnny-ao3]

Clavela, the First Sister

“And when the evening came she wanted to go home, but the prince said he would go with her to take care of her, for he wanted to see where the beautiful maiden lived. But she escaped him, and jumped up into the pigeon-house.” - Brothers Grimm

The oldest daughter of the Rey and the First Reina, Vela is the cleverest and bitterest of her sisters. She remembers home the most, those bittersweet times before the divorce- remembers that her father was a monster and hates herself for loving him still. Her new stepmother hates her and Clavela hates her half-sisters in turn, but she finds herself teaming up with them to escape the suitors filling the castle.

(carnations and snowdrops, garnets and wit)