The Princess Nobody: A Tale of Fairyland

What happens to a princess named Nothing? In Andrew Lang's enchanting 1884 tale, a king and queen who have yearned for a child receive an impossible gift: a baby girl from a dwarf, christened Niente, Italian for "nothing." But when the dwarf returns to claim what the king once promised him, the Water Fairy must spirit the little princess away to Mushroom Land, where she grows up in hiding among toadstools and sprites. Prince Comical, undeterred by her strange name and stranger circumstances, sets out on a quest through enchanted realms to find her. Their journey is beset with the classic fairy tale trials: separation, a perilous curiosity that nearly destroys them, and the ever-present danger of the dwarf's claim. Yet Lang, working in the tradition of Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, crafts something more complex than a simple adventure. This is a meditation on identity and belonging, on what it means to be "nobody" and yet be loved. The tale brims with the peculiar logic of dreams, where magic operates on its own rules and the smallest hero can triumph through stubborn affection. Young readers will find a world of wonder in these pages; older readers will rediscover the peculiar power of Victorian fairy tales to comfort and unsettle in equal measure.