“Fairy Story, A” Caroline Bond Stewart Day
(1919)
A short story for children by Caroline Bond Stew-
art Day, a sociologist, teacher, and writer. The
work appeared in the October 1919 issue of THE
CRISIS.
Day crafted a fast-paced and suspenseful North
African fairy tale for her readers. Set in “the wild
and hilly country of Morocco,” the tale has charac-
teristic features of classic fairy tales such as a moth-
erless child, evil stepsister, scheming stepmother,
arranged marriage, and prince who could only be
released from a magic spell by a kiss. Day revitalized
the genre, however, by providing new racial and
cultural standards for beauty, desirability, and ro-
mance. Her protagonist Ean is a “beautiful little
princess” with “copper-colored skin and black hair
that was exceedingly curly,” “bright black eyes” and
“teeth [that] gleamed like pearls between her full,
red lips.” In contrast to tales that yoke evil charac-
ters to dark or black colors, “A Fairy Story” trans-
fers qualities that hint of European standards of
beauty to her villainous character. Maga, her jeal-
ous stepsister, has “very pale olive skin,” “a thin
nose,” and “long, straight, black hair.”
Ean is a kind and considerate princess whose
father arranges for her to marry an ugly, old man
who happens to be the most powerful leader in
North Africa. If she refuses, the chief will wage war
on Ean’s tribe. As she surrenders to her fate, her
jealous step-relatives prepare to veil Maga and allow
her to wed the chief, a rich man whose extremely
unattractive features nobody has actually ever seen.
On the way to her ritual bath, Ean kisses the pet os-
trich that she rescued and has protected from heart-
less children who wanted to stone it. Within mo-
ments, a “handsome young Arab prince on a white
horse” rescues her. As Day remarks to her readers,
“Of course, you know that this was the enchanted
Prince who had been disguised as an ostrich.”
Day’s short story complemented the mission
that JESSIEFAUSETdeveloped during her editorial
years at The Crisis.Fauset and W. E. B. DUBOIS,
Crisiseditor-in-chief, actively developed and en-
couraged writers to produce uplifting and inspiring
race works for children of color. Day’s revision of
the traditional European fairy tale was a prime ex-
ample of the innovative and absorbing narratives
that The Crisisincluded in its issues.
Day, a RADCLIFFECOLLEGEgraduate and pio-
neering social anthropologist, published this piece
during a year in which she worked in NEWYORK
CITY in organizations providing support to
African-American military families. Later, in 1919,
she relocated to Texas, where she began teaching
college-level English, first in Waco and then in
Houston.Bibliography
Caroline Bond Day Papers, Peabody Museum, Harvard
University.
Day, Caroline Bond. “A Fairy Story,” Crisis(October
1919): 290–291.Farrar, John Chipman (1896–1974)
A YALEUNIVERSITY–educated poet, literary critic,
editor of The Bookman,and original partner in the148