Three Perfect Peaches: A French Folktale

by Cynthia C. DeFelice, Mary De Marsh, Irene Trivas (Illustrator)

The king offers his daughter's hand in marriage to the young man who can produce three perfect peaches

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales

1 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Cynthia DeFelice is the author of many bestselling titles for young readers, including the novels Wild Life, The Ghost of Cutler Creek, Signal, and The Missing Manatee, as well as the picture books, One Potato, Two Potato, and Casey in the Bath. Her books have been nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children's Books and Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, among numerous other honors.

Cynthia was born in Philadelphia in 1951. As a child, she was always reading. Summer vacations began with a trip to the bookstore, where she and her sister and brothers were allowed to pick out books for their summer reading. “To me,” she says, “those trips to the bookstore were even better than the rare occasions when we were given a quarter and turned loose at the penny-candy store on the boardwalk.” Cynthia has worked as a bookseller, a barn painter, a storyteller, and a school librarian.

When asked what she loves best about being an author, she can’t pick just one answer: “I love the feeling of being caught up in the lives of the characters I am writing about. I enjoy the challenge of trying to write as honestly as I can, and I find enormous satisfaction in hearing from readers that something I wrote touched them, delighted them, made them shiver with fear or shake with laughter, or think about something new.” Cynthia and her husband live in Geneva, New York.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/cynthi...

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of a fairy tale where the princess can only be cured by the peaches of the title, and the king balks at the promised reward when a poor youngest son succeeds.

Some nice illustrations

[Hannah Carlson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book had too many inappropriate themes for it to be read in a classroom setting. It spoke of a queen cheating on her king, the king being forced to kiss a horse's behind, and several mentions of animal feces. The lesson that this folktale tries to teach is to be honest and tell the truth, but I think the kids would be too distracted by all of the crude elements in the story.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three Perfect Peaches- French Folk tale- by Cynthia C. Defelice, Mary D. Marsh, Irene Trivas- Illustrator – I have read this book is Hindi translated by Deepak Thanvi. A King has a beautiful young daughter who has pink cheeks and red hair. In the evening, she fell ill. In the morning, her cheeks are less pink nor her cheeks were pink. Royal doctor and her parents were sitting with her. Princess informed the King that if she gets three peaches, she would recover. An announcement was made by the King that if any young man’s three perfect peaches would recover the princess, then, the King would marry the princess with him. Many citizens brought their peaches but the princess did not recover. In a far off village, three brothers lived. They had a peach tree in their garden. Elder brother took three peaches in a basket and moved towards the capital. He met a poor old hungry lady on the way. She requested the elder brother to share the contents of the basket with her. He said that there are rabbit dropping in the basket. One reaching the Palace, they found that his basket contains no peaches but rabbit droppings. Second brother took three peaches in a basket. When he met the old lady, he replied that the basket contains horse manure. On reaching the palace, there were no peaches in the basket but horse manure. The youngest of three brothers moves with four peaches in his basket. He offers on peach to the old lady. She thanks him and provides him with a magic silver whistle. She informs him that first, if he blows the whistle, his wish will be fulfilled, second, if the whistle is lost, he should clap, and the whistle will return back to his pocket. At the palace, he provides with three perfect peaches to the King. As soon as the princes eats them, she is cured. King sees that the third brother is a poor farmer. He does not wish to marry his daughter with him. The king hedges, however, he demands that the boy should herd 100 rabbits into the palace for multiple days in a row. The boy succeeds in this task with the help of the whistle. King is informed about the silver whistle owned by the young man. King wishes to own the magic silver whistle. Next day, he sends his daughter with a bag of gold coins to buy the whistle. This boy states the cost is 100 gold coins and 100 kisses. He exchanges the whistle with the princess. On kissing the boy, the Princess falls in love with the young man. Princess delivers the whistle to the king. Soon the boy claps and the whistle returns back to his pocket. King wishes to own the whistle. Next day he sends the queen with two bags of gold coins. Queen demands the price of whistle. The boy demands two hundred gold coins and two hundred kisses. King is a busy person. He spends less time with the queen. Therefore, the queen enjoys kisses with the boy. After paying the price, queen returns with the whistle. King keeps the whistle. Next afternoon, the boy claps and the whistle returns back to him. Kings is eager for the whistle. He meets the young man and demands the cost of the whistle. The boy demands 300 hundred gold coins and that the Kings has to kiss his horse’s behind 300 times. King complies and takes the whistle. King took advice from the royal philosopher. He suggests that if the boy is able to fill the bucket with truth, he is fit to marry the princess. Next day when the boy came to the palace, he found that a bucket was placed there. He was asked to fill the bucket with truth water. Boy enquires from the Princess, the Queen and the King about the truth of the incidents. As the incidents are true, the bucket fills up with truth. The king is convinced about the ability of the young man and he announces plan for Royal wedding. Moral of the story, first, kindness towards all is virtue, sharing with needy is virtue, maintaining presence of mind in various situations is necessary. Illustrations in the book are helpful in retaining the interest in the story and also relating the reader with the text. Children are bound to like it.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the king's redheaded, vivacious daughter takes to her bed and becomes progressively more ill in this retelling of a French folktale, that ruler offers her hand in marriage to whomever can produce the three perfect May peaches required to help her. When a humble young farmer does just that, after propitiating a magical old woman—perhaps a good fairy?—he meets along his way, the king is reluctant to keep his word, requiring the young man to herd the royal rabbits for four days, without losing a single one. With the help of the magical whistle given to him by the old woman, he does just that, despite a number of humorous attempts on the part of the king to buy the whistle from him...

Apparently first heard by co-authors Cynthia De Felice and Mary DeMarsh from a third party, the story in Three Perfect Peaches: A French Folktale can also be found, under the name The Three May Peaches, in Paul Delarue's 1956 The Borzoi Book of French Folk Tales . The tale related has many elements common to folklore, including the humble third son who makes good, the good fortune brought by being courteous and helpful to those met along a journey, and the use of magical gifts won as a result of that courtesy. The tale type itself, in which a reward is granted to someone who herds rabbits, is well-established in European folklore, and is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther folklore system as tale type 570—The Rabbit Herd. In any case, I found this telling amusing, and enjoyed seeing the king get his comeuppance, not just because he was forced to kiss his own horse's behind, but because his seeming interest in truth is revealed as a ruse, when the young man threatens to reveal this embarrassing fact. The humor here is somewhat bawdy, but not too much so for young readers, who, in more contemporary titles, encounter characters such as Captain Underpants and Walter the Farting Dog. The accompanying illustrations, done in watercolor by Irene Trivas, whose work was previously unknown to me, were also full of humor, and well-matched to the tale. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, especially those with a taste for the humorous.

Note: If half stars were available, this would be a 3.5-star book for me, but as they're not I have awarded it four stars.

[Autumn Farlett]

Summary
The king promises the hand of his daughter to the person who brings three perfect peaches to her. Three brothers attempt to bring the perfect peaches to her but encounter a witch. When the youngest of the three brothers comes to the witch he is able to pass with his peaches and he gets a magical whistle. He then brings the princess the perfect peaches but the king is unhappy. He says that the boy must herd 100 rabbits into the castle multiple days in a row. Then he makes him fill up a clear bucket with truth. In the end, the youngest brother passes all of the tests because of his magic whistle and he makes the king kiss a horse on the behind too.

Evaluation
I like this book because it provides good illustrations to go along with the classic story and will interest the students.

Teaching
I would use this book when teaching as a way to introduce different types of literature. One of the standards that students are expected to understand is the different ways literature evolves and comes to be. I think this story is interesting so it would be a good introduction into folk tales for the students and I could then talk about where it came from and how it became the story we know. I would link to folk tales that are common in our culture.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to many folk/fairy tales but with some clever twists. The art is busier than I like, but do kids like it? If so, it's fine.

Now I'd like to read an early version with perhaps more of a French 'flavor.'

[Aloysiuss · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was funny

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is your classic folk tale most children with love. It has a princess and a witty everyday man who uses his brain to catch and king her by outwitting her tricky father. It also has the underline message of be nice to everyone because you never know if that old beggar really is a witch who will help you later in life.
A great tale for those whole like fairy tales, magic, and folk lore.
A great book for those who like the underdog.
A great book for someone who like European folktales.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it although the humor may not be appropriate for all audiences.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes a really gross turn that would prevent me from ever sharing it with my child. Crude humor is not necessary to get children to like a book!

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very nice pictures, but the story is offensive and not suitable for children.