The Yellow Dwarf (French: Le Nain jaune) is a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy. Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book.
A queen only has one child left to get married. Because she is so vain her daughter, tout-belle, refuses to marry anyone. The queen decides to consult the desert fairy whom savage wild lions guard. The lions can only win over the lions with a cake with sugar candy, and crocodile eggs. after the queen makes her way but falls asleep under a tree. When she wakes up the cake is gone. suddenly, she sees a yellow dwarf on the top of the tree who is eating oranges. He wants to marry her daughter in exchange for him protecting her. She has no choice and finds herself transported to her palace. She wakes up and falls depressed. Because her mom is so sad, her daughter decides to go see the dessert fairy. She arrives at the tree with her basket of cake to pick some oranges off the tree when the cake suddenly disappears. The yellow dwarf tells her she is betrothed to him and is transported to her palace with a ring on her finger she cannot take off. To escape from him, she decides to marry the most powerful of all kings (king of the gold mines). On their wedding day, the fairy of the desert appears under the disguise of an old lady and tells the queen and tout-belle that they made a promise to marry the yellow dwarf who starts fighting the king and then kindaps the princess with the fairy. When she kidnaps the king she becomes a beautiful mermaid, except for her feet which she cannot change. She says the only way for him to survive is for him to marry the desert fairy, and the king knowing he is talking to the desert fairy doesn't disagree. She sends him back to his palace in a chariot pulled by swans. While he's walking around the seashore, he sees a real mermaid who promises to help him. She creates a mannequin for him and leaves it on the beach. They go to the steel castle where the yellow dwarf lives. the mermaid gives the king a diamond sword and with that, he kills four sphinxes, six dragons, and 24 mermaids until he finds tout-belle. but Tout-belle saw him go by with a bunch of mermaids so she thinks he's cheating on her with a bunch of mermaids. He needs to convince her that he is going to be loyal. When he convinces her he lets the magical diamond sword fall on the floor. Then the yellow dwarf shows up again and ties him up and tries to force the princess to marry him. In a rage, he unalives the king the princess, and himself. The king and the princess's bodies become two palm trees intertwined.
The tale was one of many from d'Aulnoy's pen to be adapted to the stage by James Planché, as part of his Fairy Extravaganza.[1] [2] [3] He used it as a basis for his work The Yellow Dwarf, and The King of the Gold Mines.[4] [5]
Mary Diana Dods wrote a version of the story for her book Tales of the Wild and the Wonderful (1825).[6]