Le Rosier de Madame Husson is a novella by Guy de Maupassant, published in 1887. The hero is a young virtuous boy, the equivalent of a Rose Queen.
The story was adapted by the English composer Benjamin Britten for his comic opera Albert Herring with a libretto by Eric Crozier who transposed it entirely to an English setting.
Madame Husson, the model of virtue in Gisors, is promoting chastity in her town by seeking to crown a rosière (i.e. Rose Queen, a girl of unimpeachable virtue). However, no girl can stand up to the investigations that take place, and Madame Husson crowns the village idiot, Isidore, as the 'rosier' (Rose King). He uses his reward to "slum it" in Paris.