Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess

A fairy tale from The Blue Fairy Book, collected by Andrew Lang

This reader is adapted from a French fairy tale by Madame Leprince de Beaumont, collected by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book (first published 1889). It is a story about vanity, flattery and self-knowledge. Prince Hyacinth cannot see that his nose is absurdly long because everyone around him has told him it is handsome all his life. The tale asks: how do we learn to see ourselves as we really are? And why is that so hard? A story worth reading because it shows that our greatest obstacle to growth is often our own pride.

Band

Green · Independent readers, early, about 8 to 10

Length

long · about 888 words in 6 sections · 3 pictures

Source

The Blue Fairy Book, Andrew Lang · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.