The Princess Baladina – Her Adventure

The Princess Baladina is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in Home Monthly in 1896 under the pseudonym of Charles Douglass.^[1]

Plot introduction

Punished for being naughty, the Princess Baladina runs off to find a wizard and a Prince.

Plot summary

The Princess Baladina has been punished for scratching and biting the nurse, and throwing a precious present from her father into the moat. She is not attending a court ball because of that. The next day she has breakfast and decides to run off and ask a wizard to put a spell upon her so that a prince will come and set her free, take her away from her family. She chances upon shepherds, and a miller's son takes her to a local wizard. He says he cannot do it but they should go and visit another wizard. The latter says he cannot do what she wants because the prince would then kill him, and also it is likely no prince will come at all; she needs to find a prince first. The Princess and the miller's son then go and look for a prince; they ask a couple of unassuming figures and finally chance upon a prince, who curtly makes fun of them. The Princess comes to the conclusion that for being so kind, the miller's son deserves to be a prince. However, the King and his retinue walk into them and gives him a gold coin to shoo him away. The Princess weeps and the miller's son wishes there were a prince for her.

Characters

The Princess Baladina
The miller's son
Lean Jack, a wizard.
The fat wizard
The King and his retinue.

References

↑ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 November 1970, page 585

External links

Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive

Works by Willa Cather

Novels	Alexander's Bridge O Pioneers! The Song of the Lark My Ántonia One of Ours A Lost Lady The Professor's House My Mortal Enemy Death Comes for the Archbishop Shadows on the Rock Lucy Gayheart Sapphira and the Slave Girl

Short stories	"Peter" "Lou, the Prophet" "The Elopement of Allen Poole" "A Tale of the White Pyramid" "A Son of the Celestial" "The Clemency of the Court" "The Fear That Walks by Noonday" "On the Divide" "A Night at Greenway Court" "Tommy, the Unsentimental" "The Princess Baladina – Her Adventure" "The Count of Crow's Nest" "The Burglar's Christmas" "The Strategy of the Were-Wolf Dog" "A Resurrection" "The Prodigies" "Nanette: An Aside" "The Way of the World" "The Westbound Train" "Eric Hermannson's Soul" "The Dance at Chevalier's" "The Sentimentality of William Tavener" "The Affair at Grover Station" "A Singer's Romance" "The Conversion of Sum Loo" "Jack-a-Boy" "El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional" "The Professor's Commencement" "The Treasure of Far Island" "A Death in the Desert" "A Wagner Matinee" "The Sculptor's Funeral" "Flavia and Her Artists" "The Garden Lodge" "The Marriage of Phaedra" "Paul's Case" "The Namesake" "The Profile" "The Willing Muse" "Eleanor's House" "On the Gulls' Road" "The Enchanted Bluff" "The Joy of Nelly Deane" "Behind the Singer Tower" "The Bohemian Girl" "Consequences" "The Bookkeeper's Wife" "The Diamond Mine" "A Gold Slipper" "Ardessa" "Scandal" "Her Boss" "Coming, Eden Bower!" "Uncle Valentine" "Double Birthday" "Neighbour Rosicky" "Two Friends" "The Old Beauty" "Before Breakfast" "The Best Years"

Short story collections	The Troll Garden Youth and the Bright Medusa Obscure Destinies The Old Beauty and Others Five Stories

Collection of poems	April Twilights

Non-fiction	On Writing Not Under Forty

Collaborations	The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science

Adaptations	A Lost Lady (1934 film) O Pioneers! (1992 film) My Antonia (1995 film) The Song of the Lark (2001 film) O Pioneers! (2009 opera)

Willa Cather Birthplace Willa Cather House Willa Cather Foundation WILLA Literary Award

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