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Paper short abstract

17th C. French women's fairy tales view the forest and nonhuman agents as vital, autonomous actors, not just backdrops. This ecological consciousness promotes symbiosis, revealing that moral virtue is tied to nature, and nonhuman aid is key to heroines' proto-feminist empowerment.

Paper long abstract

Sophie Raynard and I will examine the ecological vision embedded within ten fairy tales of d'Aulnoy, Murat, L’Heritier and Bernard, as featured in our forthcoming volume Damsels in Charge. While these narratives are celebrated for their proto-feminist critique of patriarchal court society, this analysis argues that they simultaneously deploy the nonhuman world—the forest, animals, and plants—not as symbolic backdrops or props, but as essential, autonomous agents that actively mediate and shape the heroines' quests for empowerment and autonomy.

The forest is established as a dynamic ecological space, often a refuge from patriarchal failure, where new social and environmental contracts are forged. D’Aulnoy’s “Finette Cindra” and Murat’s “Belle-Belle” show that the heroines’ initial acts of resistance and subsequent success are directly enabled by showing kindness to nonhuman agents, such as enchanted horses, which then become indispensable allies and moral compasses.

The theme of nonhuman metamorphosis further deepens this interpretation. Tales like d’Aulnoy’s “The White Cat” and “The Bee and the Orange Tree” present transformations where human relationships continue within plant and animal forms, challenging anthropocentric boundaries and portraying interspecies romance and emotional bonds. The narrative action often hinges on the heroines' ability to nurture and understand the natural world, illustrating that moral virtue is an ecological act—loyalty to a pot of carnations, for instance, breaks a powerful curse.

We conclude that the conteuses offered a profound and specific ecological consciousness for their time, one that promoted symbiosis and conservation, positioning human destiny as inseparable from a vibrant, natural and nonhuman realm.