"Somebody Else's Prince" belongs to a collection of short stories, named ''

The Other Side of the Sun ''The Other Side of the Sun'' is a compilation of eight short children's stories written by Evelyn Sharp. Contents The short stories in this book are: * The Weird Witch of the Willow-Herb * The Magician's Tea-Party * The Hundredth Princess *Som ...

'', written by

Evelyn Sharp Evelyn Sharp may refer to: *Evelyn Sharp (aviator) (1919–1944), American aviator * Evelyn Sharp (businesswoman) (died 1997), American hotelier * Evelyn Sharp (suffragist) (1869–1955), British suffragist and author *Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp ...

(1869–1955) in 1900. Other stories in this collection include:

The Weird Witch of the Willowherb ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

The Magician's Tea-Party "The Magician’s Tea-Party" is a fairytale written by British suffragist and author Evelyn Sharp in 1900. Summary The story starts with little King Wistful, the eight-year-old king of the Cheerful Isles, or as he renamed them, the Monotono ...

The Hundredth Princess "The Hundredth Princess" is a short fairy tale for children written by Evelyn Sharp. This fairy tale is among a collection of other short stories included in Evelyn Sharp's book titled ''The Other Side of the Sun'' (1900), which she wrote, publis ...

The Tears of Princess Prunella "The Tears of Princess Prunella", is a short story belonging to the collection The Other Side of the Sun, written by Evelyn Sharp. Other stories included in this collection are The Weird Witch of the Willowherb, Somebody Else's Prince, The Lady D ...

The Palace on the Floor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

The Lady Daffodilia "The Lady Daffodilia" is a children's short story written by Evelyn Sharp and published in 1900 by John Lane. Along with other works by Evelyn Sharp, it was published in a book entitled ''The Other Side Of The Sun.'' Plot Lady Daffodilia is a ...

, and

The Kite That Went to the Moon "The Kite That Went to the Moon" is a children's tale written by Evelyn Sharp. It was published in 1900 as part of a collection of short stories called ''The Other Side of the Sun''.Sharp, Evelyn. The Other Side of the Sun: Fairy Stories. London ...

About the author

Evelyn Sharp (1869–1955) was a key figure in two of the major

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

societies in Britain: the militant

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

, and the

United Suffragists The United Suffragists was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. History The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it ad ...

. She helped to found the latter and became editor of ''Votes for Women'' during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. She was twice imprisoned and became a

tax resister Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax ...

. An established author who had published in ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by the ...

'', she was especially well known for her children's fiction.

Summary

A King and a Queen have 5 children: four sons, and one daughter. The five children have five gardens that are all lined up in a row. The daughter's name is Princess Gentianella and her garden is the most extravagant out of the five. Her garden lies at the end of the row with a stonewall surrounding it. The King and the Queen built the wall higher whenever the princess grew to prevent her from seeing over it. They thought it clever and wise to prevent the young princess form seeing the world that lay on the other side of her garden. As the four princes grew up they left their gardens. The youngest of the 4 princes, Prince Hyacinth, came and said goodbye to his young sister when it was his turn to leave. Princess Gentianella was very upset since she would now have to play in the gardens all by herself, but her brother tried to cheer her up saying, “but perhaps, if you wait long enough, some other prince will come into your garden, and then you can ask him to play with you.”. On the same day that her brother leaves, a wymp appears on her wall. The Princess Gentianella asked the wymp what is on the other side of her wall. He teases the Princess telling her about the world on the other side. The wymp helps Princess Gentianella up onto the wall so she can see for herself. To her surprise, the Princess finds another garden on the other side of her wall. As she looks at this garden she discovers that there is also a Prince. His name was Prince

Amaryllis ''Amaryllis'' () is the only genus in the subtribe Amaryllidinae (tribe Amaryllideae). It is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, ''Amaryllis belladonna'', is a native of the Western Cape region of ...

and he belongs to the Kingdom that lay on the other side of Princess Gentianella's wall. Prince Amaryllis is glad to see someone but he doesn't know how it is possible. The Prince's Kingdom is

invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

to the eyes of other countries. His Kingdom had become invisible when the Prince's great-grandfather forgot to ask the

Witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have u ...

to dance with him. This gesture had offended the Witch and she experimented with the country turning it invisible. The reason why Prince Amaryllis was working in the garden was because he was trying to disenchant his kingdom. A King's son must spend a full year in this garden and try to make the flowers grow. If he fails he is sentenced to death. The Prince comes over the wall into the Princess's garden in hope of her showing him how to grow a beautiful garden. They spend their days walking around and talking about many things. Even after the day was over and the Prince would go back over the wall, they would remember more things that they forgot to talk about. The days passed and they would always play in the Princess's garden since it was a nicer garden than the Prince's. One afternoon Princess Gentianella goes to meet her Prince Amaryllis. As she approaches him he looks sad. The year had come to an end and he had failed to grow any flowers in his garden. He is glad to be executed, which surprises Princess Gentianella. Prince Amaryllis explains to Princess Gentianella that if he had somehow made the flowers grow that he would have to marry the Witch's daughter, Anemone. Princess Gentianella is not pleased with this news. He had been somebody else's prince the whole time that they had been playing together. The Prince tries to reason with her, saying that he had no choice but to agree with the terms. It was the only way to disenchant his kingdom. Princess Gentianella is not impressed and leaves her Prince at the wall. Her parents notice that she was upset and prompts her to tell them what was the matter. Princess Gentianella's mother tries to comfort her by saying,“you will soon find another prince in your garden. 'But not that Prince', wept the poor little Princess.". The Other Side of the Sun Illustration

Princess Gentianella soon gets over her anger at Prince Amaryllis. The Prince still had failed to grow flowers in his garden. The Princess runs out the next morning to re-patch her friendship with her Prince. To her great astonishment the Prince was not on the other side of the wall. The Princess calls his name but she receives no answer. The Princess then jumps down into the Prince's garden. She still can't see the invisible country but she could hear the voices of its citizens. “'Our Prince cannot make the flowers grow, and the Witch has taken him away to be executed,' was what they were saying.”. Once Princess Gentianella hears what the citizens are saying, she drops down and starts to cry. Wherever her tears landed, flowers began to grow. She exclaims her excitement and the wymp reappears on the wall. She could hear the voices of the kingdom shouting their excitement at the sudden flowers in the garden. The wymp pointed out that now Prince Amaryllis can now marry Anemone, the Witch's beautiful daughter. The Princess is once again saddened by the news, but the wymp reassures her.“'Don't you fret about that, my little dear,' he cried. 'Do you suppose the Witch's daughter wants anybody else's Prince, either?' Princess Gentianella clapped her hands with delight. 'Of course she doesn't!' she cried. 'But perhaps she does not know he is somebody else's Prince.'". The Princess decides to find her prince and runs towards the invisible kingdom. “She ran and she ran and she ran, until the Prince's kingdom was really obliged to stop being invisible, for in all the hundred years that it had been bewitched no one had ever tried so hard to see it before. Besides, it would have been most impolite of anybody's kingdom to go on pretending that it was not there, when the Princess was so determined to pretend that it was…”. The Princess meets various characters along the way, including a lamb, a woodcutter, a fish, a

sea-serpent A sea serpent or sea dragon is a type of dragon sea monster described in various mythologies, most notably Mesopotamian (Tiamat), Judaeo-Christian (Leviathan), Greek (Cetus, Echidna, Hydra, Scylla), and Norse (Jörmungandr). Mythology and fol ...

and an old woman, whom aid her in her journey after they are warmed by her kindness. She tells everyone that she meets that the Prince will not be marrying Princess Anemone. During her travels through the invisible kingdom, the Princess stumbles through a landscape of every season, apparently because “it is no use being particular about the time of year when there is no one to see what kind of weather you are having”. The Princess meets the old woman, who is running an experiment to see if there is anyone who is so brave of heart that the thistles do not hurt them. The Princess helps to pick

thistles Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

which cannot bear to hurt so gentle of hands as hers. As she continues, she meets a beautiful girl in the woods who is crying bitterly because her mother wants her to marry a

prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

when she is already somebody else's Princess. The Princess tells her that she is in a similar situation. It turns out that the beautiful girl is the witch's daughter, Anemone, who is in love with the Princess’ brother, Hyacinth. Anemone is worried because she has just sent Hyacinth to kill Prince Amaryllis, but the Princess is not concerned because: "nobody could possibly be strong enough to kill my Prince, and as for Hyacinth, he will be quite safe, for Prince Amaryllis is much too nice to hurt anyone”. The Princess is proven to be right as the two princes arrive arm in arm. When the Witch arrives (who is also the old woman that the little Princess met in the field) she is furious, but she is soon calmed by the little princess’ manner and everyone ends up with what they want. The witch retires to be a “nice old lady” and Prince Amaryllis and Princess Gentianella return to their gardens where they knock down the wall and turn it into one garden.

Character descriptions

Princess Gentianella: Princess Gentianella is as small, fair, lovely, and as kind as a princess can be. She is so lovely that the whole world loves her and the sun and the fairies helped to make her flowers grow. She is curious and expects big things from the world. She is not afraid the save herself (rather than depending on a prince). She falls in love with Prince Amaryllis Prince Amaryllis: A forgetful prince who cannot grow flowers, but who is strong and kind. He falls in love with Princess Gentianella. Princess Anemone: The beautiful daughter of the Witch who is fed up with her mother's experiments. She wants her mother to stop controlling her life and using her for experiments. She falls in love with Prince Hyacinth. Prince Hyacinth: The youngest of Gentianella's three older brothers. He falls in love with Princess Anemone. The Witch/the Old Woman: The Witch is always doing experiments and everyone fears her. She has a temper, but likes being thought of as a nice old woman. She is warmed by Princess Gentianella's kindness and retires from being a mean witch. The King and Queen: The King and Queen think that they are protecting Princess Gentianella from the evils of the world by building the wall around her garden but in truth they do not really understand her (although the Queen does a slightly better job at understanding the Princess than the King).

Re-occurring themes

Evelyn Sharp's characters are named after flowers ::

Gentianella ''Gentianella'' is a plant genus in the gentian family (Gentianaceae). Plants of this genus are known commonly as dwarf gentians. there were about 256 species in this genus. They are herbs that occur in alpine and arctic habitat types. They a ...

Hyacinth Hyacinth or Hyacinthus may refer to: Nature Plants * Hyacinth (plant), genus ''Hyacinthus'' ** ''Hyacinthus orientalis'', common hyacinth * Grape hyacinth, ''Muscari'', a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia * Hyacinth bean, ''Labl ...

Anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all continents except Australia, New Zealand ...

She often talks of nature and gardens in her stories (see

)

Literary devices and common fairy tale elements

Magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

Anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animals *

Sarcasm Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection ...

and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

: I am very glad you can see me," he added politely; "one gets a little tired sometimes of being heard and not seen."..."When I was a little girl,~ said Princess Gentianella, drawing herself up to her full height, " I was always taught to be seen and not heard. That was very dull, too.".Sharp, Evelyn. The other side of the sun: fairy stories. London: John Lane, 19001899. Print.pg.78 *Glorification of human strengths i.e. kindness *

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

s i.e. sea serpent *

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ev ...

s *Royalty * Good and evil characters *

Repetition Repetition may refer to: *Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words * Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

External links

''The Other Side of the Sun'' by Evelyn Sharp. Google Books.'The Other Side of the Sun PDF

References

{{Stories of Evelyn Sharp British short stories Children's short stories 1900 short stories Fictional princes