As is all too often the case in folk and fairy tales, the central plot here involves a young girl who is badly treated by a cruel stepmother, has a series of adventures, marries a handsome prince, and lives happily ever after. The big difference here is that the finds refuge and friendship in Tontlawald, a vast stretch of moorland on which no man ever dared set foot. To her surprise, she learns that it is a magical fairyland where people never age. When she outgrows the playmate who discovered her, she is told that she must leave.
Our source for the story was the Violet Fairy Book, one of a series of twelve collections of folk and fairy tales for children edited by Andrew Lang. This is the seventh book in the series, and was first published in 1901. Lang wrote that his source was Ehstnische Märchen by Friedrich Kreutzwald, published in 1869. .
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