Cursed at her christening by an evil fairy, Princess Melisande grows up as beautiful as the sun and good as gold—but as bald as an egg! When the poor Princess is finally granted one wish, she asks for golden hair a yard long that grows an inch every day and twice as fast when it is cut. Mortified, her father foresees that soon Melisande's har will be completely out of control.
And indeed problems of mathematical proportions immediately descend upon Melisande and the kingdom. The family tries everything to reverse the curse but succeeds only in making Melisande grow instead of her hair—which is even worse. Only with the help of a cryptic fairy godmother and the determined Prince Florizel is order restored.
This entertainingly clever fairy tale is wonderfully typical of E. Nesbit's style. as Naomi Lewis points out in her introduction. By means of the story she warns us that magic has its limits. We must be careful what we wish, for our wishes may come true, but not exactly as we had intended...
—from the dust jacket
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