Youngest Daughter

The Youngest Daughter is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more sisters (or brothers), and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters. In a family of many daughters, the youngest son may be an equivalent figure.

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Heroines in fairy tales are more often marked out as stepdaughters, but sometimes they appear as the youngest daughter.

Sibling rivalry may also spring up in these stories, but usually over the youngest daughter's marriage. They may incite their sister to break the taboo her husband has laid on her, as in Cupid and Psyche, or make it appear that she has killed her own children to make her husband hate her, as in The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird.

Youngest daughters may also appear as not the heroine of the tale, but the bride of the hero; when there is more than one princess, the bride is almost always the youngest. A ballad may feature three sisters solely so that the youngest of them can be preferred. The choice of a younger and prettier sister may also cause intrafamily friction in a ballad.

Associations

 * Youngest Son

Literature

 * Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
 * Cinderella (Grimm's Fairy Tales)