The Little Doll

“The Little Doll” is a translation of “La muñequita,” which was written by Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano (1824–1905), one of nineteenth-century Spain’s most distinguished literati. The story is a variant of tale type ATU 571C, The Biting Doll, and has wellknown counterparts in the fairy tales of Giovan Francesco Straparola, Giambattista Basile, and Ludwig Bechstein. Despite the tale’s ribald features, Valera leavens “The Little Doll” with the dignity of a maiden whose virtue thwarts the advances of a king accustomed to easy conquest, and with irony and humor that highlight foibles and follies