The Fairy's Mistake flap copy

On the book jacket

Once upon a time, in the village of Snettering-on-Snoakes in the kingdom of Biddle, Rosella fetched water from the well for the four thousand and eighty-eighth time.

So begins this hilarious retelling of a favorite fairy tale. Sweet Rosella is kind and helpful to the fairy Ethelinda. Her reward: jewels tumble out of her mouth each time she speaks. Spiteful Myrtle is rude. Her punishment: bugs and vipers slither out of her mouth. The fairy Ethelinda feels very satisfied with her dispensation of justice until she discovers that Rosella has been carried off by a greedy prince, and Myrtle is having the time of her life!

In this first of her Princess Tales, Levine turns her attention to another fairy tale, gently poking fun at meddlesome fairies and turning our ideas of good and bad upside down and inside out.

HarperCollins Children's Books, 1999