A famous legend from France (The Doe in the Woods) tells the story of a childless queen who visits the Fairy Palace seeking blessings. A crab (who is actually a fairy) takes the queen to the palace. The fairies promise her that soon she would conceive a baby girl who should be named Desiree. When the baby girl is born, all the fairies are summoned to the palace but somehow the queen forgets to invite the crab. The crab fairy arrives at the palace nevertheless but in anger. She decides to curse the child- if any sunlight touches the child in the first 15 years, she will turn into a doe.

To escape this curse, the other fairies advise the king and the queen to build a subterranean palace to keep their daughter. Just before her 15th birthday, the queen gets a portrait of her daughter made and sends it to all the neighboring princes. One prince falls in love with the portrait and sends word to the king about meeting Desiree. However, this prince breaks his betrothal to another princess called the Black Princess, thus offending her. Advised against allowing the prince to meet Desiree before her 15th birthday, the king sends word to the love-sick prince to wed her three months after her birthday. Meanwhile, the Black Princess approaches the crab fairy, reminding her of the curse that she had sworn on Desiree many years ago.