Rose (Diamonds and Toads)

Rose is the main protagonist of the French fairy tale by Charles Perrault "Diamonds and Toads" (or "Toads and Diamonds").

History
Rose is the stepdaughter of a bad-tempered old widow, and the stepsister of Fanny, the widow's daughter. Rose is sweet, kind and beautiful, while Fanny is ugly, unpleasant, disagreeable and proud. Rose resembles her late father, while Fanny resembles her mother, and therefore Rose's stepmother favoured Fanny and mistreated her.

One day, the old widow sent Rose to fetch some water from the well. Rose, who was obedient, did as her stepmother said and went to the well to fetch the water. As she was fetching the water, an old woman appeared and asked her to give her some water to drink. Rose happily tilted her jug to let the old woman drink. Then, the old woman took off her disguise and revealed herself to be a fairy, who had taken the guise of a crone to test the character of mortals. As Rose was so kind and compassionate toward her, the fairy blessed her with having either a jewel or a pretty flower fall from her mouth whenever she spoke.

Upon arriving home, Rose explained to her stepmother what happened to her at the well and while she talked, diamonds and roses fell from her mouth. The old widow, who was greedy, wanted the roses and the diamonds to herself, so she told Fanny to go out and to speak nicely to strangers. Fanny protested, but the old widow forcibly sent her to the well with instruction to act kindly toward an old beggar woman.

In the well, Fanny went to the well to fetch the water. The fairy, disguised as an old woman, appeared and asked Fanny to give her some water to drink. However, Fanny spoke rudely to the fairy and insulted her. Then, the old woman once again took off her disguise and revealed herself to be the fairy. The fairy then decreed that, as punishment for her despicable attitude, a toad would fall from Fanny's mouth whenever she spoke. Fanny laughed but immediately shut her mouth after several ugly toads fell from her mouth. Screaming, she went back home.

The old widow, disgusted by the toads, became enraged and accused Rose of what happened to Fanny and drove her out of their house. Crying, Rose wandered in the woods, until she meet a kind-hearted prince, to whom she told her miserable story. The prince then fell in love with her and they married. From that day and onwards, Rose lived happily ever after with her prince.

And as for Fanny and her mother, they spent the rest of their lives in arguments and quarrels, surrounded by ugly toads.

Trivia

 * The Characters in this fairy tale share some similarities with the fairy tale "Cinderella":
 * Rose is similar to Cinderella, the old widow is similar to Cinderella stepmother, Fanny is similar to Cinderella's stepsisters, and the prince is similar to his counterpart from "Cinderella".
 * In some versions, Rose is the youngest daughter of the old widow, and in some other versions, she is her stepdaughter instead of her youngest daughter.