A Little Princess

The next morning when Sara enters the schoolroom, all the pupils stare at her with interest. The girls, ranging from almost-13-year-old Lavinia Herbert to four-year-old Lottie Legh, know that Sara is Miss Minchin’s “show pupil,” a good advertisement for the school with her cleverness and wealth. The previous evening, Lavinia glimpsed Sara’s new French maid, Mariette, unpacking Sara’s box of lace-frilled petticoats. Lavinia overheard Miss Minchin say that Sara’s clothes were too absurdly grand for a child. When Lavinia’s friend, Jessie, comments on Sara’s little feet, Lavinia spitefully says: “I don’t think she is pretty at all. Her eyes are such a queer color” (17). Jessie replies that Sara “isn’t pretty as other pretty people are . . . but she makes you want to look at her again” (17).

Earlier that day, Sara conversed with her doll Emily about her papa at sea. Sara imagines that dolls, especially Emily, can secretly talk and walk, but they do these activities when people leave the room. Sara treats Mariette as politely as she would treat a lady. Consequently, Mariette likes Sara very much. She thinks the little girl looks like a princess.

Miss Minchin wrongly assumes that Captain Crewe engaged the French maid for his daughter because he wanted Sara to learn French. Sara tries to tell Miss Minchin that he employed Mariette simply because he thought Sara would like her. However, Miss Minchin will not permit Sara to explain that her mother was French, so Sara’s father has spoken French with her throughout her life. Miss Minchin is secretly annoyed by her own lack of knowledge of the language and decides that Sara does not want to study French because she is a spoiled child. Miss Minchin gives her a beginner’s French book to read. When the French teacher, Monsieur Dufarge, arrives, Sara is finally able to explain to him, in fluent French that Miss Minchin cannot understand, that she didn’t study French in school because she has always spoken it. Monsieur Dufarge is delighted with Sara’s fluency and tells Miss Minchin that he cannot teach Sara much because she is French. Miss Minchin is infuriated, and the girls in the class giggle, knowing that the schoolmistress did not allow Sara to explain herself. From this point, Miss Minchin feels a grudge against Sara.

When Sara spoke fluent French to Monsieur Dufarge, one little girl stared at Sara with such amazement and bit the ribbon on her pigtail so often that she caught the attention of the irritated Miss Minchin. Miss Minchin crossly told the little girl to sit up straight and take the ribbon out of her mouth, and Lavinia and Jessie laughed at the child. Sara also notices Ermengarde St. John, but rather than mocking her as the other students do because she weighs more than they do and struggles with her lessons, she “was so sorry for her that she began to rather like her and want to be her friend” (25). Sara always feels an impulse to defend anyone in distress. When Ermengarde struggles with her French lesson, Sara does not giggle like the other girls do.

After lessons end, Sara introduces herself to the disconsolate Ermengarde and tells her that she has a pretty name. Ermengarde’s main trouble in life is that her father is clever. He speaks many languages and reads thousands of books, so he is disappointed with Ermengarde’s difficulty in learning. Ermengarde is in awe of Sara’s cleverness. Sara changes the subject when she sees Ermengarde’s sad look and asks if she would like to see Emily. Sara explains that her papa requested a separate playroom for her because she makes up stories aloud and does not like other people to listen. Ermengarde is even more impressed that Sara can invent stories, but Sara tells her anyone can do it.

Sara warns Ermengarde to go quietly to the door so that when they open it, they may catch Emily in motion. Ermengarde is excited when the door opens, but the girls see only a beautiful doll sitting on a chair. Sara explains that Emily returned to her seat before they could see her. Then Sara reveals that she pretends that Emily can walk, “and that makes it seem as if it were true” (30). Sara allows Ermengarde to hold Emily in her arms. She tells Ermengarde stories of her voyage and India, but her new friend is most fascinated by Sara’s fantasies that dolls do things when people are out of the room. When Sara talks about initially finding Emily, Sara’s face changes, and she draws her breath in sharply. Ermengarde thinks that if Sara were like any other girl, she would start sobbing while telling this story. Sara reveals that she loves her father more than anything else in the world, and he has gone away. She doesn’t cry because she promised her father she would bear the pain like a soldier. Sympathetic Ermengarde adores Sara because she is so different from anyone else she knows. Ermengarde asks if she and Sara can be best friends: “Would you have me for yours? You’re clever, and I’m the stupidest child in the school, but I—oh, I do so like you!” (33). Sara is thankful to be liked and happily agrees to be friends. Sara offers to help with Ermengarde’s French lessons.

Although Miss Minchin privately dislikes Sara, she indulges and flatters Sara as if she were “a distinguished guest” instead of a schoolgirl (34). Miss Minchin knows that if Sara writes any complaints to her father, the school will lose its star pupil. Sara tells Ermengarde her theory that things happen by accident: Sara happened to be born with a nice father, and she just happens to enjoy learning. Sara thinks she is “good-tempered” simply because she has everything she wants, and she wonders if she would be an awful child if she had any “trials.” Ermengarde points out that Lavinia never faces difficulties but “is horrid enough” (35).

Lavinia is spiteful and extremely jealous of Sara. Not only has Miss Minchin placed the best-dressed Sara at the head of the school line, but Sara is a natural leader. Lavinia was previously been the best-dressed pupil, and she leads by dominating people. Lavinia tells Jessie that her mama says Sara’s habit of “pretending things is silly,” and she will “grow up eccentric” (37).

Sara is never “grand” about herself but freely shares her privileges. The younger girls adore her because she is motherly to them, while Lavinia disdains them. Sara even hosts the youngest schoolgirls for a tea party and lets them play with her doll, Emily.

Little Lottie Legh’s mother died when she was a baby. Lottie learned that if she did not want to do something, she could wail about the loss of her mother, and adults would accede to her demands. One morning, Sara overhears Miss Minchin and her sister, Miss Amelia, unsuccessfully trying to quiet Lottie’s howling. Sara offers to help after hearing the adults alternating between comforting and threatening the child. After the adults leave the room, Sara quietly sits next to Lottie. When Lottie wails that she does not have a mama, Sara states that she does not have one either. Astounded, Lottie asks where Sara’s mama is, and Sara tells her that both of their mamas are in heaven. Sara describes a place that “is so real to her own imagination that Lottie began to listen in spite of herself” (43); a place where children gather lilies, and walls are made of pearl. At the story’s end, when Lottie cries that she has no mama at the school, Sara says she will be Lottie’s adopted mama, and Emily will be her sister. Lottie then cheerfully agrees to have her face washed and her hair brushed.

Sara’s “greatest power,” “the power that Lavinia and certain other girls were most envious of […] was her power of telling stories” (45). This power gains her more followers than her luxurious possessions and her “show pupil” achievements. When Sara stands in the midst of a circle of girls, she forgets she is inventing wonderful tales. She begins to dramatically use her hands and voice, and the stories seem real to her.

After two years at Miss Minchin’s, Sara sees a small, dirty figure watching her through the railings as she gets out of her carriage. Sara smiles at the young girl, who scurries into the school kitchen. That evening, Sara sees the child come into the schoolroom to sweep the fireplace ashes while Sara is telling a story to a group of pupils about a princess and mermaids. Sara notices that the servant girl is so captivated by the story that she sits down. Lavinia points out that the child is listening, and the terrified girl flees the room. Lavinia says that her mama would not want her to tell stories to servants, but Sara replies that stories belong to everyone. When Lottie reveals that Sara tells her about their mamas in heaven, Lavinia criticizes Sara for inventing fairy stories. Sara notes that there are stories about heaven in Revelation and urges Lavinia to be kinder to people.

Mariette tells Sara the poor girl who swept the ashes is named Becky. Becky is 14 but looks as if she is 12 because her growth is stunted by being overworked and underfed. Becky recently became the scullery maid, the lowest-ranking female servant, but also does many other hard tasks, and Mariette feels sorry for her. Sara hopes to talk with Becky, but the forlorn child is always in a hurry.

One afternoon, Sara discovers Becky fast asleep in Sara’s own easy chair before the fire in her sitting room. Becky saves the cleaning of Sara’s rooms until the end of each afternoon’s work because she loves the comfortable surroundings. This day, however, Becky is exhausted. When Becky awakens, she sees Sara in a rose-colored dancing frock because Sara has just returned from her dance class. Terrified, Becky apologizes and starts to flee, but Sara kindly touches her shoulder and asks her to stay to eat a piece of cake. Sara says it is only an accident that she and Becky are in their respective positions. While Becky eats the cake, she tells Sara about the time she saw the royal princess outside Covent Garden and says that Sara looks like her. Sara offers to tell a bit of her story every day to Becky when she comes to clean the rooms. When she leaves the room, Becky feels transformed by Sara’s kindness. Sara decides to pretend to be a princess so she can “scatter largess” (57), doing small things for people.