_Le Parfait Amour_ is a story exhibiting considerable talent, although
deficient in those lively sallies, those amusing whimsicalities and
allusions to the manners and dresses of the period which give so
much piquancy to the Fairy Tales of Perrault, and the more elaborate
compositions of Madame d'Aulnoy. The interest is entirely of a
serious character; but the magic ring, with its power over the four
elements--the value of which is destroyed by the too hasty wish of
the lover--is an ingenious and dramatic idea, and the fatal lamps a
truly affecting situation. This is the first Fairy Tale that gives
us a picture of the Gnomes, and their subterraneous magnificence--a
superstition existing all over Europe; the Trolls, or underground men
of the North; the little people and ground mannikins of Germany; and
the Korr or Korred of Brittany.
"The wise
And prudent little people, who keep warm
By their fine fires, many a fathom down
Within the inmost rocks. Pure native gold,
And the rock crystals, shaped like towers, clear,
Transparent, gleam with colours thousand-fold
Through the fair palace; and the little folks,
So happy and so gay, amuse themselves
Sometimes with singing."[57]
And accordingly we find them singing the charms of Irolite, and
entertaining the lovers with "une musique fort harmonieuse, mais un peu
barbare."