Little Catskin is an American fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Big Nelt.

It is based on a story collected by the brothers Grimm

Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...

 and in the original the princess ends up marrying her own father.

It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love. Others of this type include Catskin

Catskin

Catskin is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs, in More English Fairy Tales. Marian Roalfe Cox, in her pioneering study of Cinderella, identified as one of the basic types, the Unnatural Father, contrasting with Cinderella itself and Cap O' Rushes.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B,...

, Cap O' Rushes

Cap O' Rushes

"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.Jacobs gives his source as "Contributed by Mrs. Walter-Thomas to "Suffolk Notes and Queries" of the Ipswich Journal, published by Mr. Lang in Longman's Magazine, vol. xiii., also in Folk-Lore September, 1890"...

, Donkeyskin

Donkeyskin

Donkeyskin is a French fairy tale told by Charles Perrault.Andrew Lang included it, somewhat euphemized, in The Grey Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510B, unnatural love...

, Allerleirauh

Allerleirauh

Allerleirauh is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65. Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book....

, The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter

The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter

"The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Ann Darroch from Islay.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love...

, The She-Bear

The She-Bear

"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in A Book of Princes and Princesses....

, Mossycoat

Mossycoat

Mossycoat is a fairy tale collected by Katherine M. Briggs and Ruth I. Tongue in Folktales of England.Also included within A Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner....

, Tattercoats

Tattercoats

Tattercoats is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his More English Fairy Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B, the persecuted heroine...

, The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress

The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress

"The Princess That Wore a Rabbit-skin Dress" is an American fairy tale from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Uncle Tom Dixon.It is Aarne-Thompson type 510B...

, and The Bear

The Bear (fairy tale)

The Bear is a fairy tale collected by Andrew Lang in The Grey Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson classification system type 510B, unnatural love...

.

Synopsis

A man put away his dead wife's wedding gown, saying he would not remarry to a less pretty woman. His older two daughters mistreated the youngest daughter until she had to patch her gowns with catskin. One day, she put on her mother's gown. Her father begged her to tell him who she was. She demanded and got a dress the color of all the clouds that go by, and another of all the flowers that bloom; then she told him that she was his daughter Little Cat Skin. He drove her away, and she took the dresses and went to work in a queen's kitchen. The queen had a party, and told Little Cat Skin she could come, and even gave her an old dress, but Little Cat Skin wore the dress of clouds. The queen's son fell in love with her. She went to another party in that dress, and then a third

Rule of three (writing)

The "rule of three" is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of...

in the dress of flowers. The son gave her a ring and fell sick with love. Little Cat Skin offered to cook something for him, and she put the ring in the dish. He saw her and thought she looked like the girl, and when he found the ring, he knew she was. They married.