Caraboo: The Servant Girl Princess

Part fairy tale, part analysis of human gullibility, this story, which inspired an eponymous movie, is the history of Mary Baker, a servant girl who fooled 19th-century England into believing she was a princess from the mysterious country of Javasu. Found wandering the English countryside, strangely dressed and speaking no English, Mary was rescued from the workhouse by the wealthy Elizabeth Worrall. Mrs. Worrall was convinced that no one with such ``a delicate, sure manner'' could be anything but royalty. Using Mrs. Worrall's diary and letters and Mary's confessions (both expanded to some extent by the authors, though exactly what has been added is, unfortunately, unclear), the story reveals how this clever con woman convinced scholars as well as laymen of the truth of her preposterous tale. The more outlandish her behavior (bizarre religious rituals and fencing with men), the more people were persuaded. Mary's confessions, which deal with her life up until she began her game, reveal a restless, selfish person who resorted to the hoax in the end because of desperation and laziness. The story works especially well as a study of the gullibility of 19th-century English royalty and its willingness to believe the absurd before the rational. (May)