Gangana

Gangana (also known as Gangan) is the main antagonist of the French fairy tale The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana (also known as Cadichon or Septimus) by the Comte de Caylus.

Gangana is a fairy and a friend of the parents of king Petaldo, who had promised her that they would marry their son to her niece. However, Gangana did not have a niece, and as Petaldo grew tired of waiting for Gangana to have one, he instead married a woman named Gillette. Gillette would go on to bear Petaldo seven children - three sons, Toinon, Jacquot, and Chonchon, and three daughters, Toinette, Jacqueline, and Chonchette - followed by a fourth son, Cadichon. The first six children grow up to be bratty and spoiled, while Cadichon, the youngest, grows up to be well-behaved.

The news of Petaldo's marriage enraged his parents, and enraged Gangana even more. After the death of Petaldo's father the king, the queen rules in his stead. Gangana resolves to kidnap Petaldo and Gillette's children. She disguises herself as a blue mouse and comes in to steal the cake that Gillette is baking, while Gangana changes into a short old woman, threatening the queen and making strange signs. She sends three swallows to steal Toinon, Jacquot, and Chonchon, while she sends three cockchafers to steal Toinette, Jacqueline, and Chonchette. Cadichon also disappears as well.

Petaldo's mother has fallen in love with the King of the Green Isles, a handsome young king younger than her son, and seeks the help of Gangana. Gangana refuses at first, but then decides to help make the queen young and beautiful again through magic. However, the deceitful fairy turns the queen into a young girl instead. The queen goes to meet the King of the Green Isles, who has accepted her wish to marry him. The king laughs at the enchanted queen, and the wedding is called off. Gangana had been plotting to deprive the queen of her crown, though she does agree to restore her to her natural age.

Meanwhile, the children are in the Island of Bambini. Cadichon's older siblings had behaved so rudely that the Fairy of the Fields had turned them into marionettes. Not long after, it is revealed that Petaldo's mother had died of range upon finding out that her beloved King of the Green Isles had wed a bride much closer to his own age. In revenge for the queen having bequeathed her kingdom to one of her grandsons, Gangana steals Cadichon, and brings him to a secluded island, where he was kept with Gangana's niece Feliciane, who had been a prisoner since her birth. She conspires with evil genii to take over Petaldo's kingdom and turn Petaldo and his wife to rabbits.

Gangana takes the form of a flying ostrich. flying away with Cadichon and Feliciane on her back. The Fairy of the Fields sees her, braves the perils of Gangana's island, and rescues them. As punishment for her wickedness, she is condemned by the queen of the fairies to remain an ostrich. The Fairy of the Fields cares for Cadichon and Feliciane for several years, and then arranges them to wed. Cadichon is returned to his parents and siblings (who are turned back into humans), is crowned king, and weds Feliciane.