Brewer's: Bettina

A mascotte who always brought good luck wherever she went. Though a mere peasant, she is taken to the Prince of Piombino's palace of Laurent, to avert his ill-luck; but by marrying Pippo (a shepherd) she loses her gift. However, the prince is reminded that the children of a mascotte are hereditary mascottes, and makes Bettina promise that her first child shall be adopted by the prince. (See Mascotte.)

Bettina

The name under which Elizabeth Brentano translated into English Goethe's Letters to a Child in 1835. She was the wife of Ludwig Achim von Arnim, and it was her correspondence with Goethe which were the Letters to a Child referred to. Elizabeth Brentano was born 1785.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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