It is a beautiful story, with extremely vivid prose and descriptions where the words seem to come to life. It has not aged particularly well, though, even allowing for fairy-tale convention. Maria is extremely passive, letting herself be pushed this way and that by literally everyone else and constantly cautioned against being too curious or too bold. The one act she does do entirely of her own accord is host a tea party, after which everyone lives happily every after without so much as a stomachache. I can't tell if it is simply an old-fashioned story with heavy Christian overtones or if it was seen as didactic and insipid at the time. In any case, the telling of it is so lovely it's easy to forgive its faults and simply let it be what it is, though if you try to give this to a child today, don't be surprised if they're bored by it.