Who was Charles Perrault? Why the fairy tales you know may not be as they seem

French author Charles Perrault was born 388 years ago on January 12, and has become immortalised as the father of the fairy tale as we know it

 (Re-published from The Telegraph)
10:00PM GMT 12 Jan 2016
Charles Perrault: fairy tale visionary
Perrault was born in Paris in 1628, and was a lawyer before turning his hand to the written word.
While the Brothers Grimm are widely credited with creating the fairy tale as we know it, Perrault actually wrote stories called Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, La Belle au bois dormant and Cendrillon a full 200 years before.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703)
In 1695, aged 67, he wrote Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, a series of moral tales
designed to prompt the reader to reflect on the dilemmas presented to the protagonist, which were well-known from folklore even then.

The volume contained the story now known as Mother Goose, alongside perrenially recognised titles such as Puss in Boots, Blue Beard and Cinderella, and less famous stories Ricky of the Tuft and Little Thumb.
The book was enormously successful, and was eventually translated into English in 1729 by Robert Samber.
However, readers may be shocked to discover that Perrault's original tales have lost much of their grisly detail today.
His version of Little Red Riding Hood, for example, made it more explicitly obvious that the 'wolf' is a man intent on preying on young girls who wander alone in woods.
"From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, And it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner," he wrote.
"I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!"

Stories or Tales from Times Past

  1. La belle au bois dormant (The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood)
  2. Le petit chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood)
  3. La Barbe bleüe (Blue Beard)
  4. Le Maistre Chat, ou le Chat Botté (The Master Cat; or, Puss in Boots)
  5. Les Fées (The Fairies)
  6. Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre (Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper)
  7. Riquet à la Houppe (Ricky of the Tuft)
  8. Le petit Pouçet (Little Thumb)

Sleeping Beauty

The version of Sleeping Beauty we know now is a combination of a tale by Perrault (which in turn was based on older stories dating back to the 14th century) and the Grimm Brothers's Briar Rose, which was an oral version of Perrault's.
Confusing? It can be. Disney's 1959 film sweeps away the darker elements of the Sleeping Beauty stories – and they can be very dark – in favour of Princess Aurora, her three fairy godmothers, and the vengeful fairy Maleficent, who uses an enchanted spindle to put the princess into a deep sleep.
Yet another reason to avoid doing your own sewing.

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