Posted on 01/12/2016 10:00:58 AM PST by beaversmom
Charles Perrault, author of Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella was born 388 years ago, and has been commemorated with a Google Doodle.
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.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Excellent post.
Thanks. :) A friend alerted me to it so I must give him credit.
Related:
Progressive Google cooperates with Libertarian Telegraph.UK to Honor Founder of Fairy Tale Genre
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3382762/posts
Ping to see if I can find this on Gutenberg later...
Found them, for those who wish to read: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7137
Great...thank you for posting.
What makes you think the Telegraph is libertarian? On what grounds?
Not my title. See poster at link.
Interesting! Thanks!
There are something over 800 different Cinderella stories from all over the world. Every culture has it's own version and the French one has a mistranslation, which makes a FUR SHOE, into a GLASS SLIPPER.
I much prefer the gory original versions, which I also did at the tender age of three. :-)
Fairy Tales were originally for ADULT enjoyment. After many years they fell out of favor with adults, but those looking after children ( nannies and such ) still remembered these tales, cleaned them up some, and told them to children.
The famed Bruno Bettleheim claimed that fairy tales were very good for children, as it helped them to get over their fears and how to deal with them.
Thanks np. You are always good for background info and extras.
I've always loved fairy tales so I have learned a great deal about them throughout my life and am still learning. :-)
When I was three, my mother and grandmother ONLY told/read me the "cleaned up" version of Cinderella. My great grandmother told me the REAL version, which I LOVED and which HORRIFIED my mother and grandmother. LOL I shall ALWAYS be very grateful to my great grandmother, for starting me on the path of finding the original version.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is a combination of the Ancient Greek and Roman myth of CUPID AND PYSCHE with a bit of Cinderella to boot.
Most people are familiar with the Perrault and Grimm's brothers'fairy tales. I do highly recommend the ones by Hans Christian Anderson, to those who still enjoy the others.
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