Charles Perrault


Charles Perrault

French author Charles Perrault (1628-1703) enjoyed much distinction in his day, and is familiar to students of French literature for the prominent part that he played in the famous Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, which so keenly occupied French men of letters in the latter part of the seventeenth century.

Charles Perrault was an influential figure in the 17th-century French literary scene, popular member of the Académie Française, and a person who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale.

His fame today rests upon his works derived from earlier folk tales published 1697 in his book Tales of Mother Goose; or Stories of Olden Times, and so long as there are children to listen spellbound to the adventures of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Tom Thumb, Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, Blue Beard, and that arch rogue Puss in Boots, his memory will endure.


These stories which may be said to be as old as the race itself—certainly their germs are to be found in the oldest literature and among the oldest folk-tales in the world—were orally current in France and the neighboring countries in nearly the form in which Perrault wrote them for very many years; and an interesting account of the various forms in which they are found in the literature and folklore of other nations before Perrault's time is given in Les Contes de ma mère l'Oie avant Perrault, by Charles Deulin, Paris, E. Dentu, 1878.


Browse Tales by Charles Perrault:

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

Blue Beard

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper

Little Red Riding Hood

Puss in Boots

The Fairy

Jack and the Bean Stalk

Jack and the Bean Stalk - Part 2



Browse Fairy Tales...

Kids Corner

Kids Corner

Early childhood is the time to awaken the imagination...

Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy

Getting your kids to eat healthy food can be difficult. Serve healthy food choices with same enthusiasm as dessert. Try to serve vegetables more often and present them in a simple way. If you are serving cooked vegetables, don't overcook them.

Ask your kids to help you with the shopping and meal preparation. Try to make food shopping and preparation interesting and fun activity for the whole family. Kids like to help and have fun. Activity like that is also a good way to get them more interested in what you're serving.

Get your kids to drink more water and take a stand against carbonated drinks and fruit juices. They are among the biggest culprits behind childhood obesity and full of empty calories.


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