What fairy tales did Charles Perrault write? Why real fairy tales by Charles Perrault cannot be read to children

Charles Perrault (1628-1703) is known in Russia primarily for his fairy tales. But in France, during his life, he was mainly a high-ranking official, and fairy tales were entertainment and leisure for him. The list of Charles Perrault's fairy tales was constantly updated.

Upbringing

Charles Perrault was born into the family of a lawyer who opposed orthodox Catholicism, especially Jesuitism. But the family strictly professed Catholicism, trying to revive the true spirit of Christ. Charles was the youngest in a family where besides him there were two sisters and four brothers. He received a good education and became a lawyer. At the same time, he wrote poetry and poems, and made translations of the Aeneid. That is, a craving for literary creativity was inherent in him. Then the writer does not yet know that he will be glorified by folk stories, from which one can now compile a list of fairy tales by Charles Perrault.

Job

A hardworking young man works in the Ministry of Finance, and even King Louis XIV himself notes the style of his letters. Moreover, in connection with the marriage of the king, and then the birth of the Dauphin, he writes odes. He participates in the birth of the Academy of Fine Literature. Subsequently, Perrault will be accepted into it and become an academician.

But so far he does not know that he will begin to study folk art, from which a whole list of fairy tales by Charles Perrault will later be compiled.

Fairy tales

Meanwhile, interest in ancient legends is emerging in society. Charles Perrault also joins these trends with great enthusiasm. A whole list of fairy tales gradually emerges from his pen. Charles Perrault is somewhat embarrassed by this - he is too much for such trifles.

Let us remember the well-known “Cinderella” (1697). The poor girl's mother died, and her father remarried some time later. The stepmother, loving her two daughters, entrusted all the work, especially dirty work, to her stepdaughter, and did not allow the girl to have fun at all. When the king announced that he was inviting all the girls of the kingdom to the ball, the poor girl, of course, was not taken, but was given a lot of work. But after the stepmother and her daughters left for the ball, the godmother appeared. She was a fairy. The godmother dressed the girl and gave her a carriage and glass slippers. But she strictly ordered me to leave the ball as soon as the appointed time arrived.

The charming beauty got carried away dancing with the prince and at the very last minute she came to her senses and ran away from the ball, losing her tiny glass slipper.

The prince picked up this shoe and announced that he would marry the girl on whose foot this shoe would be put. The shoe was tried on for all the girls. Finally it was Cinderella's turn. To everyone's surprise, the shoe fit her perfectly. But even more surprising was the fact that Cinderella took out the second shoe from her pocket. The prince looked closely at Cinderella and recognized the sweet stranger who had charmed him at the ball. The girl was changed and taken to the palace, and a few days later the wedding took place. This is how this magical fairy tale ends happily, which is believed to this day.

The tales continue

What other fairy tales did Charles Perrault write? The list goes on:

"Puss in Boots";
"Little Red Riding Hood";
"Tom Thumb".

Fairy who gives everyone "just what they deserve"

This tale is correctly called "The Fairy's Gifts" and was written, like all others, in 1697. There lived a widow with two daughters. One was the spitting image of their mother - rude and unfriendly, and the second, the youngest, seemed to be a stranger to them. The girl was sweet and friendly. But her mother loved someone who was like her, lazy and rude. The youngest daughter was forced to work hard in the house and also go to a distant source for water. It was both difficult and long. One day, as usual, having come for water, the girl met there a poor, poor old woman who asked for some water to drink.

It was a fairy who wanted to find out what kind of character the girl had. With great eagerness, the girl rinsed the jug, filled it with clean water and offered the old woman a drink. After drinking some water, the old woman said that whatever the service, such will be the reward. With every word a girl utters, either a gem or a flower will fall from her lips. After this, the fairy left, and the girl went home, carrying heavy water.

When the girl returned, her mother attacked her with reproaches for the delay. And the youngest daughter began to make excuses, and after every word she said, a diamond or pearl fell from her lips. The mother asked what was the matter and sent her eldest daughter to fetch water. She went with great reluctance, angry at the long journey. At the source she met a richly dressed lady who asked her for water. Quite rudely, as if sparing the water, the girl handed the jug to the lady. She, having drunk the water (and it was the fairy again, who had now taken on a different appearance), said that the girl would certainly receive a reward for the water. And they went their separate ways, each in their own direction.

The mother was delighted to see her daughter and began to ask her what happened at the well. When the eldest daughter spoke, toads and snakes began to pour out of her mouth. The mother became angry with both daughters, and simply kicked the younger one out of the house. Walking through the forest, the girl met a prince who spoke to her. And when the girl began to answer him, flowers and precious stones began to fall from her lips. The prince was amazed at both the beauty and the treasures that she dropped. He firmly decided to marry her and took her to his palace. The wedding completed the matter. And the eldest daughter became angrier and angrier every day. And she became so nasty that her mother kicked her out of the house. Useless to anyone, she died.

The famous lawyer partly heard these tales in childhood, partly asked peasants and wrote them down. Here's how Charles Perrault's tales go further (list):

• "Rike the Tuft" (1697);
• "Bluebeard" (1697);
• "Sleeping Beauty" (1697).

In total, according to the French, eight fairy tales were written. All fairy tales by Charles Perrault are listed here. An alphabetical list is given in the text.

Charles Perrault

MAGICAL TALES

Blue Beard

Once upon a time there lived a man who had beautiful houses both in the city and in the countryside, gold and silver dishes, chairs decorated with embroidery, and gilded carriages. But, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard; this gave him such an ugly and terrible appearance that there was not a woman or a girl who would not run away when she saw him.

One of his neighbors, a noble lady, had two daughters, marvelously beautiful. He asked to marry one of them and allowed his mother to choose the one she would agree to give for him. Both did not want to marry him and abandoned him in favor of the other, unable to choose as a husband a man with a blue beard. They were also disgusted by the fact that this man had already been married several times, and no one knew what became of his wives.

To establish a closer acquaintance, Bluebeard invited them, along with their mother and three or four best friends, and several young men who were their neighbors, to one of his country houses, where the guests stayed for a whole week. All the time was taken up with walks, hunting and fishing trips, dancing, feasts, breakfasts and dinners; no one thought of sleeping, and every night passed with the guests making fun of each other; Finally, everything worked out so well that it began to seem to the youngest daughter that the owner of the house’s beard was no longer so blue and that he himself was a very decent person. As soon as we returned to the city, the wedding was decided.

A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he needed to go to the country for at least six weeks on important business; he asked her to have fun during his absence; told her to call her girlfriends, so that if she wanted, she could take them out of town; so that she tries to eat tasty food everywhere. “Here,” he said, “the keys to both large storerooms, here are the keys to the gold and silver dishes, which are not served every day; here are the keys to the chests where my gold and silver are kept; here are the keys to the caskets where my precious stones lie; here is the key that unlocks all the rooms in my house. And this small key is the key to the room that is at the end of the lower large gallery: open all the doors, go everywhere, but I forbid you to enter this small room so strictly that if you happen to open the door there, you must expect everything from me anger."

She promised to strictly observe everything that was ordered to her, and he, hugging his wife, got into his carriage and set off.

Neighbors and girlfriends did not wait for messengers to be sent for them, but they themselves went to the newlywed - they were so impatient to see all the riches of her house, because while her husband was there, they did not dare to visit her - because of his blue beard which was feared. So they immediately began to examine the rooms, small rooms, dressing rooms, which surpassed each other in beauty and wealth. Then they moved to the storerooms, where they could not stop admiring the multitude and beauty of carpets, beds, sofas, cupboards, tables, desks and mirrors, in which they could see themselves from head to toe and the edges of which, some of them were glass, others were made of gilded silver, were more beautiful and magnificent than anything that had ever happened to be seen. Without ceasing to envy, they all the time extolled the happiness of their friend, who, however, was not at all interested in the sight of all these riches, for she was impatient to go open the small room downstairs.

She was so overcome by curiosity that, not considering how impolite it was to leave her guests, she went down the secret staircase, and with such haste that two or three times, as it seemed to her, she almost broke her neck. She stood at the door to the small room for several minutes, remembering the ban that her husband had imposed, and thinking that misfortune might befall her for this disobedience; but the temptation was so strong that she could not defeat it: she took the key and tremblingly opened the door.

At first she didn't see anything because the windows were closed. A few moments later, she began to notice that the floor was completely covered with dried blood and that the bodies of several dead women tied along the walls were reflected in this blood: all of these were Bluebeard’s wives, he married them, and then killed each of them. She thought that she would die of fear, and dropped the key that she had taken out of the lock.

Having recovered a little, she picked up the key, locked the door and went up to her room to recover at least a little; but she didn’t succeed, she was so excited.

Noticing that the key to the small room was stained with blood, she wiped it two or three times, but the blood did not come off; No matter how much she washed it, no matter how much she rubbed it with sand and a sand stone, the blood still remained, because the key was magic, and there was no way to completely clean it off: when the blood was cleaned off on one side, it appeared on the other.

Bluebeard returned from his journey that same evening and said that he had received a letter on the road informing him that the matter for which he was traveling had been resolved in his favor. His wife did everything possible - just to prove to him that she was delighted with his quick return.

The next day he demanded the keys from her, and she gave them to him, but with such a trembling in her hand that he easily guessed everything that had happened. “Why,” he asked her, “is the key to the small room missing along with the other keys?” “Probably,” she said, “I left it upstairs, on my table.” “Don’t forget,” said Bluebeard, “to give it to me as soon as possible.”

Finally, after various excuses, I had to bring the key. Bluebeard, looking at him, said to his wife: “Why is there blood on this key?” “I don’t know,” answered the unhappy wife, pale as death. "Do not know? - asked Bluebeard. - And I, I know. You wanted to go into the small room. Well, madam, you will enter it and take your place there next to the ladies you saw there.”

She threw herself at her husband’s feet, crying, asking him for forgiveness and, by all indications, sincerely repenting of her disobedience. She, so beautiful and sad, would have touched even a rock, but Bluebeard had a heart harsher than the rock. “You must die, madam,” he told her, “and without delay.” “If I have to die,” she answered, looking at him with eyes full of tears, “give me at least a few minutes to pray to God.” “I give you seven minutes,” answered Bluebeard, “but not a moment more.”

Charles Perrault was a fairly famous writer of his time, but his literary works, with the exception of fairy tales, were soon forgotten.

Charles Perrault(1628-1703) was born into the family of the judge of the Parisian Parliament, Pierre Perrault, and was the youngest of his six children. His brother Claude Perrault was a famous architect, the author of the eastern façade of the Louvre.

Philippe Lallemand "Portrait of Charles Perrault" (1665)

In 1663, Charles Perrault was appointed secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Letters, was the general controller of the surintendent of royal buildings, but then fell out of favor.

"Tales of Mother Goose"

Illustration for the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”

In 1697, C. Perrault published the collection “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings.” The collection consisted of 7 fairy tales - literary adaptations of folk tales and the fairy tale “Rike the Tuft”, which was composed by Perrault himself. “Tales of Mother Goose” glorified Perrault; in fact, he introduced the fairy tale genre into “high” literature.
The collection of tales was published in Paris in January 1697 under the name of Pierre Darmancourt (son of Charles Perrault). At that time, fairy tales were considered a low genre, so perhaps the famous writer Perrault wished to hide his name.
The collection includes 8 prose tales:

"Cinderella"
"Puss in Boots"
"Little Red Riding Hood"
"Tom Thumb"
"Fairy Gifts"
"Rike-Khokholok"
"Sleeping Beauty"
"Blue Beard"

All these tales are so well known to Russian readers that there is no need to retell their contents.
The collection of fairy tales by Charles Perrault was a resounding success and created a fashion for fairy tales among the French aristocracy. Others, including women, began to make adaptations of folk stories. The most popular fairy tale was “Beauty and the Beast,” created by writers Leprince de Beaumont and Barbeau de Villeneuve; in many publications it is published under the same cover as “Tales of Mother Goose.” Variants of this tale are known throughout Europe, and the oldest recorded similar story is Apuleius's tale of Cupid and Psyche. In Russia this plot is known from a fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower", recorded by a Russian writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov according to the housekeeper Pelageya. The fairy tale has an edifying meaning and explains that one should be afraid not of the ugliness of the Beast, but of the evil hearts of Beauty’s sisters. The heroes of the fairy tale symbolize virtues or vices.
Initially, the collection “Tales of Mother Goose” also included the short story “Griselda” and two fairy tales – “Donkey Skin” and “Amusing Desires”. But later these three works were not included in the collection “Tales of Mother Goose”.

Illustration for the fairy tale “Cinderella”
The unprecedented success of the collection “Tales of Mother Goose” among Parisians in 1696 led to the fact that first France, and then the whole of Europe, fell in love with magical stories about Cinderella, her evil sisters and the glass slipper; she was horrified by the knight Bluebeard, who killed his wives; I was rooting for the polite Little Red Riding Hood, who was swallowed by the evil wolf. Only in Russia did translators correct the ending of the fairy tale: the wolf is killed by woodcutters, and in the French original the wolf ate both the grandmother and granddaughter.
Since all the fairy tales of Charles Perrault from the collection “Tales of Mother Goose” are well known, we will look at one of the fairy tales not included in the collection.

Fairy tale by C. Perrault “Donkey Skin”

The plot of this fairy tale is reminiscent of the plot of Cinderella.
Once upon a time there lived a rich and powerful king. He had great wealth in everything, and his wife was the most beautiful and intelligent woman in the world. They lived amicably and happily, but they had no children.
One day, a close friend of the king died, leaving behind his daughter, a young princess. The king and queen took her to their palace and began to raise her.
The girl became more and more beautiful every day. Everyone was happy. But the queen fell ill and soon died. Before her death she told her husband:
- If you decide to marry a second time, then marry only the woman who will be more beautiful and better than me.
After the death of his wife, the king could not find a place for himself from grief, did not eat or drink anything, and grew so old that all his ministers were horrified by such a change. They decided to help him get married, but the king didn’t even want to hear about it. But the ministers did not lag behind him and were so tired of him with their pestering that he said to them:
“I promised the late queen that I would marry a second time if I found a woman who was more beautiful and better than her, but there is no such woman in the whole world.” That's why I'll never get married.
Then the chief minister proposed to the king to marry his pupil. And he agreed. However, the princess found it terrible. She did not at all want to become the wife of the old king. However, the king did not listen to her objections and ordered to prepare for the wedding as soon as possible.
The young princess, in despair, turned to the sorceress Lilac, her aunt. The sorceress first suggested that she demand from the king a dress like the blue sky, then a dress the color of the moon, and then a dress shining like the sun. And the king fulfilled all these wishes.
Then the sorceress advised the princess to demand the skin of his donkey from the king. The fact is that this was no ordinary donkey. Every morning, instead of manure, he covered his bedding with shiny gold coins. It is clear why the king loved the shore of this donkey so much.

Still from the cartoon “Donkey Skin”

But the king, without hesitation, fulfilled this wish of the princess. On the advice of the sorceress Lilac, the princess wrapped herself in donkey skin and left the royal court. The sorceress gave her her magic wand, which could, at the request of the princess, provide her with a whole chest of different outfits.
The princess went to many houses and asked to take her as a servant. But no one wanted to take it because of its ugly appearance. But one housewife agreed to take the poor princess as her worker: wash clothes, look after turkeys, herd sheep and clean pig troughs. That's what they called her - Donkey Skin.

One day the young prince was returning from a hunt and stopped to rest in the house where Donkey Skin lived as a working woman. Having rested, he began to wander around the house and yard. Looking into the crack of one of their rooms, he saw in her a beautiful, elegant princess - she sometimes used a magic wand and dressed up in her beautiful dresses. The prince ran to the landlady to find out who lives in this little room. They told him: a girl named Donkey Skin lives there, she wears a donkey skin instead of a dress, so dirty and greasy that no one wants to look at her or talk to her.
The prince returned to the palace, but could not forget the beauty whom he accidentally saw through the crack of the door. And he even got sick from missing her...
Well, then we read the fairy tale on one's own.
Let's just say that events developed in such a way that at the end of the fairy tale it all ended with a wedding. Kings from different countries came to the wedding.

Conclusion

Based on the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, many cartoons and musical works have been created, including classical ballets: “Cinderella” by S.S. Prokofiev, “The Sleeping Beauty” by P.I. Tchaikovsky, as well as the operas “Cinderella” by G. Rossini, “The Castle of Duke Bluebeard” by B. Bartok.

Scene from S. Prokofiev's ballet “Cinderella”

In fact, the collection of C. Perrault “Tales of Mother Goose” became the first book in the world written for children. From Perrault's masterpiece the phenomenon of children's literature was born.
And although Perrault’s fairy tales are based on well-known folklore stories, he presented them with his characteristic talent and humor. Some details were omitted, some were added; the language of fairy tales was refined - thus, they can undoubtedly be considered the author's. All the tales in the collection have a moralizing meaning, which makes them pedagogical. The tales of Charles Perrault influenced the development of the world fairy tale tradition.

Information sheet:

Every adult remembers the magical fairy tales of Charles Perrault from his childhood. Their heroes have passed through the centuries and still remain loved. No inquisitive child will remain indifferent to the story of the sly Puss in Boots, poor Cinderella or the villain Bluebeard. And the slightly modified Little Red Riding Hood is perceived as written in Russia.

Fairy-tale adventures unobtrusively teach children attentiveness and responsibility, and a positive attitude towards life.

Who wrote the fairy tales?

The author did not reveal the secret of his magical works to anyone. It is believed that he processed folk tales and published them under the name of his son, because he was afraid of condemnation from high society for such an activity. The second version was the father’s desire to bring his heir to a high position.

The collection was received very well. People liked the language of presentation and the plots so much that the book was literally swept off the shelves. Rave reviews were passed from mouth to mouth. The entire society in the royal palace was also keen on discussing the adventures of fairy-tale characters.

There were rumors that children's fairy tales were published by Charles Perrault. But in his memoirs, written at the end of his life, he did not mention them at all. Therefore, the question of the authorship of father or son was lost for centuries. Although it was Perrault who began to be considered the founder of children's literature and pedagogy.

Features of Perrault's works

It is impossible to say which fairy tales are the best, because they are all written in the same interesting way. These are real magical stories, but as if from the real world. Features of Perrault's stories are the vividness of the plot combined with faith in its possible implementation. Children feel this idea well and immediately rank Perrault’s fairy tales among their favorites.

The list of works is given on the page in alphabetical order. You can read or print any of them for free.

For 316 years now, the world has been reading the fairy tales of the French writer with rapture and love. Charles Perrault. His simple and uncomplicated at first glance stories are filled with educational moments and at the same time are told specifically for children and at the same time captivate adults. This adult and intelligent French academician, poet and critic, never aspired to become a storyteller, although his love for creativity showed from an early age. He received a legal education, although he studied on his own and worked as a lawyer for some time, but the poet’s soul did not accept the rigor of the law and, having abandoned this field, he directed his aspirations to other shores.

The collection of his fairy tales was published when the writer was already an adult and established personality, but this did not prevent him from entering world history as one of the most famous storytellers. In this section you can read Charles Perrault's tales online.

The collection of fairy tales “Tales of Mother Goose” was published in 1697 at a time when fairy tales were really popular. But this book, which you can read online here, was primarily attractive, and continues to be attractive to this day, by the fact that it was the first book written for children. It contains 10 fairy tales, but each of them has passed the test of time and, most importantly, still delights and continues to fascinate children all over the world, starting with the youngest and those who have retained a love for fairy tales in their souls. This is probably the main success of the fairy tales collected and written in literary language by Charles Perrault.

Is it possible to forget the story of Cinderella, which no other fairy tale for girls could displace from its pedestal, or not to empathize with Sleeping Beauty, to forget about cunning and the ability to get what you want, not for yourself, the most famous cat in the world, Puss in Boots. And this is not a complete list of the bright characters and characters of these famous fairy tales. And besides all this, each of them shows your child not only magic, but also that hard work is always rewarded, deceit and meanness are punished, and these simple truths, thanks to the love for their fairy-tale heroes, are perceived as law and truism.

Reading fairy tales online with your child is a memory, time and joy that you give to your growing child. And Mother Goose's fairy tales are a world that he will carry in his soul for many, many years if you open them for him and for yourself. After all tales of Charles Perrault- this is a world where you will never regret opening the door, but will only gain a good friend for your kids and a smart teacher who knows how to teach while having fun. Welcome!