Charles Perrault(1628-1703) - French poet and critic of the classic era, member of the French Academy. Gained worldwide popularity thanks to the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty” and the book “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings.”
The tales of Charles Perrault should be read for their special liveliness, cheerful instructiveness and subtle irony, presented in an elegant style. They have not lost their relevance even in our days of all kinds of information technologies, probably because the source of inspiration for the author was life itself.
Perrault's fairy tales can be read to understand the laws of life. The heroes of his works are aristocratically gallant and practically intelligent, spiritual and highly moral. It doesn’t matter who they are - kind girls from the common people or spoiled society ladies - each character perfectly embodies a specific type of person. Cunning or hardworking, selfish or generous - the kind that is a universal example or the kind that shouldn’t be.
Read fairy tales by Charles Perrault online
A whole amazing world, which may seem naive, is unusually complex and deep, and therefore can sincerely captivate the imagination of not only a small, but also an adult. Discover this world right now - read the tales of Charles Perrault online!
fr. Charles Perrault. Les Contes de ma mère l"Oye· 1697
Reads in 12 minutes
Donkey skin
The poetic tale begins with a description of the happy life of the brilliant king, his beautiful and faithful wife and their lovely little daughter. They lived in a magnificent palace, in a rich and prosperous country. In the royal stable, next to the frisky horses, “a fat donkey hung his ears peacefully.” “The Lord made his womb so good that if he sometimes shit, it was with gold and silver.”
But “in the prime of her magnificent years, the ruler’s wife was suddenly struck down by illness.” Dying, she asks her husband to “go down the aisle a second time only with that chosen one who will finally be more beautiful and worthy than me.” The husband “swore to her through a river of mad tears about everything she was waiting for... Among the widowers, he was one of the noisiest! I cried so much, I sobbed so much...” However, “less than a year has passed, there is shameless talk about matchmaking.” But the deceased is surpassed in beauty only by her own daughter, and the father, inflamed with a criminal passion, decides to marry the princess. She, in despair, goes to her godmother - the good fairy who lives “in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of a cave, between shells, corals, mother-of-pearl.” To upset the terrible wedding, the godmother advises the girl to demand from her father a wedding dress in the shade of clear days. “The task is tricky and in no way possible.” But the king of the tailors called the masters and ordered from the high throne chairs that the gift should be ready by tomorrow, otherwise how could he not hang them in an hour! And in the morning the tailors bring “a wonderful gift.” Then the fairy advises her goddaughter to demand silk “lunar, unusual - he won’t be able to get it.” The king calls the goldsmith - and after four days the dress is ready. The princess almost submits to her father with delight, but, “compelled by her godmother,” she asks for an outfit of “wonderful sunny flowers.” The king threatens the jeweler with terrible torture - and in less than a week he creates “porphyry from porphyry.” - What a surprise - new clothes! - the fairy whispers contemptuously and orders to demand the skin of a precious donkey from the sovereign. But the king's passion is stronger than stinginess - and the skin is immediately brought to the princess.
Here “the stern godmother found that disgust is inappropriate on the paths of good,” and on the advice of the fairy, the princess promises the king to marry him, and she, throwing a vile skin over her shoulders and smearing her face with soot, runs from the palace. The girl puts wonderful dresses in the box. The fairy gives her goddaughter a magic twig: “As long as you have it in your hand, the box will crawl behind you in the distance, like a mole hiding underground.”
Royal messengers search in vain for the fugitive throughout the country. The courtiers are in despair: “no wedding, which means no feasts, no cakes, which means no pastries... The chaplain was more upset than anyone: he didn’t have time to have a snack in the morning and said goodbye to the wedding treat.”
And the princess, dressed as a beggar, wanders along the road, looking for “even a place as a poultry keeper, even a swineherd.” But the beggars themselves spit after the slob.” Finally, the unfortunate woman is taken in as a servant by a farmer - “to clean the pig stalls and wash greasy rags. Now in the closet behind the kitchen is the princess’s yard.” The impudent villagers and “men are disgustingly bothering her,” and even mocking the poor thing. Her only joy is to lock herself in her closet on Sunday, wash herself, dress up in one or another marvelous dress and twirl in front of the mirror. “Ah, moonlight makes her slightly pale, and sunny light makes her look a little fuller... A blue dress is the best of all!”
And in these parts “a luxurious and omnipotent king kept a brilliant poultry yard.” The prince and a crowd of courtiers often visited this park. “The princess has already fallen in love with him from a distance.” Oh, if only he loved girls in donkey skin! - the beauty sighed. And the prince - “a heroic look, a fighting spirit” - somehow came across a poor hut at dawn and saw through a crack a beautiful princess in a marvelous outfit. Struck by her noble appearance, the young man did not dare to enter the hut, but, returning to the palace, “he did not eat, did not drink, did not dance; he lost interest in hunting, opera, fun and girlfriends” - and thought only about the mysterious beauty. He was told that a dirty beggar, Donkey Skin, lived in a squalid hut. The prince doesn't believe it. “He cries bitterly, he sobs” - and demands that Donkey Skin bake him a pie. A loving queen mother will not contradict her son, and the princess, “hearing this news,” hurries to knead the dough. “They say: working extraordinarily, she... completely, completely by accident! “I dropped my ring into the dough.” But “my opinion is that this was her calculation.” After all, she saw how the prince looked at her through the crack!
Having received the pie, the patient “devoured it with such greedy passion that, truly, it seems like a fair amount of luck that he did not swallow the ring.” Since the young man in those days “was losing terribly weight... the doctors decided unanimously: the prince was dying of love.” Everyone begs him to marry - but he agrees to take as his wife only the one who can put a tiny ring with an emerald on her finger. All the girls and widows begin to thin their fingers.
However, the ring did not suit either noble noblewomen, or cute grisettes, or cooks and farm laborers. But then “from under the donkey’s skin appeared a fist that looked like a lily.” The laughter stops. Everyone is shocked. The princess goes to change clothes - and an hour later she appears in the palace, resplendent with dazzling beauty and luxurious attire. The king and queen are happy, the prince is happy. Rulers from all over the world are called to the wedding. The princess's come to his senses, seeing his daughter, cries with joy. The prince is delighted: “what a lucky chance that his father-in-law is such a powerful ruler.” “Sudden thunder... The fairy queen, a witness of the misfortunes of the past, descends to her goddaughter to glorify virtue forever...”
Moral: “It is better to endure terrible suffering than to betray a duty of honor.” After all, “youth can be satisfied with a crust of bread and water, while she keeps her outfit in a golden box.”
Bluebeard
Once upon a time there lived a very rich man who had a blue beard. She disfigured him so much that, seeing this man, all the women ran away in fear. His neighbor, a noble lady, had two daughters of wondrous beauty. He asked any of these girls to marry him. But none of them wanted to have a spouse with a blue beard. They also didn’t like the fact that this man had already been married several times and no one knew what fate befell his wives.
Bluebeard invited the girls, their mother, friends and girlfriends to one of his luxurious country houses, where they had fun for a whole week. And so it began to seem to the youngest daughter that the owner of the house’s beard was not so blue, and that he himself was a very respectable man. Soon the wedding was decided.
A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he was leaving on business for six weeks. He asked her not to be bored, to have fun, to call her friends, gave her the keys to all the chambers, storerooms, caskets and chests - and forbade her to enter only one small room.
His wife promised to obey him, and he left. Immediately, without waiting for the messengers, the girlfriends came running. They were eager to see all the riches of Bluebeard, but they were afraid to come in front of him. Now, admiring the house full of priceless treasures, the guests enviously extolled the happiness of the newlywed, but she could only think about the small room...
Finally, the woman abandoned her guests and rushed headlong down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Curiosity overcame fear - and the beauty unlocked the door with trepidation... In the dark room, the floor was covered with dried blood, and on the walls hung the bodies of Bluebeard's former wives, whom he had killed. Out of horror, the newlywed dropped the key. Picking it up, she locked the door and, trembling, rushed to her room. There the woman noticed that the key was stained with blood. The unfortunate woman took a long time to clean the stain, but the key was magical, and the blood, wiped off on one side, appeared on the other...
That same evening Bluebeard returned. His wife greeted him with ostentatious delight. The next day he demanded the keys from the poor girl. Her hands were shaking so much that he immediately guessed everything and asked: “Where is the key to the small room?” After various excuses, I had to bring the dirty key. “Why is he bleeding? - inquired Bluebeard. -Did you enter the small room? Well, madam, that’s where you’ll stay now.”
The woman, sobbing, threw herself at her husband’s feet. Beautiful and sad, she would have pitied even a stone, but Bluebeard had a heart harder than stone. “Allow me to at least pray before I die,” the poor thing asked.” “I give you seven minutes!” - answered the villain. Left alone, the woman called her sister and said to her: “Sister Anna, look if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today." The girl climbed the tower and from time to time said to the unfortunate woman: “You can’t see anything, only the sun is scorching and the grass is glistening in the sun.” And Bluebeard, clutching a large knife in his hand, shouted: “Come here!” - “Just a minute!” - answered the poor thing and kept asking sister Anna if the brothers were visible? The girl noticed clouds of dust in the distance - but it was a herd of sheep. Finally she saw two horsemen on the horizon...
Then Bluebeard roared throughout the house. The trembling wife came out to him, and he, grabbing her by the hair, was about to cut off her head, but at that moment a dragoon and a musketeer burst into the house. Snatching their swords, they rushed at the villain. He tried to escape, but the beauty’s brothers pierced him with steel blades.
The wife inherited all of Bluebeard's wealth. She gave a dowry to her sister Anna when she married a young nobleman who had loved her for a long time; The young widow helped each of the brothers achieve the rank of captain, and then she herself married a good man who helped her forget about the horrors of her first marriage.
Moral: “Yes, curiosity is a scourge. It confuses everyone; it was born on the mountain of mortals.”
Rike with a tuft
One queen gave birth to such an ugly son that the courtiers doubted for a long time whether he was human. But the good fairy assured that he would be very smart and would be able to give his intelligence to the person he loved. Indeed, as soon as he learned to babble, the child began to say the sweetest things. He had a small tuft on his head, which is why the prince was nicknamed Rike with the tuft.
Seven years later, the queen of a neighboring country gave birth to two daughters; Seeing the first one - beautiful as day - the mother was so happy that she almost felt bad, but the second girl turned out to be extremely ugly. But the same fairy predicted that the ugly girl would be very smart, and the beauty would be stupid and awkward, but she would be able to bestow beauty on whoever she liked.
The girls grew up - and the beauty always had much less success than her smart sister. And then one day in the forest, where the silly girl went to mourn her bitter lot, the unfortunate woman met the ugly Rike. Having fallen in love with her from the portraits, he came to the neighboring kingdom... The girl told Rika about her misfortune, and he said that if the princess decided to marry him in a year, she would immediately become wiser. The beauty foolishly agreed - and immediately spoke so witty and gracefully that Riquet wondered if he had given her more intelligence than he had left for himself?..
The girl returned to the palace, amazed everyone with her intelligence and soon became her father’s main adviser; All fans turned away from her ugly sister, and the fame of the beautiful and wise princess thundered throughout the world. Many princes wooed the beauty, but she made fun of them all, until finally one rich, handsome and smart prince appeared...
Walking through the forest and thinking about choosing a groom, the girl suddenly heard a dull noise under her feet. At that same moment the earth opened up, and the princess saw people preparing a luxurious feast. “This is for Rike, tomorrow is his wedding,” they explained to the beauty. And then the shocked princess remembered that exactly a year had passed since the day she met the freak.
And soon Rike himself appeared in a magnificent wedding dress. However, the wiser princess flatly refused to marry such an ugly man. And then Rike revealed to her that she could endow her chosen one with beauty. The princess sincerely wished that Rike would become the most wonderful and amiable prince in the world - and a miracle happened!
True, others argue that it is not a matter of magic, but of love. The princess, admiring the intelligence and loyalty of her admirer, stopped noticing his ugliness. The hump began to give special importance to the prince’s posture, the terrible limp turned into a manner of leaning slightly to one side, the slanting eyes acquired a captivating languor, and the big red nose seemed mysterious and even heroic.
The king gladly agreed to marry his daughter to such a wise prince, and the next day they celebrated a wedding, for which the smart Rike already had everything ready.
Retold
Charles Perrault(French: Charles Perrault)
(12.01.1628 - 16.05.1703)
Often, when studying the biographies of writers, we notice that in addition to their successful creative activities, they occupied a fairly high position in the society of the time in which they lived. This is not surprising, since in those distant times there were very few educated people, mostly the elite were educated, so it turned out that the nobles, being close to the emperor, in addition to performing their official duties, wrote famous and exciting works, thanks to which they entered the historical heritage of humanity. One of these writers is Charles Perrault. Born into the family of a judge of the Parisian parliament, Pierre Perrault, he received a decent education for that time. And thanks to his father’s connections and his personal qualities, he quickly climbed the career ladder. Perrault was both a lawyer and a tax collector, and for 20 years he occupied the top of the administrative state pyramid, being an adviser to the king and the chief inspector of buildings. Perrault also had to deal with issues of foreign policy, royal furniture and tapestry production, and cultural issues. Taking into account the writer’s workload, it would be more likely to assume that his legacy would be some kind of journals, reports, etc. for historians and economists, however, they inherited the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, which he miraculously had enough time to write. As we see, this man was diversified and perfectly aware of the spirit of society that hovered both in the elite and in the lower strata of society of that time. And the times, it must be admitted, were far from the best! Constant peasant revolts, constant hunger, lack of medicine, sanitation led to epidemics... Charles Perrault, holding such a high position, had a clear idea of all this. Probably this whole situation made people more cruel, more evil, more unmerciful, which is what we observe when we begin to read the fairy tales of Charles Perrault. It should be noted that almost all of Charles Perrault's fairy tales that were published in the Soviet Union were changed by the press. The compilers removed all cruelty and left the stories with a good ending. This is probably why, as children, we so liked the works of Charles Perrault, reading his fairy tales in which good always triumphs over evil. However, in the original source, these tales were filled with the harsh reality of the time in which Charles Perrault lived and wrote tales. Reading the collection “Fairy Tales of Mother Goose” by Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood, after listening to the wolf, was eaten along with her grandmother and this is where the fairy tale ends, no one frees her, Sleeping Beauty also faces a sad fate. Her mother-in-law is an ogress who hates her daughter-in-law, only by a miracle did the sleeping beauty and her children manage to escape. Thumb and Bluebeard also amaze with the amount of blood and cruelty. It seems to us that our compilers removed all these scenes from Perrault’s fairy tales and made them truly childish. On our website we published fairy tales from different editions, trying to choose fairy tales with the least amount of atrocities, but you can’t remove everything, so we strongly recommend that parents first familiarize themselves with the content of the fairy tales, and then make their own decision about reading Charles Perrault’s fairy tales online. children, or wait until they grow up and then introduce them to the work of the French storyteller of the 17th century. Also on our website you can download the tales of Charles Perrault in the formats you need.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) - famous French storyteller, poet and critic. Fairy tales by Charles Perrault are familiar to everyone since childhood. Who hasn't heard fairy tales for children about the resourceful Puss in Boots, about the brave Little Red Riding Hood, about the beautiful Sleeping Beauty, about the strong Thumb Boy and about the kind Cinderella! For more than three hundred years, all the children of the world love and know these fairy tales.
Perrault's literary activity occurred at a time when a fashion for fairy tales appeared in high society. Reading and listening to fairy tales is becoming one of the common hobbies of secular society, comparable only to reading detective stories by our contemporaries. Some prefer to listen to philosophical fairy tales, others pay tribute to ancient fairy tales, passed down in the retellings of grandmothers and nannies. Writers, trying to satisfy these demands, write down fairy tales, processing plots familiar to them from childhood.
1697 - a collection of fairy tales “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Moral Teachings” is published.
Perrault's tales are fairy tales (containing magical or supernatural elements). They go back to folk tradition and were first written down. In many countries there are different versions of the same fairy tale. That's why we often come across different versions of Perrault's fairy tales.
The book of fairy tales was an unprecedented success among the Parisians in 1696; every day 20-30, and sometimes 50 books a day were sold in Claude Barbin's shop! This, on the scale of one store, was probably not even dreamed of today even by the bestseller about Harry Potter.
The publisher repeated the print run three times during the year. This was unheard of. First France, then the whole of Europe fell in love with magical stories about Cinderella, her evil sisters and the glass slipper, reread the terrible fairy tale about the knight Bluebeard, who killed his wives, and rooted for the polite Little Red Riding Hood, who was swallowed by an evil wolf. (Only in Russia did the translators correct the ending of the fairy tale; in our country the wolf is killed by woodcutters, and in the French original the wolf ate both the grandmother and granddaughter).
In fact, Mother Goose's tales became the world's first book written for children. Before this, no one had specifically written books for children. But then children's books came in an avalanche. From Perrault's masterpiece the phenomenon of children's literature itself was born!
Perrault's fairy tales are based on well-known folklore plots, which he presented with his characteristic talent and humor, omitting some details and adding new ones, “ennobling” the language. Most of all, these tales were suitable for children. And it is Perrault who can be considered the founder of world children's literature and literary pedagogy.
Based on the plots of Perrault's fairy tales, the operas “Cinderella” by G. Rossini, “The Castle of Duke Bluebeard” by B. Bartok, and the ballets “The Sleeping Beauty” by P.I. Tchaikovsky, “Cinderella” by S.S. Prokofieva and others.
List of literature and methodological developments on the biography and work of Charles Perrault
- Aleshina, G.N. At Cinderella’s ball: [matinee based on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale “Cinderella”] / G.N. Aleshina // Books, sheet music and toys for Katyushka and Andryushka. -2011.-No.5.-S. 11-12.
- Ardan, I.N. Literary game based on the works of Charles Perrault / I.N. Ardan // Teachers' Council. - 2010. - No. 5. - P. 3-10.
- Begak, B. Academician-storyteller: [about the work of the French writer C. Perrault] // Preschool education, 1981, No. 10, p. 53-55.
- Begak, B. The fairy tale lives!: To the 350th anniversary of the birth of C. Perrault. // Teacher's newspaper, 1978, January 12.
- Boyko, S.P. The magical country of Charles Perrault. - Stavropol: Book. publishing house, 1992. - 317 p. (The second part of the book describes an imaginary dialogue between our contemporary visiting Charles Perrault with an entertaining retelling of the biography through the mouth of Charles himself)
- Boyko, S.P. Charles Perrault (from the ZhZL series - The Life of Remarkable People). M.: Young Guard, 2005. 291 p.
- Brandis, E.P. Tales of Charles Perrault. Book: From Aesop to Gianni Rodari. - M.: Det.lit., 1980. P. 28-32.
- Zurabova K. Tale of the storyteller // Preschool education, 2010. No. 8. P. 70-79.
- Competition on fairy tales by C. Perrault for the attentive and well-read: for students in grades 5-6 / ed.-comp. L.I. Beetle // In a fairyland. - Minsk, 2007. - P. 120-125. - (Holiday at school).
- Kuzmin, F. Mother Goose's Storyteller. To the 350th anniversary of the birth of C. Perrault. // Family and school, 1978. No. 1. pp. 46-47.
- Sharov, A. The beautiful and tragic world of Perrault // In the book: Sharov A. Wizards come to people. - M.: Children's literature, 1979. - P. 251-263
(vote)
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"
"Bluebeard"
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 "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 opera “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.
