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Histoiresou contes du temps pass, avec des moralits or Contes de ma mre l'Oye (Stories or Tales from Past Times, with Morals or Mother Goose Tales)[2] is a collection of literary fairy tales written by Charles Perrault, published in Paris in 1697. The work became popular because it was written at a time when fairy tales were fashionable amongst aristocrats in Parisian literary salons.[3] Perrault wrote the work when he retired from court as secretary to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister to Louis XIV of France. Colbert's death may have forced Perrault's retirement, at which point he turned to writing. Scholars have debated as to the origin of his tales and whether they are original literary fairy tales modified from commonly known stories, or based on stories written by earlier medieval writers such as Boccaccio.

Elaborate embellishments were a preferred style at the French court. The simple plots Perrault started with were modified, the language enhanced, and rewritten for an audience of aristocratic and noble courtiers. Thematically, the stories support Perrault's belief that the nobility is superior to the peasant class, and many of the stories show an adherence to Catholic beliefs, such as those in which a woman undergoes purification from sin and repentance before reintegration into society.[4]

Charles Perrault came from a large, well-known and respected bourgeois family. His father was a lawyer and member of parliament. As a young man, Perrault began writing, receiving royal attention for a series of honorary poems written for Louis XIV of France in 1660, which may have been the catalyst for his two-decade post as secretary to Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert.[5] Perrault established and administered academies for arts such as the Acadmie de peinture et de sculpture (Academy of painting and sculpture) and the Acadmie d'architecture (Academy of architecture) during those years, .[6] He retired from public duty and returned to writing on the death of Colbert.[6]

Children's literature scholar Jack Zipes speculates that Perrault's fairy tales may have been written to be the last word in a decade-long literary quarrel. He had become increasingly progressive while in public service, believing France and Church needed modernizing, which culminated in the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns that started in 1687 and ended a decade later by Louis XIV's ruling in favor of the "ancients". At that point Perrault wrote his tales, that were based on the ancient but rewritten to be modern.[5] Additionally, the tales may have been written as means for him to regain a place in society, particularly in the well-attended literary salons.[6]

The French literary style prciosit, characterized by witty conversations, literary salons, and telling fairy stories were fashionable ("all the rage") in the upper echelons of society and aristocratic circles, and most particularly, at court. Prciosit was reflected in fashions, conversations, art and literature that were elevated and affected with great embellishments and meant to be brilliant in an effort to separate the upper levels of society from the vulgarity and coarseness of the bourgeoisie. The game of telling fairy stories amongst the prcieuses in the then highly fashionable ladies' literary salons became popular in the late 17th century.[6] Zipes says Perrault published in Contes stories written explicitly for his "peers in the literary salons",[5] whereas Humphrey Carpenter believes he wrote for an audience of aristocratic children as well.[7] Writing for children in itself was a trend, as shown by the stories Louis XIV's wife wrote for girls in convents.[3]

Between 1691 and 1694, Perrault wrote three stories in verse form, "Griselidis" (a novella, originally titled La Marquise de Salusses ou la Patience de Griselidis and read to the Acadmie franaise), "The Ridiculous Wishes" (published in the Mercure galant in 1693[6][8]), and "Donkeyskin", that were published in a single volume in 1694 and republished a year later in a volume with a preface.[3] These three verse tales form only the prehistory of the Histoires ou Contes du temps pass. It was only in the late 18th century that these stories were included in editions variously named as Contes de fes, Contes des fes, or simply Contes.[9]

The year 1695 saw the manuscript edition of the Contes de ma mre l'Oye (Stories of Mother Goose), containing five of the later to be published prose tales.[1] In February 1696, Perrault published a first story in prose, "The Sleeping Beauty", in the Mercure galant.[6] More may have been published in additional literary magazines; however, it is unknown whether they appeared in the magazines before the book's publication or whether they were later pirated editions.[10] In 1697, Claude Barbin published the classical eight stories, titled Histoires ou Contes du temps pass, avec des Moralitez (Stories or Tales from Past Times, with Morals). With two reprints in the same year, the volume soon came to be known by its unofficial title Contes de ma mre l'Oye, used already in the 1695 manuscript. This title was also featured in the illustrated frontispiece of the printed edition (copied from the manuscript edition), showing an old woman weaving, telling stories to children who are dressed in clothing of the higher classes. Above on the wall hangs a plaque with the words Contes de ma mre l'Oye.[10]

The stories assembled in the 1697 edition were "The Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bluebeard", "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots", "Diamonds and Toads" (Les Fes), "Cinderella", "Riquet with the Tuft", and "Hop o' My Thumb". Each story ended with a rhymed, well-defined and cynical moral (moralit).[7] The author of the volume was given as "P. Darmancour", hinting at Perrault's 19-year-old son Pierre, who was long believed to have written the stories.[2] However, Zipes claims modern scholarship shows little evidence that Pierre wrote the stories, or that the volume was the result of a collaboration between father and son. Almost certainly Perrault the elder was the author.[5] It is possible that Pierre's name, and the dedication to the king's niece lisabeth Charlotte d'Orlans, was meant as a means to introduce the son to society.[2] The book contains an introductory letter to "Mademoiselle", saying "No one will think it strange that a child should have found pleasure in composing the Tales in this volume, but some will be surprised that he should have presumed to dedicate them to you."[7]

The volume achieved considerable success with eight reprints in Perrault's lifetime. With Louis XIV's death at the beginning of the 18th century the lifestyle of the prcieuse faded, as did the popularity of the literary salons and the fairy tales at the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. Perrault's tales, however, continued to be sought after with four editions published in that century.[6]

Scholars are divided about the origins of the tales; some theorize that they were original whereas others say Perrault took from earlier versions.[11] Children's literature scholar Ruth Bottigheimer discounts as myth the story that Perrault recounted stories he heard from a household nurse.[3] The contemporary view was that the stories originated in popular tradition, but Carpenter points out that none of the stories existed in contemporary chapbooks leading him to think Perrault took and modified them from earlier (probably literary) versions.[11]

Although some of Perrault's tales had folkloric origins, he modified them with elaborate detail written in intentionally brilliant language for an audience of sophisticated adults who expected embellishment. Some stories such as "Sleeping Beauty" were original literary tales, divested from their (possible) folkloric roots. The intention was to present the prcieux with modern retellings of stories from which the base, the common, and the rustic had been removed.[6] Carpenter says of "Sleeping Beauty" that "it reads like a fashionable romance rather than a folk-tale."[7] "Little Red Riding Hood" was almost certainly original, because earlier versions have not been recorded or do not seem to exist, and nothing remotely similar can be found in older literature.[10] The first edition of the volume has margin notes for "Little Red Riding Hood" telling the reader the last lines are to be read in a loud voice to scare the child, leading Carpenter to believe it was written as a children's game, though he goes on the say that the sexual connotations are impossible to ignore.[12]

The stories were not intended for children because literature for children did not exist in the late 17th century,[5] and most likely were taken from earlier literary stories.[11] Such was already the case with "Griselidis", intended to be a "modern novella", although based on a contemporary chapbook (or bibliotheque bleue) and ultimately on a version in Boccaccio's 14th-century Decameron which was later translated to Latin by Petrarch. The chapbook version had simple language intended for an uneducated and unsophisticated audience, whereas Perrault embellished the story to appeal to the sophisticates who frequented the literary salons.[13] Giambattista Basile's volume of stories published in Naples earlier in the century, around 1634, contains stories with strong similarities to four of Perrault's stories, including "Puss in Boots".[14]

Other stories show elements from earlier works, often obscured in medieval or earlier texts. "Donkeyskin" has elements found in Apuleius' second-century Cupid and Psyche in which Psyche clad in an ass' skin is abandoned on a hillside.[15] "Sleeping Beauty", believed to have been written by Perrault as an original literary tale, has similarities with three earlier stories: Jean-Pierre Camus' "La Princesse jalouse", Basile's "Sun, Moon and Thalia",[16] and a tale written by Straparola.[6] "Les Souhaits" is based on Jean de La Fontaine's "Les Souhaits Ridicules"; however, Perrault made the tale more entertaining for the salon audience by adding coarse comedy.[17]

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