Old time stories (Perrault, Robinson)

by Charles Perrault

OLD-TIME STORIES

"They reached the house where the light was burning."

OLD-TIME STORIES

told by

MASTER
CHARLES
PERRAULT

Translated from
the French by
A· E· Johnson
with illustrations

by

W· HEATH
ROBINSON

NEW YORK

DODD, MEAD & COMPANY

First Published, 1921

Printed in Great Britain

PREFATORY NOTE

OF the eleven tales which the present volume comprises, the first eight are from the master-hand of Charles Perrault. 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. But his fame to-day rests upon his authorship of the traditional Tales of Mother Goose; or Stories of Olden Times, and so long as there are children to listen spellbound to the adventures of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and that arch rogue Puss in Boots, his memory will endure.

To the eight tales of Perrault three others have been added here. 'Beauty and the Beast,' by Mme Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1781), has a celebrity which warrants its inclusion, however inferior it may seem, as an example of the story-teller's art, to the masterpieces of Perrault. 'Princess Rosette' and 'The Friendly Frog' are from the prolific pen of Mme d'Aulnoy (1650-1705), a contemporary of Perrault, whom she could sometimes rival in invention, if never in dramatic power.

CONTENTS

	PAGE
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD	1
PUSS IN BOOTS	21
LITTLE TOM THUMB	34
THE FAIRIES	55
RICKY OF THE TUFT	61
CINDERELLA	75
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD	92
BLUE BEARD	99
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST	113
THE FRIENDLY FROG	138
PRINCESS ROSETTE	174

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOURED PLATES

'They reached the house where the light was burning' (see page 41)	Frontispiece
	FACING PAGE
'The most beautiful sight he had ever seen'	16
'All that remained for the youngest was the cat'	21
'"You must die, madam," he said'	99
'Every evening the Beast paid her a visit'	130
'"Could your father but see you, my poor child"'	152

BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
'The king . . . at once published an edict'	3
'A little dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots'	7
'The king's son chanced to go a-hunting'	10
'All asleep'	12
'They all fell asleep'	13
'As though he were dead'	23
'The cat went on ahead'	26
Puss in Boots	27
'Puss became a personage of great importance'	31
'A good dame opened the door'	37
'He could smell fresh flesh'	43
'He set off over the countryside'	47
'Laden with all the ogre's wealth'	51
'Lifting up the jug so that she might drink the more easily'	57
'She could not set four china vases on the mantelpiece without breaking one of them'	63
'Graceful and easy conversation'	65
Ricky of the Tuft	71
'The haughtiest, proudest woman that had ever been seen'	77
'Her godmother found her in tears'	81
'Away she went'	83
'She rose and fled as nimbly as a fawn'	85
'They tried it first on the princesses'	89
Little Red Riding Hood	93
'She met old Father Wolf'	95
'Making nosegays of the wild flowers'	96
'Come up on the bed with me'	97
Blue Beard	101
'She washed it well'	104
Sister Anne	105
'Brandishing the cutlass aloft'	109
'At first she found it very hard'	115
'"Look at our little sister"'	117
'It was snowing horribly'	119
The Beast	122
'"Your doom is to become statues"'	135
'The approach to it was by ten thousand steps'	143
The Friendly Frog	146
'The journey lasted seven years'	155
Princess Rosette	179
The wicked nurse	186
'She was an ugly little fright'	189
'She floated hither and thither'	194
'A kindly old man'	195