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Улюблені казки
Запрошуємо в дивовижну подорож у казку від короля жанру – Шарля Перро. У цьому чарівному світі принцеси прекрасні, принци шляхетні, а друзі вірні. Тут розум і честь винагороджуються, жадібність, зло і підступ – цілком здоланні, а скарби завжди дістаються найбільш гідним.
До аудіокниги «Улюблені казки» Шарля Перро увійшли найяскравіші твори майстра – «Зачарована красуня», «Червона шапочка», «Синя борода», «Кіт у чоботях», «Чарівниці», «Попелюшка», «Ріке-чубчик», «Хлопчик-мізинчик», «Химерні бажання», «Спритна принцеса», «Осляча шкура».
У переказі Романа Терещенка.
До аудіокниги «Улюблені казки» Шарля Перро увійшли найяскравіші твори майстра – «Зачарована красуня», «Червона шапочка», «Синя борода», «Кіт у чоботях», «Чарівниці», «Попелюшка», «Ріке-чубчик», «Хлопчик-мізинчик», «Химерні бажання», «Спритна принцеса», «Осляча шкура».
У переказі Романа Терещенка.
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First published January 1, 1697
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About the author
Charles Perrault
2,285 books427 followersCharles Perrault was a French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales, offered as if they were pre-existing folk tales, include: Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Bluebeard, Hop o' My Thumb), Diamonds and Toads, Patient Griselda, The Ridiculous Wishes...
Perrault's most famous stories are still in print today and have been made into operas, ballets (e.g., Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty), plays, musicals, and films, both live-action and animation.
The Brothers Grimm retold their own versions of some of Perrault's fairy tales.
Perrault's most famous stories are still in print today and have been made into operas, ballets (e.g., Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty), plays, musicals, and films, both live-action and animation.
The Brothers Grimm retold their own versions of some of Perrault's fairy tales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
February 9, 2012
Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper -- My first Disney surprise of the volume. I had always been under the assumption that Disney’s early fairy tale movies were glossy, post-WWII bastardizations of the earlier versions of the tales. So I was surprised to discover that Charles Perrault’s 17th Century version of Cinderella was, with the exception of an extra ball and a lack of talking mice, the clear source for Walt’s masterpiece. I’ve always been partial to Cinderella (the best princess movie from the pre-Eisener (post-Walt) era, before the Mouse House turned “princess” into a dirty word). The animation is gorgeous (and so wonderfully blue), the music is properly serious and its storytelling is tightly woven. Silly as it may be, knowing that it is almost completely based on Perrault’s story makes me feel a smidge less guilty about my appreciation.
The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods -- And here’s my second Disney surprise. Walt and his cronies did away with the nasty Ogre Queen Mother who tries to eat the Sleeping Beauty’s children after she wakes up, but the first half of Perrault’s tale is intact, so Disney, once again, stuck closely to his source material with excellent results. I have to say, though, that I would love to have seen the Ogre Queen Mother munching on the well-dressed animals the cook prepared to trick her into thinking they were her grandkids.
Little Thumb -- The anti-Ogre sentiment gets a bit much in Little Thumb (Tom?). He and his brothers – after their poor parents try to lose them in the wild to relieve their responsibilities and survive themselves -- stumble into an Ogre’s home, and the big, mean, evil Ogre man – whose natural prey seems to be humans – tells his wife that he wants to have all these yummy little boys cooked for the next days dinner party.
To save his and his brothers’ skins, Little Thumb tricks the Ogre into cutting the throats of his seven daughters rather than the throats of Tom and his six brothers. Then Tom steals seven golden crowns and the Ogre’s magic boots, and he becomes an important and rich messenger.
Probably my least favourite story, Little Thumb’s Ogre-other is just the sort of insidious racism that makes my skin crawl. If the Shrek movies weren’t so crappy in so many ways, I could almost appreciate their attempt to turn Ogres into protagonists. Almost.
The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots -- I knew nothing about this story until I read this take. The Master Cat is a jerk. He victimizes an Ogre King, a king who seems to be a pretty decent ruler. His people, whom we meet throughout the tale, are kind, healthy, prosperous, and Puss just walks in and kills the Ogre King and hands the King’s lands over to his own “nobody” master. Puss’s master gets the castle, gets the girl and wins big.
Just under a hundred years later it would have been Puss in Guillotine.
Riquet with the Tuft -- My favourite of them all. What a shame this has never been adapted to the screen. The ugliest guy in the land is blessed with the greatest wisdom and intelligence. The most beautiful girl in the land is cursed with the greatest stupidity. So the ugliest guy gives her the gift of an intelligence to match his own, but she must marry him in return. What happens next is fascinating, and one of the finest lessons I’ve read in a fairy tale. I think Paul Giamatti and Charlize Theron (remember her character in Arrested Development) should make this on the stage somewhere.
Blue Beard -- DON’T LOOK IN THE CLOSET! Just once I would love for someone in one of these stories to do what they are asked. I suppose we wouldn’t have a story then.
The Fairy -- This is a weird one. A fairy rewards a girl who was nice to her with a mouth that spews gems whenever she speaks and curses her mean sister with a mouth that spews lizards whenever she speaks. A Prince falls in love with the gems and marries the nice girl, making her happy forever while she makes him rich. Ummm ... okay. Come to think of it, though, I bet gems from the mouth would have benefited Carrie in Sex and the City.
Little Red-Riding Hood -- I have to spoil this one. Sorry folks. The Wolf ... he eats Little Red Riding Hood. His trick succeeds. His teeth are there to better eat her. And that’s it. Story over. Eat your heart out Wile E. Coyote.
The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods -- And here’s my second Disney surprise. Walt and his cronies did away with the nasty Ogre Queen Mother who tries to eat the Sleeping Beauty’s children after she wakes up, but the first half of Perrault’s tale is intact, so Disney, once again, stuck closely to his source material with excellent results. I have to say, though, that I would love to have seen the Ogre Queen Mother munching on the well-dressed animals the cook prepared to trick her into thinking they were her grandkids.
Little Thumb -- The anti-Ogre sentiment gets a bit much in Little Thumb (Tom?). He and his brothers – after their poor parents try to lose them in the wild to relieve their responsibilities and survive themselves -- stumble into an Ogre’s home, and the big, mean, evil Ogre man – whose natural prey seems to be humans – tells his wife that he wants to have all these yummy little boys cooked for the next days dinner party.
To save his and his brothers’ skins, Little Thumb tricks the Ogre into cutting the throats of his seven daughters rather than the throats of Tom and his six brothers. Then Tom steals seven golden crowns and the Ogre’s magic boots, and he becomes an important and rich messenger.
Probably my least favourite story, Little Thumb’s Ogre-other is just the sort of insidious racism that makes my skin crawl. If the Shrek movies weren’t so crappy in so many ways, I could almost appreciate their attempt to turn Ogres into protagonists. Almost.
The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots -- I knew nothing about this story until I read this take. The Master Cat is a jerk. He victimizes an Ogre King, a king who seems to be a pretty decent ruler. His people, whom we meet throughout the tale, are kind, healthy, prosperous, and Puss just walks in and kills the Ogre King and hands the King’s lands over to his own “nobody” master. Puss’s master gets the castle, gets the girl and wins big.
Just under a hundred years later it would have been Puss in Guillotine.
Riquet with the Tuft -- My favourite of them all. What a shame this has never been adapted to the screen. The ugliest guy in the land is blessed with the greatest wisdom and intelligence. The most beautiful girl in the land is cursed with the greatest stupidity. So the ugliest guy gives her the gift of an intelligence to match his own, but she must marry him in return. What happens next is fascinating, and one of the finest lessons I’ve read in a fairy tale. I think Paul Giamatti and Charlize Theron (remember her character in Arrested Development) should make this on the stage somewhere.
Blue Beard -- DON’T LOOK IN THE CLOSET! Just once I would love for someone in one of these stories to do what they are asked. I suppose we wouldn’t have a story then.
The Fairy -- This is a weird one. A fairy rewards a girl who was nice to her with a mouth that spews gems whenever she speaks and curses her mean sister with a mouth that spews lizards whenever she speaks. A Prince falls in love with the gems and marries the nice girl, making her happy forever while she makes him rich. Ummm ... okay. Come to think of it, though, I bet gems from the mouth would have benefited Carrie in Sex and the City.
Little Red-Riding Hood -- I have to spoil this one. Sorry folks. The Wolf ... he eats Little Red Riding Hood. His trick succeeds. His teeth are there to better eat her. And that’s it. Story over. Eat your heart out Wile E. Coyote.
January 26, 2018
Yes. I'm reviewing The Tales Of Mother Goose and I'm not ashamed of it.
So, I was looking at my childhood shelves (yes, that actually exists) this morning and I ended up re-re-re-re-reading Perrault's fairy tales. I decided to write some lines because, well, it's Sunday and I didn't have this book on my GR shelves (even though as a kid, I was a big fan of "the guy who wrote Cinderella"). And by "lines" I mean just one thought. These 17th-century fairy tales are really, honestly, so fucked-up. Wolves and ogres eating little kids, snakes coming out of girls' mouths, cruel/negligent parents and subjugated kids, several killings for different reasons (hunger, disobedience). I wouldn't have been able to get a good night sleep after hearing about grandma's desire of eating her grandsons. And what about hubby serial killer Bluebeard? Wasn't he a delight?
Disney certainly gave us a lighter version of all these.
There are little pieces of truth inside those innocent tales (“The Fairies”, where there's a mother who loved the elder daughter because she resembled her so closely –“as people naturally love their own likeness”) and other stuff are confusing and unfair (ugly people telling you it's more important to be smart than beautiful but eventually, they end up being beautiful too, so...).
I've always enjoyed the morals; those little verses at the end of the tale that shows the author's interpretation. After a bloody, disturbing tale, there's usually a lesson to be learned.
Jan 19, 14
* Also on my blog.
So, I was looking at my childhood shelves (yes, that actually exists) this morning and I ended up re-re-re-re-reading Perrault's fairy tales. I decided to write some lines because, well, it's Sunday and I didn't have this book on my GR shelves (even though as a kid, I was a big fan of "the guy who wrote Cinderella"). And by "lines" I mean just one thought. These 17th-century fairy tales are really, honestly, so fucked-up. Wolves and ogres eating little kids, snakes coming out of girls' mouths, cruel/negligent parents and subjugated kids, several killings for different reasons (hunger, disobedience). I wouldn't have been able to get a good night sleep after hearing about grandma's desire of eating her grandsons. And what about hubby serial killer Bluebeard? Wasn't he a delight?
Disney certainly gave us a lighter version of all these.
There are little pieces of truth inside those innocent tales (“The Fairies”, where there's a mother who loved the elder daughter because she resembled her so closely –“as people naturally love their own likeness”) and other stuff are confusing and unfair (ugly people telling you it's more important to be smart than beautiful but eventually, they end up being beautiful too, so...).
I've always enjoyed the morals; those little verses at the end of the tale that shows the author's interpretation. After a bloody, disturbing tale, there's usually a lesson to be learned.
Nature oft, with open arms,
Lavishes a thousand charms;
But it is not these that bring
True love's truest offering.
'Tis some quality that lies
All unseen to other eyes --
Something in the heart or mind.
Jan 19, 14
* Also on my blog.
October 10, 2020
How beautiful life would be if I lived in such a fiction !
Read
December 19, 2023Кожного разу, коли стикаюся із класишними казками - виникає враження, що в дитинстві читалося щось зовсім инше. Не то їх нам в дитинстві справді прикрашали та адаптували до віку, то не то в мене коротка пам'ять, що більш ймовірно. Та й загалом в дитинстві запам'ятовується все доволі вибірково. Але це трохи дивно, бо це класишні сюжети, від яких відштовхуються автори не менше, ніж від умовної Одісеї
April 19, 2021
Perché se tutto è partito dai classici conviene trovare il tempo e la voglia di leggerli e farsene una propria opinione personale.
"Gli smeraldi, le perle, ed i diamanti
Abbaglian gli occhi col vivo splendore;
Ma le dolci parole e i dolci pianti
Hanno spesso più forza e più valore.
La cortesia che le bell'alme accende,
Costa talora acerbi affanni e pene;
Ma presto o tardi la virtù risplende,
E quando men ci pensa il premio ottiene."
(Le Fate)
"Gli smeraldi, le perle, ed i diamanti
Abbaglian gli occhi col vivo splendore;
Ma le dolci parole e i dolci pianti
Hanno spesso più forza e più valore.
La cortesia che le bell'alme accende,
Costa talora acerbi affanni e pene;
Ma presto o tardi la virtù risplende,
E quando men ci pensa il premio ottiene."
(Le Fate)
April 10, 2023
Fantasy literature week 2 ✅
March 29, 2022
Through the anime Princess Tutu, I developed an interest in the ballets of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, which have a fairy-tale basis. While I enjoy Swan Lake most, its origins/influences are too complex to find a simple tale to read, so I tapped out and went for Sleeping Beauty through the collected fairy tales of Charles Perrault, which had the benefit of including other big names, such as "Little Red Riding Hood," "Blue Beard," "Puss in Boots," "Cinderella," and "Beauty and the Beast." Generally speaking, I only know fairy tales through their distillations through the years; random picture books I've read as a little kid, or had read to me, whose authors I will not be able to recall, &c. I don't know if it's necessarily true that Perrault invented many of these stories from thin air, but at the very least he helped to popularize and proliferate, and that's still important and interesting.
A Big Thing to me about many of the stories collected herein is that I learned I don't really know too much about a number of these stories, so many details were neat to me. I'd never actually seen Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and I haven't bothered finding a translated libretto of Tchaikovsky's adaptation, so I had no idea the bulk of that story is about an ogress mother-in-law trying to eat the married princess/queen and her kids, with the actual slumber being waved away early on (my understanding of Disney's Maleficent character is that she either turns into a dragon, or just owns a dragon, but regardless dragons are not ogres). "Little Red Riding Hood" as it appears here ends simply with the girl getting eaten. No woodsman to help free her, she just fuckin' dies. "Blue Beard" is about what I expected, except that I didn't actually know "Blue Beard" was a "fairy tale" in the sense of prince brothers coming to rescue their sister by killing Blue Beard; I think I just assumed it to be a primitive horror tale that ended with the latest wife's murder upon discovery of the past girls' heads. "Puss in Boots" is neat, since I never actually knew what the story was about, other than a talking cat who wears boots. Turns out he's a real bro, and one of the most charismatic fairy-tale characters I've seen so far. I didn't think I knew anything of "The Fairies," but according to Wikipedia a play based on the tale appears in Uncut Gems, which I have seen, but apparently don't remember very well. "Cinderella" is about what I expected, being perhaps the most well-known of this book's contents. "Riquet with the Tuft" is another I didn't know of before reading this book. "Little Thumbling" is another I didn't think I knew, but apparently the characters appear in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. "Beauty and the Beast" is somewhat interesting for not having a "Gaston" at all, which is a bit unexpected, since I have seen Disney's animated film, as well as Mamoru Hosoda's Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime. "The Benevolent Frog" and "Princess Rosette" are both things I hadn't heard of previously, but apparently also both were written by Madame d'Aulnoy, who is not Charles Perrault, and there inclusion in this book is silly, as I don't recall any disclaimer acknowledging the different authors.
My understanding is that these stories were all supposed to have "morals" in verse at their ends, but they drop off at some point, or are at least absent from the d'Aulnoy tales. The morals themselves are about what I expected, more or less reducing to "don't be a dumb cunt, and shit will go well for you." I'm quite sure Perrault was being pretty cheeky at times, as there's a lot of "well-behaved girls will receive magical gifts" and a bit of "boys should strive to be adventurous so long as they aren't assholes, and they, too, will receive magical gifts," which together establish a sort of "conservatism" (compared to contemporary "values") that could possibly turn off today's readers, since I kinda feel like half of everyone who would read fairy tales today would be looking for things to get mad at (with the other half being sheltered Protestants who believe the world is a Disney musical). Personally, I enjoy the idyllic nature of many of these stories' settings, even despite all the ogres and dragons and shit, as, indeed, I might prefer the threat of such tangible, fellable monsters versus the threat of e.g. giga-corporations brainwashing proles, gentry, and aristocracy alike. Or something.
"The Benevolent Frog," by the way, is among the coolest shit ever written, but I don't know how much praise I should give it, considering it's... not actually Perrault....
A Big Thing to me about many of the stories collected herein is that I learned I don't really know too much about a number of these stories, so many details were neat to me. I'd never actually seen Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and I haven't bothered finding a translated libretto of Tchaikovsky's adaptation, so I had no idea the bulk of that story is about an ogress mother-in-law trying to eat the married princess/queen and her kids, with the actual slumber being waved away early on (my understanding of Disney's Maleficent character is that she either turns into a dragon, or just owns a dragon, but regardless dragons are not ogres). "Little Red Riding Hood" as it appears here ends simply with the girl getting eaten. No woodsman to help free her, she just fuckin' dies. "Blue Beard" is about what I expected, except that I didn't actually know "Blue Beard" was a "fairy tale" in the sense of prince brothers coming to rescue their sister by killing Blue Beard; I think I just assumed it to be a primitive horror tale that ended with the latest wife's murder upon discovery of the past girls' heads. "Puss in Boots" is neat, since I never actually knew what the story was about, other than a talking cat who wears boots. Turns out he's a real bro, and one of the most charismatic fairy-tale characters I've seen so far. I didn't think I knew anything of "The Fairies," but according to Wikipedia a play based on the tale appears in Uncut Gems, which I have seen, but apparently don't remember very well. "Cinderella" is about what I expected, being perhaps the most well-known of this book's contents. "Riquet with the Tuft" is another I didn't know of before reading this book. "Little Thumbling" is another I didn't think I knew, but apparently the characters appear in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. "Beauty and the Beast" is somewhat interesting for not having a "Gaston" at all, which is a bit unexpected, since I have seen Disney's animated film, as well as Mamoru Hosoda's Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime. "The Benevolent Frog" and "Princess Rosette" are both things I hadn't heard of previously, but apparently also both were written by Madame d'Aulnoy, who is not Charles Perrault, and there inclusion in this book is silly, as I don't recall any disclaimer acknowledging the different authors.
My understanding is that these stories were all supposed to have "morals" in verse at their ends, but they drop off at some point, or are at least absent from the d'Aulnoy tales. The morals themselves are about what I expected, more or less reducing to "don't be a dumb cunt, and shit will go well for you." I'm quite sure Perrault was being pretty cheeky at times, as there's a lot of "well-behaved girls will receive magical gifts" and a bit of "boys should strive to be adventurous so long as they aren't assholes, and they, too, will receive magical gifts," which together establish a sort of "conservatism" (compared to contemporary "values") that could possibly turn off today's readers, since I kinda feel like half of everyone who would read fairy tales today would be looking for things to get mad at (with the other half being sheltered Protestants who believe the world is a Disney musical). Personally, I enjoy the idyllic nature of many of these stories' settings, even despite all the ogres and dragons and shit, as, indeed, I might prefer the threat of such tangible, fellable monsters versus the threat of e.g. giga-corporations brainwashing proles, gentry, and aristocracy alike. Or something.
"The Benevolent Frog," by the way, is among the coolest shit ever written, but I don't know how much praise I should give it, considering it's... not actually Perrault....
June 22, 2020
The Tales of Mother Goose (1697) by Charles Perrault is a wonderful read.
In the book, Perrault has gathered together some of the most well-known fairytales and fairytale characters in literature in their original form. So many of these stories have been adapted a lot and it was nice to see how they were originally written and see where the changes were and just to see in general how it all began. There is slight changes in them but overall the essence of the tales have made it through the decades.
It is a lovely light-hearted read with great messages. We have Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Thumb (which wasn’t one I knew prior to reading this collection), Puss In Boots (Still love Puss but he is defo more savage in the original write), Riquet With The Tuft, Blue Beard, The Fairy (I didn’t know those three too well either prior to reading this book) and Little Red Riding Hood. It is a great read, one that you could read in one sitting but also could read a story a night from. It is great to see all these amazing short classics in childrens’ literature together and kudos to Charles Perrault for getting them all in one place.
Really great, fun read.
In the book, Perrault has gathered together some of the most well-known fairytales and fairytale characters in literature in their original form. So many of these stories have been adapted a lot and it was nice to see how they were originally written and see where the changes were and just to see in general how it all began. There is slight changes in them but overall the essence of the tales have made it through the decades.
It is a lovely light-hearted read with great messages. We have Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Thumb (which wasn’t one I knew prior to reading this collection), Puss In Boots (Still love Puss but he is defo more savage in the original write), Riquet With The Tuft, Blue Beard, The Fairy (I didn’t know those three too well either prior to reading this book) and Little Red Riding Hood. It is a great read, one that you could read in one sitting but also could read a story a night from. It is great to see all these amazing short classics in childrens’ literature together and kudos to Charles Perrault for getting them all in one place.
Really great, fun read.
July 10, 2011
Ce livre m'a replongé dans les contes de mon enfance, et c'est avec plaisir que l'on retrouve le Petit Chaperon rouge ou le Chat botté... Les morales sont aussi intéressantes, et plus originales que je ne le pensais. Cependant l'histoire reste simple, peu profonde et parfois confuse.
July 6, 2015
I love fairy tales!
Read
April 17, 2021osekour mais quelle est cette horrible couverture?!
September 4, 2013
FOLKTALES AND FABLES IN WORLD LITERATURE--THE PANCHATANTRA, THE INDIAN AESOP, LA FONTAINE'S FABLES, THE PALI JATAKAS, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, CHARLES PERRAULT'S MOTHER GOOSE, THE CHINESE MONKEY KING, JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS' TAR-BABY & THE AMERINDIAN COYOTE AND TRICKSTER TALES ----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Folk tales, folk song, folk legend and and folk lore have been with us since time immemorial and incorporate the primal archetypes of the collective unconscious and the folk wisdom of the human race. Very often these were passed down for millennia in oral form around primal campfires or tribal conclaves as "orature" before the invention of writing and the consequent evolution of "literature," later to be recorded or reworked in such immortal collections as "Aesop's Fables" of the 6th Century BC. In the 1700-1800's a new interest in folk tales arose in the wake of the Romantic Movement which idealized the natural wisdom of the common people, inducing the systematic efforts of scholars and writers to collect and preserve this heritage, as exemplified in such works as Sir Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," (1802) Goethe's friend Johann Gottfried Herder's "Folksongs," (1779) and the "German Folktales" (1815) of "The Brothers Grimm"---Jacob and Wilhelm.
With the evolution of World Literature in our globalized modern world these enduring folk tales remain a continuing source of wisdom and delight. We encounter them as children in our storybooks and we gain the enhanced perspectives of maturity on them as we introduce them to our own children and grandchildren. Additionally, we have the opportunity to learn of the folk wisdom and genius of other peoples and civilizations which add to our own heritage as the common inheritance of mankind.
Thus World Literature Forum is happy to introduce such masterpieces of the genre as the "Panchatantra" of ancient India, similar to the animal fables of our own Western Aesop, the "Pali Jatakas," or fabled-accounts of the incarnations of Buddha on the path of Enlightenment, folk-tales of the Chinese Monkey-King Sun Wu Kong and his Indian prototype Hanuman from the Ramayana, and the Amerincian Coyote and Trickster Tales. Also presented is some of the history and evolution of the classics of our own Western heritage, whose origins may have slipped from memory, such as Charles Perrault's "Mother Goose" tales, La Fontaine's "Fables," and American Southern raconteur Joel Chandler Harris's "Tar Baby," derived from the African tales of the black slaves,and perhaps of earlier Indian origin.
AESOP---FATHER OF THE FOLK AND ANIMAL FABLE
Aesop's "Fables" (500 BC) were very popular in ancient Athens. Little is known of Aesop himself, though legends have it that he was very ugly and that the citizens of Athens purportedly threw him off a cliff for non-payment of a charity, after which they were punished by a plague. Most Europeans came to know the Fables through a translation into Latin by a Greek slave Phaedrus in Rome, which collected ninety-seven short fables became a children's primer as well as a model text for learning Latin for the next two millennia throughout Europe. An example is:
The Fox and the Crow
A Fox once saw a crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree. "That's for me, as I am a Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. "Good-day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are looking today: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of all other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds." The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox. "That will do," said he. "That was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I'll give you a piece of advice for the future: 'Do not trust flatterers.'"
THE PANCHATANTRA---THE INDIAN AESOP
Sometime around 600 AD the enlightened King of Persia Nushirvan sent a delegation to India headed by the renown scholar Barzoye to obtain a copy of a book reputed to be replete with political wisdom. Barzoye visited the court of the most powerful king in India and at last obtained copies of not only that book but of many others. Fearful that the Indian king would take back the books, he quickly made copies and translated the works into Persian, or Pahlavi. On returning to the royal court in Persia Barzoya recited the works aloud to the King and court, who were so delighted they became Persian classics. Thus began the travels of the Panchatantra, which would be brought to Paris in the 1600's translated from the Persian into French, and from thence into all the modern European languages.
The Panchatantra, or "The Five Principles," is ascribed in India to a legendary figure, Vishnusharma, and is the most celebrated book of social wisdom in South Asian history. It is framed as a series of discourses for the education of royal princes, though like the Fables of the Greek Aesop, it utilizes the odd motif of talking animals--animal fables. Thus the core ethical problems of human existence such as the nature of trust and the limits of risk are entrusted to the wisdom of the beasts.
One of the most famous of the Aesopian animal fables of the Panchatantra is that of "The Turtle and the Geese." In the story two geese are close friends with a turtle in a pond named Kambugriva, but the pond is quickly drying up threatening all three with death. The geese resolve to fly away to a large lake and come to say good-bye to Kambugriva. He replies:
“Why are you saying good-bye to me? If you love me, you should rescue me from the jaws of death. For you when the lake dries up you will only suffer some loss of food, but for me it means death. What is worse, loss of food or loss of life?”
“What you say is true, good friend. We will take you with us: but don’t be stupid enough to say anything on the way.” The geese said.
“I won’t” Kambugriva promised.
So the geese brought a long stick and said to the turtle: “Now, hold onto the middle of this stick firmly with your teeth. We will then hold the two ends in our beaks and fly you through the air to a large beautiful lake far away.”
So the two geese stretched out their wings and flew with the stick in their mouths, the turtle hanging on by his teeth over the hills and forests until they flew over a town just near the lake. Looking up the townspeople saw the two birds flying, carrying the hanging turtle and exclaimed: “What is that pair of birds carrying through the air? It looks ridiculous, like a large cartwheel!”
“Who are you laughing at?” shouted the turtle with indignation, but as soon as he had opened his mouth to chastise them he fell from the stick and landed amoungst the townfolk, who proceeded to shell and cut him up for meat in their soup.
Moral:
“When a man does not heed the words of friends
Who only wish him well,
He will perish like the foolish turtle
Who fell down from the stick.”
LA FONTAINE'S FABLES--AN INDIAN TALE TRAVELS ROUND THE WORLD TO EUROPE
One way in which folk tales travel about the world is through the process of conscious adoption and adaptation by authors in other nations. La Fontaine (1621-1695) was a literary courtier in the court of Louis XIV of France. The raciness, dangerous ambiguity and rampant wit of some of his tales led sometimes to the disfavour of Louis, but the purity and grace of his style led to his election to the Academie Francaise. His first edition of verse "Fables" was modeled on Aesop, but in later editions he turned to oriental sources, of which a French translation by Pilpay of the Indian "Panchatantra" from the Persian and Arabic was one. Its moral had survival value in the treacherous world of the French court at Versailles, particularly in its invocation to keep one's wits about you in a crowd and learn how to hold one's tongue:
The Tortoise and the Two Ducks
A light-brain’d tortoise, anciently,
Tired of her hole, the world would see.
Prone are all such, self-banish’d, to roam —
Prone are all cripples to abhor their home.
Two ducks, to whom the gossip told
The secret of her purpose bold,
Profess’d to have the means whereby
They could her wishes gratify.
‘Our boundless road,’ said they, ‘behold!
It is the open air;
And through it we will bear
You safe o’er land and ocean.
Republics, kingdoms, you will view,
And famous cities, old and new;
And get of customs, laws, a notion, —
Of various wisdom various pieces,
As did, indeed, the sage Ulysses.’
The eager tortoise waited not
To question what Ulysses got,
But closed the bargain on the spot.
A nice machine the birds devise
To bear their pilgrim through the skies. —
Athwart her mouth a stick they throw:
‘Now bite it hard, and don’t let go,’
They say, and seize each duck an end,
And, swiftly flying, upward tend.
It made the people gape and stare
Beyond the expressive power of words,
To see a tortoise cut the air,
Exactly poised between two birds.
‘A miracle,’ they cried, ‘is seen!
There goes the flying tortoise queen!’
‘The queen!’ (’twas thus the tortoise spoke;)
‘I’m truly that, without a joke.’
Much better had she held her tongue
For, opening that whereby she clung,
Before the gazing crowd she fell,
And dash’d to bits her brittle shell.
Imprudence, vanity, and babble,
And idle curiosity,
An ever-undivided rabble,
Have all the same paternity.
THE PALI JATAKAS--TALES OF THE PREVIOUS INCARNATIONS OF THE BUDDHA ON THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT
The Pali Jatakas are preserved in the "Pali Canon of Buddhist Scripture" which was compiled about the same time as the Christian Bible, in the first centuries AD. Each story purports to tell of a previous life of the Buddha in which he learned some critical lesson or acheived some moral attainment of the "Middle Path" in the course of the vast cycle of transmigration and reincarnation that led to his Buddhahood. The story of "Prince Five Weapons" represents one such prior life of the Buddha. The core of the story is the account of a battle against an adversary upon whose tacky and sticky body all weapons stick, a symbolical case study of a nemesis of the Buddhist virtue of "detachment."
In the opening frame tale of "Prince Five Weapons" the Buddha counsels an errant monk: "Are you a backslider?" he questioned. "Yes, Blessed One." confesses the monk, who had given up discipline. Then Buddha tells the story of his past life: A Prince was born to a great king. The Queen, seeking a name for him asked of 800 Brahmins for a name. Then she learned that the King would soon die and the baby Prince would become a great king, conquering with the aid of the Five Weapons. Sent to Afghanistan for martial arts training in the Five Weapons, on his return he encounters a great demon named "Hairy Grip" with an adhesive hide to which all weapons stick fast. the Prince uses his poison arrows, but they only stick to his hairy-sticky hide. He uses his sword, spear, and club but all stick uselessly. Then he uses his two fists, his two feet and finally butts him with his head, all of which stick uselessly to the hide. Finally, hopelessly stuck to the the monster, the demon asks if he is afraid to die. The Prince answers that he has a fifth weapon, that of Knowledge which he bears within him, and that if the monster devours him the monster will be punished in future lives and the Prince himself will attain future glories. The monster is taken aback by the spirit of the Prince and, becoming a convert to Buddhism releases him, after which the Prince fulfills his destiny of becoming a great King, and in a later life, the Buddha. Thereby, the backslider is counseled to persevere and end his backsliding, with the moral: "With no attachment, all things are possible."
"THE TAR BABY"---FROM THE AFRICAN SLAVE TALES OF UNCLE REMUS---(BRER FOX AND BRER RABBIT)--BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS---A FOLK STORY CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE WORLD
Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908) was born in Ante-Bellum Georgia, worked as a reporter and writer and like the Brothers Grimm and Scott collected folk tales by talking with the African slaves working on the Southern plantations, publishing them most famously as the "Uncle Remus" tales of Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit, told by an old and wise slave to the young son of the master of the plantation. Like the Amerindian "Trickster" tales or the cartoon series the "Roadrunner and the Coyote," or "Bugs Bunny" they often focus on how the smart and wily Brer Rabbit outthinks and tricks Brer Fox who constantly seeks to catch and eat him. The most famous of these stories is that of "The Tar Baby" in which Brer Fox covers a life-like manniquin in sticky tar and puts it in Brer Rabbit's path. The rabbit becomes angry that the Tar Baby will not answer his questions and losing his temper strikes him, causing his hand to stick fast. Then in turn he hits, kicks and head butts him until his whole body is stuck fast to the "Tar Baby." The secret of how Brer Rabbit escapes is deferred by the sagacious storyteller Uncle Remus "until the next episode."
Scholars, discovering the similarity of the "Tar Baby" story with the Pali Jataka story of "Prince Five Weapons" debated whether the story had travelled across the world and centuries in the most astonishing way or was simply independently invented in two places. These two competing theories, "Monogenesis and Diffusion" vs "Polygenesis" remain competing explanations. Further research documented how the Pali Jataka had, like the "Panchatantra" been translated into Persian, then Arabic, then into African dialects in Muslim-influenced West Africa, where many American slaves hailed from. Polygenesis Theory also gained some competing support from C.G. Jung's theory of "Archetypes" and the "Universal Collective Unconscious" which would provide a psychological force and source for the continuous regeneration of similar stories and dreams throughout the world. The two theories continue to compete and complement each other as explanations of cultural diffusion and similiarity.
CHARLES PERRAULT'S "MOTHER GOOSE" TALES--ROYAL COURTS AND THE FOLK
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was a contemporary of La Fontaine at the court of France's Louis XIV, with whom he was elected to the Academie Francaise. He won the King's favor and retired on a generous pension from the finance minister Colbert. He was associated with the argument between two literary factions which became known in England as "The Battle of the Books" after Swift, and which focused on the question of whether the modern writers or the ancients were the greater. Perrault argued in favor of the moderns, but Louis XIV intervened in the proceedings of the Academie and found in favor of the ancients. Perrault persisted,however, in trying to outdo Aesop in his "Mother Goose" collection of folk and children's tales. One of the most famous was that of "Donkey Skin," a kind of variation on the better-known Cinderella theme, in which a Princess, fearful of the attempt of her own father to an incestuous marriage, flees, disguising herself as a crude peasant-girl clothed in a donkey-skin. Arriving at the neighboring kingdom she works as a scullery maid until the Prince observes her in secret dressed in her most beautiful royal gown. Falling in love with her the Prince is unable to establish her true identity but finds a ring from her finger and declares he will marry the girl whose finger fits the ring. As in the case of Cinderella's glass slipper, all the girls of the kingdom attempt but fail to put on the ring, until the very last, Donkey-Skin succeeds. At the marriage it is discovered that she is really a Princess and she is reconciled with her father, who has abandoned his incestuous inclinations. The story is partially a satire on Louis XIV, who himself took as a mistress Louise de la Valliere, a simple girl with a lame foot while surrounded by the most elegant beauties of Paris.
THE CHINESE MONKEY KING AND HANUMAN FROM THE INDIAN RAMAYANA
Another remarkable instance of the diffusion of a story or character is that of the character of the Monkey King Sun Wu Kong in the immortal Chinese classic "Journey to the West" or "Xi You Ji." In this instance the character of the Monkey King originated in India as the Hanuman of the Ramayana, a half-man, half-monkey with magical superpowers who aids Rama in recovering his wife Sita from the evil sorcerer Ravanna. This tale was embodied in Indian lore which passed into China with the coming of Buddhism and was later incorporated into the classic novel by Wu ChengEn. Other Indian tales travelled through Persia into the Abbasid Caliphate to become part of the "One Thousand and One Nights."
THE AMERINDIAN COYOTE AND TRICKSTER TALES
The indiginous peoples of the Americas had rich narrative oral traditions ranging from tales of hunting and adventure to the creation myth of the Navajo "Story of the Emergence" and the Mayan "Popul Vuh." These tales circulated around the two continents and were most commonly associated with the "Trickster" tales---a devious, self-seeking, yet powerful and even sacred character, often embodied, like the Aesopian tradition, in animal form. In Southwest North America this often took the form of the Coyote. who constantly seeks to get his way by trickery, amorality and double-dealing, and who sometimes is successful but sometimes brings about his own ruin through his own deceit,insatiable appetites or curiosity. In the lustful tale "The Coyote as Medicine Man" the trickster gets all he desires. The Coyote walking along a lake sees an old man with a penis so long he must coil it around his body many times like a rope. Then he sees a group of naked girls jumping and playing in the water. He asks the old man if he can borrow his penis, which the old man lends him. Then the Coyote sticks the enormous penis onto his own and enters the water, at which the enormous penis slithers like an eel into the vagina of one of the girls, who cut it off with a knife, but with one part remaining inside, making her sick. Later the Coyote transforms himself into a Medicine Man shaman to whom the girls go to cure their sick friend. He uses this opportunity and trickery to sexually fondle all the girls as well as curing the sick one by an additional act of copulation, which fuses the two segments of the severed penis again into one, allowing him to extract the whole from her.
World Literature Forum invites you to check out the great Folk Tales and Fables of World Literature, and also the contemporary epic novel Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard. For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved
Folk tales, folk song, folk legend and and folk lore have been with us since time immemorial and incorporate the primal archetypes of the collective unconscious and the folk wisdom of the human race. Very often these were passed down for millennia in oral form around primal campfires or tribal conclaves as "orature" before the invention of writing and the consequent evolution of "literature," later to be recorded or reworked in such immortal collections as "Aesop's Fables" of the 6th Century BC. In the 1700-1800's a new interest in folk tales arose in the wake of the Romantic Movement which idealized the natural wisdom of the common people, inducing the systematic efforts of scholars and writers to collect and preserve this heritage, as exemplified in such works as Sir Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," (1802) Goethe's friend Johann Gottfried Herder's "Folksongs," (1779) and the "German Folktales" (1815) of "The Brothers Grimm"---Jacob and Wilhelm.
With the evolution of World Literature in our globalized modern world these enduring folk tales remain a continuing source of wisdom and delight. We encounter them as children in our storybooks and we gain the enhanced perspectives of maturity on them as we introduce them to our own children and grandchildren. Additionally, we have the opportunity to learn of the folk wisdom and genius of other peoples and civilizations which add to our own heritage as the common inheritance of mankind.
Thus World Literature Forum is happy to introduce such masterpieces of the genre as the "Panchatantra" of ancient India, similar to the animal fables of our own Western Aesop, the "Pali Jatakas," or fabled-accounts of the incarnations of Buddha on the path of Enlightenment, folk-tales of the Chinese Monkey-King Sun Wu Kong and his Indian prototype Hanuman from the Ramayana, and the Amerincian Coyote and Trickster Tales. Also presented is some of the history and evolution of the classics of our own Western heritage, whose origins may have slipped from memory, such as Charles Perrault's "Mother Goose" tales, La Fontaine's "Fables," and American Southern raconteur Joel Chandler Harris's "Tar Baby," derived from the African tales of the black slaves,and perhaps of earlier Indian origin.
AESOP---FATHER OF THE FOLK AND ANIMAL FABLE
Aesop's "Fables" (500 BC) were very popular in ancient Athens. Little is known of Aesop himself, though legends have it that he was very ugly and that the citizens of Athens purportedly threw him off a cliff for non-payment of a charity, after which they were punished by a plague. Most Europeans came to know the Fables through a translation into Latin by a Greek slave Phaedrus in Rome, which collected ninety-seven short fables became a children's primer as well as a model text for learning Latin for the next two millennia throughout Europe. An example is:
The Fox and the Crow
A Fox once saw a crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree. "That's for me, as I am a Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. "Good-day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are looking today: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of all other birds, just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds." The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox. "That will do," said he. "That was all I wanted. In exchange for your cheese I'll give you a piece of advice for the future: 'Do not trust flatterers.'"
THE PANCHATANTRA---THE INDIAN AESOP
Sometime around 600 AD the enlightened King of Persia Nushirvan sent a delegation to India headed by the renown scholar Barzoye to obtain a copy of a book reputed to be replete with political wisdom. Barzoye visited the court of the most powerful king in India and at last obtained copies of not only that book but of many others. Fearful that the Indian king would take back the books, he quickly made copies and translated the works into Persian, or Pahlavi. On returning to the royal court in Persia Barzoya recited the works aloud to the King and court, who were so delighted they became Persian classics. Thus began the travels of the Panchatantra, which would be brought to Paris in the 1600's translated from the Persian into French, and from thence into all the modern European languages.
The Panchatantra, or "The Five Principles," is ascribed in India to a legendary figure, Vishnusharma, and is the most celebrated book of social wisdom in South Asian history. It is framed as a series of discourses for the education of royal princes, though like the Fables of the Greek Aesop, it utilizes the odd motif of talking animals--animal fables. Thus the core ethical problems of human existence such as the nature of trust and the limits of risk are entrusted to the wisdom of the beasts.
One of the most famous of the Aesopian animal fables of the Panchatantra is that of "The Turtle and the Geese." In the story two geese are close friends with a turtle in a pond named Kambugriva, but the pond is quickly drying up threatening all three with death. The geese resolve to fly away to a large lake and come to say good-bye to Kambugriva. He replies:
“Why are you saying good-bye to me? If you love me, you should rescue me from the jaws of death. For you when the lake dries up you will only suffer some loss of food, but for me it means death. What is worse, loss of food or loss of life?”
“What you say is true, good friend. We will take you with us: but don’t be stupid enough to say anything on the way.” The geese said.
“I won’t” Kambugriva promised.
So the geese brought a long stick and said to the turtle: “Now, hold onto the middle of this stick firmly with your teeth. We will then hold the two ends in our beaks and fly you through the air to a large beautiful lake far away.”
So the two geese stretched out their wings and flew with the stick in their mouths, the turtle hanging on by his teeth over the hills and forests until they flew over a town just near the lake. Looking up the townspeople saw the two birds flying, carrying the hanging turtle and exclaimed: “What is that pair of birds carrying through the air? It looks ridiculous, like a large cartwheel!”
“Who are you laughing at?” shouted the turtle with indignation, but as soon as he had opened his mouth to chastise them he fell from the stick and landed amoungst the townfolk, who proceeded to shell and cut him up for meat in their soup.
Moral:
“When a man does not heed the words of friends
Who only wish him well,
He will perish like the foolish turtle
Who fell down from the stick.”
LA FONTAINE'S FABLES--AN INDIAN TALE TRAVELS ROUND THE WORLD TO EUROPE
One way in which folk tales travel about the world is through the process of conscious adoption and adaptation by authors in other nations. La Fontaine (1621-1695) was a literary courtier in the court of Louis XIV of France. The raciness, dangerous ambiguity and rampant wit of some of his tales led sometimes to the disfavour of Louis, but the purity and grace of his style led to his election to the Academie Francaise. His first edition of verse "Fables" was modeled on Aesop, but in later editions he turned to oriental sources, of which a French translation by Pilpay of the Indian "Panchatantra" from the Persian and Arabic was one. Its moral had survival value in the treacherous world of the French court at Versailles, particularly in its invocation to keep one's wits about you in a crowd and learn how to hold one's tongue:
The Tortoise and the Two Ducks
A light-brain’d tortoise, anciently,
Tired of her hole, the world would see.
Prone are all such, self-banish’d, to roam —
Prone are all cripples to abhor their home.
Two ducks, to whom the gossip told
The secret of her purpose bold,
Profess’d to have the means whereby
They could her wishes gratify.
‘Our boundless road,’ said they, ‘behold!
It is the open air;
And through it we will bear
You safe o’er land and ocean.
Republics, kingdoms, you will view,
And famous cities, old and new;
And get of customs, laws, a notion, —
Of various wisdom various pieces,
As did, indeed, the sage Ulysses.’
The eager tortoise waited not
To question what Ulysses got,
But closed the bargain on the spot.
A nice machine the birds devise
To bear their pilgrim through the skies. —
Athwart her mouth a stick they throw:
‘Now bite it hard, and don’t let go,’
They say, and seize each duck an end,
And, swiftly flying, upward tend.
It made the people gape and stare
Beyond the expressive power of words,
To see a tortoise cut the air,
Exactly poised between two birds.
‘A miracle,’ they cried, ‘is seen!
There goes the flying tortoise queen!’
‘The queen!’ (’twas thus the tortoise spoke;)
‘I’m truly that, without a joke.’
Much better had she held her tongue
For, opening that whereby she clung,
Before the gazing crowd she fell,
And dash’d to bits her brittle shell.
Imprudence, vanity, and babble,
And idle curiosity,
An ever-undivided rabble,
Have all the same paternity.
THE PALI JATAKAS--TALES OF THE PREVIOUS INCARNATIONS OF THE BUDDHA ON THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT
The Pali Jatakas are preserved in the "Pali Canon of Buddhist Scripture" which was compiled about the same time as the Christian Bible, in the first centuries AD. Each story purports to tell of a previous life of the Buddha in which he learned some critical lesson or acheived some moral attainment of the "Middle Path" in the course of the vast cycle of transmigration and reincarnation that led to his Buddhahood. The story of "Prince Five Weapons" represents one such prior life of the Buddha. The core of the story is the account of a battle against an adversary upon whose tacky and sticky body all weapons stick, a symbolical case study of a nemesis of the Buddhist virtue of "detachment."
In the opening frame tale of "Prince Five Weapons" the Buddha counsels an errant monk: "Are you a backslider?" he questioned. "Yes, Blessed One." confesses the monk, who had given up discipline. Then Buddha tells the story of his past life: A Prince was born to a great king. The Queen, seeking a name for him asked of 800 Brahmins for a name. Then she learned that the King would soon die and the baby Prince would become a great king, conquering with the aid of the Five Weapons. Sent to Afghanistan for martial arts training in the Five Weapons, on his return he encounters a great demon named "Hairy Grip" with an adhesive hide to which all weapons stick fast. the Prince uses his poison arrows, but they only stick to his hairy-sticky hide. He uses his sword, spear, and club but all stick uselessly. Then he uses his two fists, his two feet and finally butts him with his head, all of which stick uselessly to the hide. Finally, hopelessly stuck to the the monster, the demon asks if he is afraid to die. The Prince answers that he has a fifth weapon, that of Knowledge which he bears within him, and that if the monster devours him the monster will be punished in future lives and the Prince himself will attain future glories. The monster is taken aback by the spirit of the Prince and, becoming a convert to Buddhism releases him, after which the Prince fulfills his destiny of becoming a great King, and in a later life, the Buddha. Thereby, the backslider is counseled to persevere and end his backsliding, with the moral: "With no attachment, all things are possible."
"THE TAR BABY"---FROM THE AFRICAN SLAVE TALES OF UNCLE REMUS---(BRER FOX AND BRER RABBIT)--BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS---A FOLK STORY CIRCUMNAVIGATES THE WORLD
Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908) was born in Ante-Bellum Georgia, worked as a reporter and writer and like the Brothers Grimm and Scott collected folk tales by talking with the African slaves working on the Southern plantations, publishing them most famously as the "Uncle Remus" tales of Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit, told by an old and wise slave to the young son of the master of the plantation. Like the Amerindian "Trickster" tales or the cartoon series the "Roadrunner and the Coyote," or "Bugs Bunny" they often focus on how the smart and wily Brer Rabbit outthinks and tricks Brer Fox who constantly seeks to catch and eat him. The most famous of these stories is that of "The Tar Baby" in which Brer Fox covers a life-like manniquin in sticky tar and puts it in Brer Rabbit's path. The rabbit becomes angry that the Tar Baby will not answer his questions and losing his temper strikes him, causing his hand to stick fast. Then in turn he hits, kicks and head butts him until his whole body is stuck fast to the "Tar Baby." The secret of how Brer Rabbit escapes is deferred by the sagacious storyteller Uncle Remus "until the next episode."
Scholars, discovering the similarity of the "Tar Baby" story with the Pali Jataka story of "Prince Five Weapons" debated whether the story had travelled across the world and centuries in the most astonishing way or was simply independently invented in two places. These two competing theories, "Monogenesis and Diffusion" vs "Polygenesis" remain competing explanations. Further research documented how the Pali Jataka had, like the "Panchatantra" been translated into Persian, then Arabic, then into African dialects in Muslim-influenced West Africa, where many American slaves hailed from. Polygenesis Theory also gained some competing support from C.G. Jung's theory of "Archetypes" and the "Universal Collective Unconscious" which would provide a psychological force and source for the continuous regeneration of similar stories and dreams throughout the world. The two theories continue to compete and complement each other as explanations of cultural diffusion and similiarity.
CHARLES PERRAULT'S "MOTHER GOOSE" TALES--ROYAL COURTS AND THE FOLK
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was a contemporary of La Fontaine at the court of France's Louis XIV, with whom he was elected to the Academie Francaise. He won the King's favor and retired on a generous pension from the finance minister Colbert. He was associated with the argument between two literary factions which became known in England as "The Battle of the Books" after Swift, and which focused on the question of whether the modern writers or the ancients were the greater. Perrault argued in favor of the moderns, but Louis XIV intervened in the proceedings of the Academie and found in favor of the ancients. Perrault persisted,however, in trying to outdo Aesop in his "Mother Goose" collection of folk and children's tales. One of the most famous was that of "Donkey Skin," a kind of variation on the better-known Cinderella theme, in which a Princess, fearful of the attempt of her own father to an incestuous marriage, flees, disguising herself as a crude peasant-girl clothed in a donkey-skin. Arriving at the neighboring kingdom she works as a scullery maid until the Prince observes her in secret dressed in her most beautiful royal gown. Falling in love with her the Prince is unable to establish her true identity but finds a ring from her finger and declares he will marry the girl whose finger fits the ring. As in the case of Cinderella's glass slipper, all the girls of the kingdom attempt but fail to put on the ring, until the very last, Donkey-Skin succeeds. At the marriage it is discovered that she is really a Princess and she is reconciled with her father, who has abandoned his incestuous inclinations. The story is partially a satire on Louis XIV, who himself took as a mistress Louise de la Valliere, a simple girl with a lame foot while surrounded by the most elegant beauties of Paris.
THE CHINESE MONKEY KING AND HANUMAN FROM THE INDIAN RAMAYANA
Another remarkable instance of the diffusion of a story or character is that of the character of the Monkey King Sun Wu Kong in the immortal Chinese classic "Journey to the West" or "Xi You Ji." In this instance the character of the Monkey King originated in India as the Hanuman of the Ramayana, a half-man, half-monkey with magical superpowers who aids Rama in recovering his wife Sita from the evil sorcerer Ravanna. This tale was embodied in Indian lore which passed into China with the coming of Buddhism and was later incorporated into the classic novel by Wu ChengEn. Other Indian tales travelled through Persia into the Abbasid Caliphate to become part of the "One Thousand and One Nights."
THE AMERINDIAN COYOTE AND TRICKSTER TALES
The indiginous peoples of the Americas had rich narrative oral traditions ranging from tales of hunting and adventure to the creation myth of the Navajo "Story of the Emergence" and the Mayan "Popul Vuh." These tales circulated around the two continents and were most commonly associated with the "Trickster" tales---a devious, self-seeking, yet powerful and even sacred character, often embodied, like the Aesopian tradition, in animal form. In Southwest North America this often took the form of the Coyote. who constantly seeks to get his way by trickery, amorality and double-dealing, and who sometimes is successful but sometimes brings about his own ruin through his own deceit,insatiable appetites or curiosity. In the lustful tale "The Coyote as Medicine Man" the trickster gets all he desires. The Coyote walking along a lake sees an old man with a penis so long he must coil it around his body many times like a rope. Then he sees a group of naked girls jumping and playing in the water. He asks the old man if he can borrow his penis, which the old man lends him. Then the Coyote sticks the enormous penis onto his own and enters the water, at which the enormous penis slithers like an eel into the vagina of one of the girls, who cut it off with a knife, but with one part remaining inside, making her sick. Later the Coyote transforms himself into a Medicine Man shaman to whom the girls go to cure their sick friend. He uses this opportunity and trickery to sexually fondle all the girls as well as curing the sick one by an additional act of copulation, which fuses the two segments of the severed penis again into one, allowing him to extract the whole from her.
World Literature Forum invites you to check out the great Folk Tales and Fables of World Literature, and also the contemporary epic novel Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard. For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved
May 4, 2023
“Cinderella” is a fairy-tale wirtten by Charles Perrault that tells the story of a girl the mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters. With the help of her fairy-godmother she meets a prince and lives happily ever after. I loved the story and would indicate to the public in gereral, because it show us that simplicity can the take us beyond what we can imagine.
May 21, 2023
I read this to help me get back to sleep when insomnia struck, but the origins of these fairy tales are more fucked up than I anticipated. Lol 👍🏻
August 22, 2023
'Bluebeard' is easily the greatest fairy tale ever written. It's terrifying, allegorical, and beautifully wrought. But the whole collection is wonderful, in its unaltered form.
April 21, 2024
Those might be old tales but the lessons to be kept in mind are still good.
September 14, 2024
Interesting stories. A little darker than I expected but we enjoyed the non-Disney versions.
September 28, 2025
The book is well-written and I had a good time reading this book.
March 9, 2022
It really makes no sense to "rate" a work such as this. Many of the tales present in this collection have become so ingrained within our culture that one cannot approach them with a fresh, unblemished eye. Most people here will have grown up with picture book versions of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but more's to the point some of these tales have been reworked and reworked that versions far outstripping what we have presented here exist - but could not do so without these. Cinderella and Bluebeard's Castle are both magnificent Opera, The Sleeping Beauty is of course a monumental Tchaikvosky Ballet and a Disney masterpiece &tc. &tc.
It makes no sense because there's no "original" to these stories anyway and Perrault was simply collating popular tales just as many before him did and many afterwards did, and yet one often talks about "the original tales" being darker and so forth in comparison to, say, the Disneyfied versions even though we have enough distance from those Disney productions that, at this point, they equally have as much right to be called definitive all on their own.
It makes no sense, either, because this is such a short collection of tales that it's almost impossible to think about them in broader terms
Regardless, despite the muddied nature of even talking or thinking about stories such as these this remains necessary reading for historical importance, but also because these stories, at least where every story beat isn't ingrained on the brain such as Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood, remain very fun to read (yes, yes, I know she gets eaten by the wolf. The shock of that is no longer earth-shaking I'm afraid).
Sleeping Beauty is interesting because the second half of the story - honestly, the not-very-good half - whereby the Prince's mum tries to eat the wedded couple's children ('cause she's an ogress, apparently) has been lost to the mists of storytelling time. Puss in Boots, one of those staples on the pantomime circuit, is a much more basic, fun tale of a wily, and somewhat amoral cat who schemes his master into wealth. Little Thumb, I know from an online French friend recently is more well-known in France, but so close is it to Hansel and Gretel for the first half, it isn't really told in Britain, whilst Riquet of the Tuft is perhaps the most fun curiosity about the burgeoning attraction between a girl who is beautiful but stupid and a man who is ugly but smart.
If you like stories - and I expect that you do if you're perusing this website - then you'll enjoy these stories since they are ingrained in us all and on some level are the reason we love, live and breathe stories. They are short and sometimes a little odd and perhaps don't always have the greatest literary artistry, but they do still have the power to entertain and intrigue.
It makes no sense because there's no "original" to these stories anyway and Perrault was simply collating popular tales just as many before him did and many afterwards did, and yet one often talks about "the original tales" being darker and so forth in comparison to, say, the Disneyfied versions even though we have enough distance from those Disney productions that, at this point, they equally have as much right to be called definitive all on their own.
It makes no sense, either, because this is such a short collection of tales that it's almost impossible to think about them in broader terms
Regardless, despite the muddied nature of even talking or thinking about stories such as these this remains necessary reading for historical importance, but also because these stories, at least where every story beat isn't ingrained on the brain such as Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood, remain very fun to read (yes, yes, I know she gets eaten by the wolf. The shock of that is no longer earth-shaking I'm afraid).
Sleeping Beauty is interesting because the second half of the story - honestly, the not-very-good half - whereby the Prince's mum tries to eat the wedded couple's children ('cause she's an ogress, apparently) has been lost to the mists of storytelling time. Puss in Boots, one of those staples on the pantomime circuit, is a much more basic, fun tale of a wily, and somewhat amoral cat who schemes his master into wealth. Little Thumb, I know from an online French friend recently is more well-known in France, but so close is it to Hansel and Gretel for the first half, it isn't really told in Britain, whilst Riquet of the Tuft is perhaps the most fun curiosity about the burgeoning attraction between a girl who is beautiful but stupid and a man who is ugly but smart.
If you like stories - and I expect that you do if you're perusing this website - then you'll enjoy these stories since they are ingrained in us all and on some level are the reason we love, live and breathe stories. They are short and sometimes a little odd and perhaps don't always have the greatest literary artistry, but they do still have the power to entertain and intrigue.
April 28, 2017
The tales from Mother Goose are tales we have heard since we were children, and there have been many variations of them. For class we read The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, Little Red Riding Hood, Blue Beard, and Cinderella/The Little Glass Slipper. It was interesting that the second half of Sleeping Beauty turned out to be a tale about her mother-in-law wanting to eat SB’s children, and the moral of the story spoke nothing of that part. Perhaps the moral alludes to both the intention of man and marrying into his family.
Little Red Riding Hood had both naivety and sexual connotations which, as an adult, makes me realize its relevance to the moral. Personally, the more sexual version of the tale makes more sense to me than the tale we are fed as children because there is no way that a young girl would naively tell a talking wolf the location of her grandmother’s home and the purpose of her visit.
Blue Beard’s tale was also an interesting tale because it seems to play on the curiosity of women. Was Eve not the pioneer for curious women in wanting to partake of the forbidden fruit? However, I do not think that curiosity should only apply to women; men can also be curious because for some reason, curiosity is something terribly hard to fight. If a rich person told me that everything and every room in their house was available for me to use and then turned around to give me specific instructions and directions to not visit just ONE room /and/ they gave me every single key to the house, you bet the first room I am going in once they leave is the forbidden one.
Cinderella’s tale is the one that is more consistent with the modern version. The first moral about graciousness being more important than beauty is a good moral for young girls. The second moral is half positive. Intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense are great advantages (good breeding in the sense that there are more opportunities for you), but you don’t need godparents for those things.
Personally, I enjoy the Grimm Bros. versions of fairy tales. (364 words)
Little Red Riding Hood had both naivety and sexual connotations which, as an adult, makes me realize its relevance to the moral. Personally, the more sexual version of the tale makes more sense to me than the tale we are fed as children because there is no way that a young girl would naively tell a talking wolf the location of her grandmother’s home and the purpose of her visit.
Blue Beard’s tale was also an interesting tale because it seems to play on the curiosity of women. Was Eve not the pioneer for curious women in wanting to partake of the forbidden fruit? However, I do not think that curiosity should only apply to women; men can also be curious because for some reason, curiosity is something terribly hard to fight. If a rich person told me that everything and every room in their house was available for me to use and then turned around to give me specific instructions and directions to not visit just ONE room /and/ they gave me every single key to the house, you bet the first room I am going in once they leave is the forbidden one.
Cinderella’s tale is the one that is more consistent with the modern version. The first moral about graciousness being more important than beauty is a good moral for young girls. The second moral is half positive. Intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense are great advantages (good breeding in the sense that there are more opportunities for you), but you don’t need godparents for those things.
Personally, I enjoy the Grimm Bros. versions of fairy tales. (364 words)
October 31, 2015
This book contained Mother Goose fairy tales, including Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, Little Thumb, The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots, Riquet with the Tuft, Blue Beard, The Fairy, and Little Red Riding Hood.
I normally wouldn't read fairy tales, but recently, I realized I know next to nothing about fairy tales, and I found a free iBook on my phone, so I decided to read it.
The only version of fairy tales I've read/seen are Disney ones, and I don't watch movies very often, so I still don't know very much about even the Disney version of fairy tales. I saw some similarities between the two, but also very many differences. I've read the Disney Version of Cinderella, even though it was only a picture book, and I've watched parts of the movie, so I know the story. Same with Sleeping Beauty.
In Mother Goose's version of Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, Cinderella was a lot nicer. She wasn't that blubbering little girl who was crying because her stepsisters tore her dress, and she couldn't go to the ball. She didn't even really want to go to the ball.
Mother Goose's version of The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods was quite different from Disney. From what I read, the prince didn't actually kiss the princess in Mother Goose's version. He just knelt before her. Also, in the Disney version, I'm pretty sure that there was none of that stuff at the end. I don't think there was the queen trying to eat the children and the princess.
There was definitely less violence in the Disney version of these, but I'm not exactly sure which was better. I've only read a few of Mother Goose's tales, and I haven't read or seen very many of the Disney versions either.
I normally wouldn't read fairy tales, but recently, I realized I know next to nothing about fairy tales, and I found a free iBook on my phone, so I decided to read it.
The only version of fairy tales I've read/seen are Disney ones, and I don't watch movies very often, so I still don't know very much about even the Disney version of fairy tales. I saw some similarities between the two, but also very many differences. I've read the Disney Version of Cinderella, even though it was only a picture book, and I've watched parts of the movie, so I know the story. Same with Sleeping Beauty.
In Mother Goose's version of Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, Cinderella was a lot nicer. She wasn't that blubbering little girl who was crying because her stepsisters tore her dress, and she couldn't go to the ball. She didn't even really want to go to the ball.
Mother Goose's version of The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods was quite different from Disney. From what I read, the prince didn't actually kiss the princess in Mother Goose's version. He just knelt before her. Also, in the Disney version, I'm pretty sure that there was none of that stuff at the end. I don't think there was the queen trying to eat the children and the princess.
There was definitely less violence in the Disney version of these, but I'm not exactly sure which was better. I've only read a few of Mother Goose's tales, and I haven't read or seen very many of the Disney versions either.
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April 28, 2017I think this was one of the best reads. Before reading this I had no knowledge that this is where all the famous stories like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood were based off of. Apparently, there are hundreds of versions all over the world of these stories that tells it in its own version which is really cool. The differences found in these stories compared to the ones I grew up with is really interesting to read about. For example, the story about “The Sleeping Beauty In The Wood” depicted the mother of the prince to be the orge while in another version depicts the orge as the one in the woods who eats all the children who come into the woods and the orge can control the opening and closing passage into the woods. Here, the mother seeks to eat the wife of the prince and their children instead. The interesting thing about this is all of these stories have a dark theme to it which makes it sort of like a horror story in a way, but when versions of these stories were remade here in America, it portrays a “happy”-ish verision of the stories instead making you feel like you are in a Disney adventure which it essentially does do that. I would definitely recommend this read to others. (223 words)
April 27, 2017
(This Review is for a Lit Class) The tales of Mother Goose were really interesting to me. I enjoyed the tales I’ve read because they are a little different from the notorious disney versions I grew up on. They seemed to be a little more grim and brutal. The tale of sleeping beauty for example, and the evil step mother after the queen and the children was a great twist to the all too familiar story. Perrault pretty much set the foundation for these tales and became a legend off of this book. I really like how the villains, for the most part, really get what they deserve. Bluebeard for example, got slaughtered just like all his victims, the evil stepmother in sleeping beauty got devoured for her evil deeds. I guess the truly sad story was the story of LRRH, the villain pretty much won in that ending. Over all, reading this book gave me newer, different perspectives of stories I grew up on, this book is a great read.(171)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2017
I’ve always loved fairy tales as a kid, I would watch all of the Disney movies and read the books and loved how it always ended with happily ever after. After reading Charles Perrault’s versions of fairy tales I think it’s so interesting how stories have changed over time and that they don’t always end with happily ever after. I’ve always believed Disney created Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. But I’m glad I read these French fairy tale versions, I enjoyed them very much, I personally enjoyed the horror in them. I think the morals were sometimes hard to understand. But just for little red riding hood I think the moral was just right. I think fairy tales aren’t only for children and they will always have a special place in my world. Even though Perrault wrote these for children I think they are not appropriate for children to read, some of them are very bloody and disturbing. But then it can be good for children to read because there’s usually a lesson to be learned. (175)
November 26, 2013
It is a collection of fairy tales by Charles Perrault. It has all the well known fairy tales - yet different with Grimm's version.
1. Cinderella, or the little glass slipper
2. The sleeping beauty in the woods
3. Little thumb
4. The master cat, or puss in boots
3. Riquet, with the tuft
4. Blue beard
5. The fairy
6. Little red riding-hood
I don't like Riquet the most, i remember reading it when i was a little girl and i got the impression of how unfair the world is. You have two sisters, one is as beautiful as you can be but a simpleton and the second one is homely yet smart. But in the end, the story still bless the beauty with intelligent thus robbing the second sister her one true glory. It teach little girls that the world is unfair, and beauty indeed is the most important thing. Because in the end you can get away with everything, and still wins your prince charming.
1. Cinderella, or the little glass slipper
2. The sleeping beauty in the woods
3. Little thumb
4. The master cat, or puss in boots
3. Riquet, with the tuft
4. Blue beard
5. The fairy
6. Little red riding-hood
I don't like Riquet the most, i remember reading it when i was a little girl and i got the impression of how unfair the world is. You have two sisters, one is as beautiful as you can be but a simpleton and the second one is homely yet smart. But in the end, the story still bless the beauty with intelligent thus robbing the second sister her one true glory. It teach little girls that the world is unfair, and beauty indeed is the most important thing. Because in the end you can get away with everything, and still wins your prince charming.
April 27, 2017
The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault
Each of these stories were yes childhood stories but the author certainly put a different spin on them. At the end of these Mother Goose stories the author added a morals comment. I thought that was unique whether I agreed with them or not. For example, I did not like the Little Red Riding Hood story not for the story itself, but in my opinion the author seemed to have a bit of a sexual tone to it. I did not hear this or think of this as a child reader it just seemed scary at the time. Maybe because I have a fear of dogs and his big teeth which as a child I’m sure reminded me of a big dog with big teeth. Not sure if it was the way the author described “the better to” part it seemed to have a sexual over tone too much for a child story. I would not read this rendition to my children or grandchildren. (165)
Each of these stories were yes childhood stories but the author certainly put a different spin on them. At the end of these Mother Goose stories the author added a morals comment. I thought that was unique whether I agreed with them or not. For example, I did not like the Little Red Riding Hood story not for the story itself, but in my opinion the author seemed to have a bit of a sexual tone to it. I did not hear this or think of this as a child reader it just seemed scary at the time. Maybe because I have a fear of dogs and his big teeth which as a child I’m sure reminded me of a big dog with big teeth. Not sure if it was the way the author described “the better to” part it seemed to have a sexual over tone too much for a child story. I would not read this rendition to my children or grandchildren. (165)
November 13, 2021
This book is a gem that contains the most iconic folk tales for children. Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood are the most enchanting stories I have known since I was a child. I love the authenticity of this book being a translation from Charles Perault's 1696 edition and published in 1901 in the U.S.
Because of the age of this collection, the language may read quite traditional, but a bit of effort to look up certain words, a reader can quicky understanding the storyline and the details and can recount the stories in a more modern way.
There are spelling mistakes here and there. I feel a new edition with re-written texts will be desired my modern readers.
Because of the age of this collection, the language may read quite traditional, but a bit of effort to look up certain words, a reader can quicky understanding the storyline and the details and can recount the stories in a more modern way.
There are spelling mistakes here and there. I feel a new edition with re-written texts will be desired my modern readers.
November 14, 2025
Η συλλογή περιλαμβάνει μερικά από τα πιο αναγνωρίσιμα παραμύθια παγκοσμίως, τα οποία έχουν διαμορφώσει τον δυτικό πολιτισμό και έχουν εμπνεύσει αμέτρητες μεταγενέστερες διασκευές .
Τα παραμύθια αυτά εξερευνούν διαχρονικά θέματα όπως:τη νίκη του καλού απέναντι στο κακό , την αξία της ευγένειας, της εξυπνάδας και της εργατικότητας (συχνά σε αντίθεση με την απληστία ή την τεμπελιά) , τους κινδύνους της ανυπακοής (όπως στην "Κοκκινοσκουφίτσα") , την κοινωνική άνοδο και τη μοίρα , την ομορφιά (τόσο την εξωτερική όσο και την εσωτερική) .
Ξεχωρίζω το "Ρικέ με τη φούντα"
Σύσταση:Είχε ωραία μηνύματα και ουσία .
Τα παραμύθια αυτά εξερευνούν διαχρονικά θέματα όπως:τη νίκη του καλού απέναντι στο κακό , την αξία της ευγένειας, της εξυπνάδας και της εργατικότητας (συχνά σε αντίθεση με την απληστία ή την τεμπελιά) , τους κινδύνους της ανυπακοής (όπως στην "Κοκκινοσκουφίτσα") , την κοινωνική άνοδο και τη μοίρα , την ομορφιά (τόσο την εξωτερική όσο και την εσωτερική) .
Ξεχωρίζω το "Ρικέ με τη φούντα"
Σύσταση:Είχε ωραία μηνύματα και ουσία .
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May 1, 2018Suggested age: kindergarten and up.
Summary: This book is the original. The very first collection of fairy tales that was popularized in the west. It is a collection of short stories with lessons for readers of every age.
Review: What's there not to like? This is mother goose, the first, and the staple of fairy tale story telling. The stories are charming and have a good message, albeit a little out-dated.
Class uses: This could be used for a variety of lessons on morals and good behavior. For older classes, this could be used to dissect what it means to be a fairy tale.
Summary: This book is the original. The very first collection of fairy tales that was popularized in the west. It is a collection of short stories with lessons for readers of every age.
Review: What's there not to like? This is mother goose, the first, and the staple of fairy tale story telling. The stories are charming and have a good message, albeit a little out-dated.
Class uses: This could be used for a variety of lessons on morals and good behavior. For older classes, this could be used to dissect what it means to be a fairy tale.
April 19, 2017
I found myself laughing out loud while I was reading these tales. These fairy tales are not the Disney movies I remember watching as a kid and I was glad. I especially liked “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”. I often wondered what happened after the happily ever after. The king’s mother being an ogre and trying to eat her daughter in law and grand kids was not it. The morals were what I expected for the most part, but some of them I didn’t quite understand. Overall, I’m glad I read it. (93)
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