-Histories or Tales of Past Times Told by Mother Goose

Originally published in 1697 in the French Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités, this collection of children’s tales established stories including “Blue Beard,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Little Red Riding Hood” among popular literature. While some of these stories were based on preexisting folk tales and medieval traditions, his prose was mostly original. In “Blue Beard,” Perrault imagined Bluebeard’s Castle, located in France, with one forbidden room filled with blood and Bluebeard’s numerous murdered wives. In “Puss in Boots,” Perrault describes Carabas Castle, formerly occupied by an ogre before being vanquished by the cat Puss in Boots. These stories became popular in English after being translated by Robert Samber in 1729 and published as chapbooks. As indicated in the title, these stories all contained moral lessons based on Christianity.