Beauty and the Beast and Other Fairy Tales

Marie Leprince de Beaumont · Charles Perrault

pri 2013 · Courier Corporation

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It was long ago and far away that a French governess told her little pupils a wonderful story called Beauty and the Beast, about a pretty girl's love for a gentle but physically repulsive creature. That charming eighteenth-century tale of the transformative power of love has enchanted generations of readers and listeners to the present day. The story's fame has spread around the world in recent years via a classic animated film and a popular Broadway musical. Now this new edition of Beauty and the Beast will continue to captivate young audiences with its timeless appeal.
In addition to the title tale, this volume includes five stories by Charles Perrault, the noted French author and compiler of fairy tales. These include Blue Beard, the gripping legend of a curious bride and her ladykiller husband; Puss in Boots, in which a destitute miller's son trusts in his clever cat and receives a royal reward; and Little Tom Thumb, the adventures of a fellow who's small of stature but ample in wit. A pair of Perrault's lesser known tales are also included: The Fairies, a fable of kindness rewarded, and Ricky of the Tuft, an engaging story of the relative nature of beauty and wisdom.
Brimming with humor, drama, and fantasy, these six stories appear here in complete and unabridged form, each with an original full-page illustration by Kristine Bollinger.

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Charles Perrault was born in Paris on January 12, 1628. He was the son of an upper-class burgeois family and attended the best schools, becoming a lawyer in 1651. After being a lawyer for some time, he was appointed chief clerk in the king's building, superintendent's office in 1664. While there, he induced Colbert to establish a fund called Liste des Bienfaits du Roi, to give pensions to writers and savants not only in France but in Europe. He took part in the creation of the Academy of Sciences as well as the restoration of the Academy of Painting. When the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres was founded by Colbert in 1663, Perrault was made secretary for life. Having written but a few popular poems, he was elected to the French Academy in 1671, and on the day of his inauguration he invited the public to be admitted to the meeting, a privilege that has ever since been continued. Perrault laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known of his tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots), La Belle au bois dormant (The Sleeping Beauty) and La Barbe bleue (Bluebeard). His stories continue to be printed and have been adapted to opera, ballet (for example, Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty), theatre, and film. He also wrote Parallèles des Anciens et des Modernes (the Parallels between the Ancients and the Moderns), from 1688 to 1697, which compared the authors of antiquity unfavorably to more modern writers, and caused a debate that lasted for years. Charles Perrault died on May 16, 1703.