Princess Origins Series: Charles Perrault

Photo courtesy of NNDB.com

We've reached the final chapter in our fun and educational Princess Origins series. Our last author and great great great great grandfather of some of our most beloved characters is Charles Perrault. He was a french writer of the 18th century who brought us such classics as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Tales of Mother Goose. A fun fact connecting Perrault to one of our other origin writers is that many of Perrault's works were later gathered, edited and printed by the Grimm Brothers.

Here's a sampling of his translated work:


Cinderella (or The Little Glass Slipper)

Once upon a time there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that ever was seen. She had two daughters of her own, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. The gentleman had also a young daughter, of rare goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world.

The wedding was scarcely over, when the stepmother's bad temper began to show itself. She could not bear the goodness of this young girl, because it made her own daughters appear the more odious. The stepmother gave her the meanest work in the house to do; she had to scour the dishes, tables, etc., and to scrub the floors and clean out the bedrooms. The poor girl had to sleep in the garret, upon a wretched straw bed, while her sisters lay in fine rooms with inlaid floors, upon beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large that they might see themselves at their full length. The poor girl bore all patiently, and dared not complain to her father, who would have scolded her if she had done so, for his wife governed him entirely.

When she had done her work, she used to go into the chimney corner, and sit down among the cinders, hence she was called Cinderwench. The younger sister of the two, who was not so rude and uncivil as the elder, called her Cinderella. However, Cinderella, in spite of her mean apparel, was a hundred times more handsome than her sisters, though they were always richly dressed. Read more! 

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