Charles Perrault
Charles 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.
“FIRST MORALGood manners are not easyThey need a little care,But when we least expect itBring rewards both rich and rare.SECOND MORALBrute force or bribes of diamondsBend others to your will,But gentle words have greater powerAnd gain more conquests still.”
Charles Perrault
“For you know that I myself am a labyrinth, where one easily gets lost.”
Charles Perrault
“To wait so long/And want a man refined and strong/Is not at all uncommon. And yet to wait one hundred years/Without a tear, without a care/Makes for a very rare woman. So here our tale appears to show/How marriage deferred/Brings joy unheard/Nothing lost after a century or so. But others love with more ardor/And wed quickly out of passion/Whatever they do/I won’t deplore/Nor shall I preach a lesson.”
Charles Perrault