The Tales of Mother Goose

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The Tales of Mother Goose

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Title: The Tales of Mother Goose As First Collected by Charles Perrault in 1696
Author: Charles Perrault
Annotator: M. V. O'Shea
Illustrator: D. J. Munro
Translator: Charles Welsh
Release Date: December 3, 2005 [EBook #17208]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE TALES OF MOTHER GOOSE AS FIRST COLLECTED BY CHARLES PERRAULT IN 1696 A NEW TRANSLATION BY CHARLES WELSH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY M.V. O'SHEA PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
ILLUSTRATED BY D.J. MUNRO AFTER DRAWINGS BY GUSTAVE DOR��
D.C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
[Illustration: "SHE MET WITH GAFFER WOLF." p. 80.]

[Transcriber's note: In the story "Riquet of the Tuft," the following symbols are used to represent special characters: [=e] = the letter "e" with superior macron [=a] = the letter "a" with superior macron]

CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR M.V. O'SHEA vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
CINDERELLA, OR THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER 1
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD 13
LITTLE THUMB 29
THE MASTER CAT, OR PUSS IN BOOTS 45
RIQUET OF THE TUFT 54
BLUE BEARD 66
THE FAIRY 75
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD 80
NOTE 85

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"She met with Gaffer Wolf" Frontispiece PAGE
"It went on very easily" 11
"Let me see if I can do it" 15
"Slipped in under his father's seat" 30
"The Marquis of Carabas is drowning!" 48
"I am exact in keeping my word" 63
"If you open it, there's nothing you may not expect from my anger" 67
"With all my heart, Goody" 75
"He fell upon the good woman" 81

INTRODUCTION
What virtues do these stories possess that have kept them alive for so long a time? They have to some degree stimulated and nourished qualities of supreme worth in individual and social life. With the young the struggle against greed and falsehood and pride and cowardice is a very real one, and situations in which these homely, fundamental traits are involved are full of interest and seriousness. Again, to mature people the reward of well-doing and the punishment of evil conduct portrayed in these stories are apt to seem too realistic, too much also on the cut-and-dried pattern; but it is far different with children. They have a very concrete sense of right and wrong, and they demand a clear, explicit, tangible outcome for every sort of action. They must have concrete, living examples, with the appropriate outcome of each, set before them.
A modest, faithful child will be strengthened in his good qualities; while one lacking these will have them aroused, to some extent at any rate, by following Cinderella in her career. Arrogance and selfishness come to unhappy straits in this fancy world, and they are likely to fare the same in the real world; so it would be better to part company with them, and take up with gentleness and kindliness and faithfulness instead. And every one may be of some help to others if he be only of the right mind. The brother who thought himself faring badly with only a cat for a legacy learns betimes that even so small and apparently helpless a creature may be of much service when he is rightly disposed. A person might think little Thumb could accomplish nothing of value to any one, but he again teaches the child that all depends on the willingness to be of assistance, the good-heartedness, the fellow-feeling which one has for others.
In making this version anew the translator has endeavored to retain the characteristics of the style of the early chap-book versions, while evading the pompous, stilted language and Johnsonian phraseology so fashionable when they were first translated.
M.V. O'SHEA.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.

The Tales of Mother Goose.

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