Charles Perrault summary. Tales of Mother Goose, or stories and tales of bygone times with teachings, Perrault Charles

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Tales of Charles Perrault

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Biography of Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault- famous French writer-storyteller, poet and critic of the era of classicism, member French Academy from 1671, now known chiefly as the author of " Tales of Mother Goose».

Name Charles Perrault is one of the most popular names of storytellers in Russia, along with the names of Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Hoffmann. Marvelous tales Perrault from the collection of Mother Goose fairy tales: “Cinderella”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Puss in Boots”, “Tom Thumb”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Bluebeard” are glorified in Russian music, ballets, films, theater performances, in painting and graphics dozens and hundreds of times.

Charles Perrault born January 12, 1628 in Paris, in the wealthy family of the judge of the Parisian Parliament, Pierre Perrault, and was the youngest of his seven children (his twin brother Francois was born with him, who died 6 months later). Of his brothers, Claude Perrault was famous architect, author of the eastern façade of the Louvre (1665-1680).

The boy's family was concerned about the education of their children, and at the age of eight, Charles was sent to Beauvais College. As historian Philippe Ariès notes, school biography Charles Perrault - biography of a typical excellent student. During their training, neither he nor his brothers were ever beaten with rods - an exceptional case at that time. Charles Perrault dropped out of college without finishing his studies.

After college Charles Perrault takes private law lessons for three years and eventually receives a law degree. He bought a lawyer's license, but soon left this position and became a clerk for his brother, the architect Claude Perrault.

He enjoyed the trust of Jean Colbert; in the 1660s he largely determined the policy of the court Louis XIV in the field of arts. Thanks to Colbert, Charles Perrault was appointed secretary of the newly formed Academy of Inscriptions in 1663 and belles lettres. Perrault was also the controller general of the surintendent of royal buildings. After the death of his patron (1683), he fell out of favor and lost the pension paid to him as a writer, and in 1695 he also lost his position as secretary.

1653 – first work Charles Perrault- parody poem “The Wall of Troy, or the Origin of Burlesque” (Les murs de Troue ou l’Origine du burlesque).

1687 - Charles Perrault reads his didactic poem “The Age of Louis the Great” (Le Siecle de Louis le Grand) at the French Academy, which marked the beginning of a long-term “dispute about the ancients and the modern”, in which Nicolas Boileau became Perrault’s most fierce opponent. Perrault opposes imitation and the long-established worship of antiquity, arguing that contemporaries, the “new” ones, surpassed the “ancients” in literature and in the sciences and that this is proven literary history France and recent scientific discoveries.

1691 – Charles Perrault addresses the genre for the first time fairy tales and writes "Griselde". This is a poetic adaptation of Boccaccio’s short story that concludes the Decameron (10th short story of the X day). In it, Perrault does not break with the principle of verisimilitude; there is no magical fantasy here, just as there is no national coloring. folklore tradition. The tale has a salon-aristocratic character.

1694 – satire “Apology for Women” (Apologie des femmes) and a poetic story in the form of medieval fabliaux “Amusing Desires”. At the same time, the fairy tale “Donkey Skin” (Peau d’ane) was written. It is still written in verse, in the spirit of poetic short stories, but its plot is already taken from a folk tale that was then widespread in France. Although there is nothing fantastic in the fairy tale, fairies appear in it, which violates the classic principle of verisimilitude.

1695 – releasing his fairy tales, Charles Perrault in the preface he writes that his tales are higher than the ancient ones, because, unlike the latter, they contain moral instructions.

1696 – the fairy tale “The Sleeping Beauty” was anonymously published in the magazine “Gallant Mercury”, which for the first time fully embodied the features of a new type of fairy tale. It is written in prose, with a poetic moral teaching attached to it. The prose part can be addressed to children, the poetic part - only to adults, and the moral lessons are not without playfulness and irony. In the fairy tale, fantasy turns from a secondary element into a leading one, which is already noted in the title (La Bella au bois dormant, exact translation - “The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest”).

Literary activity Perrault comes at a time when high society a fashion for fairy tales appears. Reading and listening to fairy tales is becoming one of the most common hobbies secular society, comparable only to the reading of detective stories by our contemporaries. Some prefer to listen philosophical tales, others pay tribute to ancient fairy tales, passed down in the retellings of grandmothers and nannies. Writers, trying to satisfy these demands, write down fairy tales, processing plots familiar to them from childhood, and the oral fairy tale tradition gradually begins to turn into a written one.

1697 – a collection of fairy tales is published Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and tales of bygone times with moral teachings" (Contes de ma mere Oye, ou Histores et contesdu temps passe avec des moralites). The collection contained 9 fairy tales, which were literary adaptations of folk tales (believed to have been heard from the nurse of Perrault’s son) - except for one (“Riquet the Tuft”), composed by Charles Perrault himself. This book made Perrault widely famous outside the literary circle. Actually Charles Perrault entered folk tale into the system of genres of “high” literature.

However, Perrault did not dare to publish the fairy tales under his own name, and the book he published bore the name of his eighteen-year-old son, P. Darmancourt. He feared that, with all the love for “fairy-tale” entertainment, writing fairy tales would be perceived as a frivolous activity, casting a shadow with its frivolity on the authority of a serious writer.

It turns out that in philological science There is still no exact answer to the elementary question: who wrote the famous fairy tales?

The fact is that when the book of Mother Goose's fairy tales was first published, and it happened in Paris on October 28, 1696, the author of the book was identified in the dedication as a certain Pierre D Armancourt.

However, in Paris they quickly learned the truth. Under the magnificent pseudonym D Armancourt was hiding none other than the youngest and beloved son of Charles Perrault, nineteen-year-old Pierre. For a long time it was believed that the writer’s father resorted to this trick only to introduce the young man into elite, specifically in the circle of the young Princess of Orleans, niece of King Louis the Sun. After all, the book was dedicated to her. But later it turned out that young Perrault, on the advice of his father, wrote down some folk tales, and there are documentary references to this fact.

In the end, he completely confused the situation himself Charles Perrault.

Shortly before his death, the writer wrote a memoir, where he described in detail all the more or less important affairs of his life: service with Minister Colbert, editing the first Universal Dictionary French, poetic odes in honor of the king, translations of the fables of the Italian Faerno, a three-volume book of research on the comparison of ancient authors with new creators. But nowhere in his own biography did Perrault mention a word about the authorship of the phenomenal tales of Mother Goose, about a unique masterpiece world culture.

Meanwhile, he had every reason to include this book in the register of victories. The book of fairy tales was an unprecedented success among the Parisians in 1696; every day 20-30, and sometimes 50 books a day were sold in Claude Barbin's shop! This, on the scale of one store, was probably not even dreamed of today by the bestseller about Harry Potter.

The publisher repeated the print run three times during the year. This was unheard of. First France, then all of Europe fell in love with magical stories about Cinderella, her evil sisters and glass slipper, re-read a scary fairy tale about the knight Bluebeard, who killed his wives, was rooting for the polite Little Red Riding Hood, who was swallowed by an evil wolf. (Only in Russia did the translators correct the ending of the fairy tale; here the wolf is killed by woodcutters, and in the French original the wolf ate both the grandmother and granddaughter).

In fact, Mother Goose's tales became the world's first book written for children. Before this, no one had specifically written books for children. But then children's books came in an avalanche. From Perrault's masterpiece the phenomenon of children's literature itself was born!

Huge merit Perrault in that he chose from the mass of folk fairy tales several stories and recorded their plot, which has not yet become final. He gave them a tone, a climate, a style that was characteristic of the 17th century, and yet very personal.

At the core fairy tales by Perrault– famous folklore plot, which he presented with his characteristic talent and humor, omitting some details and adding new ones, “ennobling” the language. Most of all these fairy tales suitable for children. And it is Perrault who can be considered the founder of world children's literature and literary pedagogy.

“Fairy tales” contributed to the democratization of literature and influenced the development of the world fairy tale tradition (brothers W. and J. Grimm, L. Tieck, G. H. Andersen). Perrault's fairy tales were first published in Russian in Moscow in 1768 under the title “Tales of Sorceresses with Moral Teachings.” Based on the plots of Perrault's fairy tales, the operas “Cinderella” by G. Rossini, “The Castle of Duke Bluebeard” by B. Bartok, the ballets “The Sleeping Beauty” by P. I. Tchaikovsky, “Cinderella” by S. S. Prokofiev and others were created.

A poetic tale begins with a description happy life the brilliant king, his beautiful and faithful wife and their lovely little daughter. They lived in a magnificent palace, in a rich and prosperous country. In the royal stable, next to the frisky horses, “a fat donkey hung his ears peacefully.” “The Lord made his womb so good that if he sometimes shit, it was with gold and silver.”

But “in the prime of her magnificent years, the ruler’s wife was suddenly struck down by illness.” Dying, she asks her husband to “go down the aisle a second time only with that chosen one who will finally be more beautiful and worthy than me.” The husband “swore to her through a river of mad tears about everything she was waiting for... Among the widowers, he was one of the noisiest! I cried so much, I sobbed so much...” However, “less than a year has passed, there is shameless talk about matchmaking.” But the deceased is surpassed in beauty only by her own daughter, and the father, inflamed with a criminal passion, decides to marry the princess. She, in despair, goes to her godmother - the good fairy who lives “in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of a cave, between shells, corals, mother-of-pearl.” To upset the terrible wedding, the godmother advises the girl to demand from her father a wedding dress in the shade of clear days. “The task is tricky and in no way possible.” But the king of the tailors called the masters and ordered from the high throne chairs that tomorrow the gift was ready, otherwise how could he not have hung them up!” And in the morning the tailors bring “a wonderful gift.” Then the fairy advises her goddaughter to demand silk “lunar, unusual - he won’t be able to get it.” The king calls the goldsmith - and after four days the dress is ready. The princess almost submits to her father with delight, but, “compelled by her godmother,” she asks for an outfit of “wonderful sunny flowers.” The king threatens the jeweler terrible torture- and in less than a week he creates “porphyry from porphyry.” - What a surprise - new clothes! - the fairy whispers contemptuously and orders to demand the skin of a precious donkey from the sovereign. But the king's passion is stronger than stinginess - and the skin is immediately brought to the princess.

Here “the stern godmother found that disgust is inappropriate on the paths of good,” and on the advice of the fairy, the princess promises the king to marry him, and she, throwing a vile skin over her shoulders and smearing her face with soot, runs from the palace. The girl puts wonderful dresses in the box. The fairy gives her goddaughter a magic twig: “As long as you have it in your hand, the box will crawl behind you in the distance, like a mole hiding underground.”

Royal messengers search in vain for the fugitive throughout the country. The courtiers are in despair: “no wedding, which means no feasts, no cakes, which means no pastries... The chaplain was more upset than anyone: he didn’t have time to have a snack in the morning and said goodbye to the wedding treat.”

And the princess, dressed as a beggar, wanders along the road, looking for “even a place as a poultry keeper, even a swineherd.” But the beggars themselves spit after the slob.” Finally, the unfortunate woman is taken on as a servant by a farmer - “to clean the pig stalls and wash greasy rags. Now in the closet behind the kitchen is the princess’s yard.” The impudent villagers and the “men are disgustingly bothering her,” and even mocking the poor thing. Her only joy is to lock herself in her closet on Sunday, wash herself, dress up in one or another marvelous dress and twirl in front of the mirror. "Oh, Moonlight makes her look slightly pale, and the sun makes her look a little fuller... Everyone better dress blue!

And in these parts “kept a brilliant poultry yard the king is luxurious and omnipotent." The prince and a crowd of courtiers often visited this park. “The princess has already fallen in love with him from afar.” Oh, if only he loved girls in donkey skin! - the beauty sighed. And the prince - “a heroic look, a fighting spirit” - somehow came across a poor hut at dawn and saw through a crack a beautiful princess in a marvelous outfit. Struck by her noble appearance, the young man did not dare to enter the hut, but, returning to the palace, “he did not eat, did not drink, did not dance; he lost interest in hunting, opera, fun and girlfriends” - and thought only about the mysterious beauty. He was told that a dirty beggar named Donkey Skin lived in a squalid hut. The prince doesn't believe it. “He cries bitterly, he sobs” - and demands that Donkey Skin bake him a pie. A loving queen mother will not contradict her son, and the princess, “hearing this news,” hurries to knead the dough. “They say: working extraordinarily, she... completely, completely by accident! “I dropped my ring into the dough.” But “my opinion is that this was her calculation.” After all, she saw how the prince looked at her through the crack!

Having received the pie, the patient “devoured it with such greedy passion that, truly, it seems like a fair amount of luck that he did not swallow the ring.” Since the young man in those days “was losing terribly weight... the doctors decided unanimously: the prince was dying of love.” Everyone begs him to marry - but he agrees to take as his wife only the one who can put a tiny ring with an emerald on her finger. All the girls and widows begin to thin their fingers.

However, the ring did not suit either noble noblewomen, or cute grisettes, or cooks and farm laborers. But then “from under the donkey’s skin appeared a fist that looked like a lily.” The laughter stops. Everyone is shocked. The princess goes to change clothes - and an hour later she appears in the palace, resplendent with dazzling beauty and luxurious attire. The king and queen are happy, the prince is happy. Rulers from all over the world are called to the wedding. The princess's come to his senses, seeing his daughter, cries with joy. The prince is delighted: “what a lucky chance that his father-in-law is such a powerful ruler.” “Sudden thunder... The fairy queen, a witness of the misfortunes of the past, descends to her goddaughter to glorify virtue forever...”

Moral: “It is better to endure terrible suffering than to betray a duty of honor.” After all, “youth can be satisfied with a crust of bread and water, while she keeps her outfit in a golden box.”

Blue Beard

Once upon a time there lived a very rich man who had a blue beard. She disfigured him so much that, seeing this man, all the women ran away in fear. His neighbor, a noble lady, had two daughters of wondrous beauty. He asked any of these girls to marry him. But none of them wanted to have a spouse with a blue beard. They also didn’t like the fact that this man had already been married several times and no one knew what fate befell his wives.

Bluebeard invited the girls, their mother, friends and girlfriends to one of his luxurious country houses, where they had fun for a whole week. And so it began to seem to the youngest daughter that the owner of the house’s beard was not so blue, and that he himself was a very respectable man. Soon the wedding was decided.

A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he was leaving on business for six weeks. He asked her not to be bored, to have fun, to call her friends, gave her the keys to all the chambers, storerooms, caskets and chests - and forbade her to enter only one small room.

His wife promised to obey him, and he left. Immediately, without waiting for the messengers, the girlfriends came running. They were eager to see all the riches of Bluebeard, but they were afraid to come in front of him. Now, admiring the house full of priceless treasures, the guests enviously extolled the happiness of the newlywed, but she could only think about the small room...

Finally, the woman abandoned her guests and rushed headlong down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Curiosity overcame fear - and the beauty unlocked the door with trepidation... dark room the floor was covered in dried blood, and on the walls hung the bodies of Bluebeard's former wives, whom he had killed. Out of horror, the newlywed dropped the key. Picking it up, she locked the door and, trembling, rushed to her room. There the woman noticed that the key was stained with blood. The unfortunate woman took a long time to clean the stain, but the key was magical, and the blood, wiped off on one side, appeared on the other...

That same evening Bluebeard returned. His wife greeted him with ostentatious delight. The next day he demanded the keys from the poor girl. Her hands were shaking so much that he immediately guessed everything and asked: “Where is the key to the small room?” After various excuses, I had to bring the dirty key. “Why is he bleeding? - inquired Bluebeard. -Did you enter the small room? Well, madam, that’s where you’ll stay now.”

The woman, sobbing, threw herself at her husband’s feet. Beautiful and sad, she would have pitied even a stone, but Bluebeard had a heart harder than stone. “Allow me to at least pray before I die,” the poor thing asked.” “I give you seven minutes!” - answered the villain. Left alone, the woman called her sister and said to her: “Sister Anna, look if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today." The girl climbed the tower and from time to time said to the unfortunate woman: “You can’t see anything, only the sun is scorching and the grass is glistening in the sun.” And Bluebeard, clutching a large knife in his hand, shouted: “Come here!” - “Just a minute!” - answered the poor thing and kept asking sister Anna if the brothers were visible? The girl noticed clouds of dust in the distance - but it was a herd of sheep. Finally she saw two horsemen on the horizon...

Then Bluebeard roared throughout the house. The trembling wife came out to him, and he, grabbing her by the hair, was about to cut off her head, but at that moment a dragoon and a musketeer burst into the house. Snatching their swords, they rushed at the villain. He tried to escape, but the beauty’s brothers pierced him with steel blades.

The wife inherited all of Bluebeard's wealth. She gave a dowry to her sister Anna when she married a young nobleman who had loved her for a long time; the young widow helped each of the brothers achieve the rank of captain, and then she herself married a good man, who helped her forget about the horrors of her first marriage.

Moral: “Yes, curiosity is a scourge. It confuses everyone; it was born on the mountain of mortals.”

Rike with a tuft

One queen gave birth to such an ugly son that the courtiers for a long time They doubted whether he was a man. But Kind fairy she assured that he would be very smart and would be able to impart his intelligence to the person he loved. Indeed, as soon as he learned to babble, the child began to say the sweetest things. He had a small tuft on his head, which is why the prince was nicknamed Rike with the tuft.

In seven years the queen neighboring country gave birth to two daughters; When she saw the first one - beautiful as day - the mother was so happy that she almost felt bad, but the second girl turned out to be extremely ugly. But the same fairy predicted that the ugly girl would be very smart, and the beauty would be stupid and awkward, but she would be able to bestow beauty on whoever she liked.

The girls grew up - and the beauty always had much less success than her smart sister. And then one day in the forest, where the silly girl went to mourn her bitter lot, the unfortunate woman met the ugly Rike. Having fallen in love with her from the portraits, he came to the neighboring kingdom... The girl told Rika about her misfortune, and he said that if the princess decided to marry him in a year, she would immediately become wiser. The beauty foolishly agreed - and immediately spoke so witty and gracefully that Riquet wondered if he had given her more intelligence than he had left for himself?..

The girl returned to the palace, amazed everyone with her intelligence and soon became her father’s main adviser; All fans turned away from her ugly sister, and the fame of the beautiful and wise princess thundered throughout the world. Many princes wooed the beauty, but she made fun of them all, until finally one rich, handsome and smart prince appeared...

Walking through the forest and thinking about choosing a groom, the girl suddenly heard a dull noise under her feet. At that same moment the earth opened up, and the princess saw people preparing a luxurious feast. “This is for Rike, tomorrow is his wedding,” they explained to the beauty. And then the shocked princess remembered that exactly a year had passed since the day she met the freak.

And soon Rike himself appeared in a magnificent wedding dress. However, the wiser princess flatly refused to marry such an ugly man. And then Rike revealed to her that she could endow her chosen one with beauty. The princess sincerely wished that Rike would become the most wonderful and amiable prince in the world - and a miracle happened!

True, others argue that it is not a matter of magic, but of love. The princess, admiring the intelligence and loyalty of her admirer, stopped noticing his ugliness. The hump began to give special importance to the prince’s posture, the terrible limp turned into a manner of leaning slightly to one side, the slanting eyes acquired a captivating languor, and the big red nose seemed mysterious and even heroic.

The king gladly agreed to give his daughter away for such wise prince, and the next day they celebrated a wedding, for which the smart Rike already had everything ready.

Cinderella's dad married a second time to a woman with two girls. They didn’t like Cinderella, they put a lot of housework on her. The king announced a ball, and everyone went to it.

Puss in Boots

The action takes place in France, in the 17th century. After the death of the miller, his three sons received a small inheritance, which they themselves divided:

The beauty and the Beast

In one state there lived a family of a wealthy merchant, consisting of three daughters and sons. Everyone called the youngest one Beauty because she was beautiful. Her sisters didn't like her because everyone liked her

Little Red Riding Hood

In Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" we're talking about about a little girl who wore a red cap. The girl’s grandmother lived far away; to her house it was necessary to go through the forest.

Donkey skin

In a rich kingdom there lived a king with a beautiful queen. They had a daughter, more beautiful than whom they had never met in the entire state and beyond. There was a donkey in the stable, which brought wealth to the kingdom - gold coins. He was very well taken care of.

Fairy gifts

There lived a widow and two daughters: she loved the eldest mother, since she was similar to her both in appearance and in her terrible character, and she forced the younger one to work. The youngest daughter was beautiful and kind, like her father.

Gingerbread house

Little children from a poor family got lost in the forest. There they saw a gingerbread house. It contained various treats and sweets

Rike with a tuft

In one state, a baby was born to the king and queen. The boy was born ugly and ugly, with a bizarre tuft on his head. The baby was named Rike. The child's appearance frightened the parents

Fairy tale " Donkey skin"by Charles Perrault will appeal to every child and will make an adult think. This work was made in mild form, but with a specific subtext and main idea. Read summary This article will help you analyze this story and understand the main characters more deeply.

The beginning of the story

The plot in the fairy tale “Donkey Skin” begins in a standard way. Without specifying a specific place, it tells about the richest and most powerful king. Everything was fine with his wife, but they couldn’t give birth to children. They decided to take care of a young princess, whose father was a friend of the king, but had recently died. The girl was immediately mistaken for her own daughter, and she grew up under the strict supervision of her new parents. Her beauty could outshine any other representative of the fair sex. The joy of this helped to quench the pain of not being able to give birth to my child. Soon, a new misfortune visited the king’s house in the fairy tale “Donkey Skin” in Russian. The queen fell ill and the doctors said that she would no longer be able to get out of bed. The woman herself felt this, and therefore asked the king to marry a second time only to the person who would be better and more beautiful than herself. The man promised to fulfill his wish, after which the queen died. The funeral took place, and the ministers began to ask the head of state to choose for themselves new wife. By this they wanted to pull him out of a state of constant grief and drunkenness.

New solution

In the work “Donkey Skin,” the king answered all his assistants in government that he would never marry. The reason for this is the dying promise, but better than women he can't find it. Then the chief minister pointed to the adopted princess, who was not in vain considered the most beautiful girl in the state. Then the king took a closer look and really decided to tie the knot with his pupil. When my daughter found out about this, she was in despair. She wanted to find a loved one for herself, and the thought of marrying her father was terrifying. Then the girl went to the sorceress, who promised to help if she agreed to follow all her instructions. The first of them was a request to the king for a dress the color of the sky. The head of the state immediately ordered all the craftsmen to make it, or everyone would face hanging as punishment. They managed to do this, but the result only frightened the princess more and testified to the king's determination. She ran to the witch again, and she said to order a moon-colored dress. The king again, with a formidable order, gathered the best professionals in the field of tailoring, and they managed to fulfill the princess’s wish. This only further upset the young pupil, who again decided to turn to the sorceress. A woman with magical skills named Lilac came up with new task- the dress is as shiny as the sun itself. In the fairy tale “Donkey Skin,” the author shows by this the princess’s reluctance to come to terms with her fate.

Continued resistance

In the fairy tale “Donkey Skin,” the sorceress wanted to gain time to think about further actions. Meanwhile, the king again fulfilled the princess’s request for a third dress. Everyone was delighted with such products, but their joy was not shared by the beautiful heroine. This was the fourth time she had to ask Lilac for help, and she agreed to do it again. This time the sorceress thought of advising the girl to ask the king to kill his beloved donkey. The girl was triumphant, because the head of the country would refuse to fulfill such an insane desire. The king was surprised at first, but then immediately gave the order to kill the donkey and bring its skin to the girl. The princess was completely desperate, but it was at that moment that a sympathetic sorceress appeared again and ordered her to leave the palace immediately. The chest with dresses will follow the girl underground, and to call it, you need to hit the magic wand that Lilac gave. The only condition for the princess is to wear a donkey skin. In gratitude for his help, the king’s pupil kissed kind woman, complied with the requirements and left the palace. The king was frightened by the disappearance of his future bride, and he ordered his servants to go in pursuit. Here the sorceress again came to the rescue and made her invisible to the eyes of all the envoys of the head of state.

Looking for a new home

In Charles Perrault's fairy tale “Donkey Skin,” the princess tried to find a home for herself where she could at least serve. Because of her ugly appearance, no one wanted to take her in, but in one big house the hostess nevertheless agreed to receive the princess. The girl was sent to work in the kitchen, where everyone laughed terribly at her because of her appearance. The kind housewife forbade this and protected the new worker. One day in the lake she saw her appearance, which horrified her. She cleaned herself of dirt, but put on the skin again in order to remain unrecognizable. On holidays, when there was no need to serve in the kitchen, the princess dressed up in dresses, but in public everyone saw her only in a donkey cape. That is why in Charles Perrault’s work “Donkey Skin” she was given the nickname of the same name. One day, on the day of the holiday, the prince was visiting the house, who was returning from hunting. While resting, the guy began to wander around the house and noticed an inconspicuous room in the dark corridor. Out of curiosity, he decided to look through the crack and saw a girl of blinding beauty there. Then the prince ran to the hostess with questions about that princess in the dress. He was told about a dirty servant who wore donkey skin instead of clothes. Out of pity, her mistress took her to do housework. The guy went home, but the image did not leave his head. He regretted that he had not come in to meet him then, and because of such thoughts he soon became completely ill.

The torment of the young heir to the throne

In the fairy tale “Donkey Skin,” the prince’s parents wanted in every possible way to help their own son. To their questions about what he wanted most, the guy replied that the pie baked by that girl. Based on the nickname, the courtier immediately realized that he was talking about a servant from a house nearby. A messenger was sent to her with a wish for a pie for young man. Then the princess locked herself in her room, kneaded the dough, but dropped the ring in it. A man from the yard took the product and took it to the heir to the throne. He greedily ate it and almost choked on the ring. The guy realized that he was from the finger of the very beauty who had appeared to his eyes in that room. Then he began to kiss him in every possible way and hide him under the pillow. This hobby caused bewilderment among doctors. He couldn't think of anything else but Donkey Skin, but he was afraid to tell his family. Mental anguish only served as a catalyst for the disease. Doctors for a long time could not understand the symptoms, but later realized that the reason was love. The parents, without thinking for a long time, began to ask their son about the chosen one of his heart. The king promised him a marriage with the girl who made him suffer so much. The guy was touched by the desire of his mother and father to help, and therefore he told them everything. The prince said that the owner of this ring is his beloved. Immediately after this, messengers were sent out to call the girls to the palace to try on jewelry.

Search for a beauty

Since the young prince did not know who she was, the beauty who had enchanted him, he began searching for her with the help of a ring. Quotes from “Donkey Skin” indicate that the ladies of the court tried in every possible way to make their fingers thinner in order to put a ring on them. Their attempts were unsuccessful, and therefore after famous ladies seamstresses were invited. They also failed to place the small ring on their fingers. It was the turn of the servants, who, due to work, were unable to put a ring on their rough fingers. The same fate befell cooks and other ordinary working women. Not a single candidate passed the test, and therefore the parents were already desperate to find the girl dear to their son’s heart. After the failure, the prince asked if Donkey Skin had been brought in for fitting. He was told that she was not invited because of her inappropriate appearance. She is dirty, and her appearance only creates jokes. Contrary to this, the scion of the royal family ordered the courtiers to bring the girl to the palace without delay. The men laughed, but did not refuse to carry out the order. At this time, the princess heard the beat of drums and guessed that the reason for everything was the ring dropped into the pie. She soon learned that people had been sent after her. Then the girl chose the best outfit and began to wait for messengers from the prince.

Fairy tale ending

The final content of “Donkey Skin” tells how people from the palace came to the girl and announced that the prince himself wanted to marry her. This was said with ridicule, but the princess did not pay attention to it. They went together to the castle, where the heir to the royal family was waiting for her. When a girl in a donkey skin appeared from above, he was overcome with melancholy. He could not believe that this was the dazzling beauty who had so captivated his heart. The prince asked if she lived in that dark corridor in the mistress’s house, and he received an affirmative answer. Then the guy asked her hand to try on the ring. To everyone's surprise, the maid had incredibly fragile hands, and the jewelry easily sat on her finger. It was at that moment that the princess threw off her dirty outfit and showed true beauty. The prince recognized the love of his life in the princess, and therefore immediately rushed to her. The parents hugged the girl and asked if she wanted to connect her life with their son. Before she had time to respond, the sorceress Lilac appeared from the ceiling on her lovely chariot. This woman told the people around her the girl’s story, which caused considerable surprise among all the nobles and servants present. The truth only increased the desire to marry the girl off to his son from the king and queen. The rulers of all the earth were invited to the wedding, but the young people were only concerned about themselves, and not about the luxury that surrounded them.

Analysis of an important aspect

If you analyze the fairy tale “Donkey Skin”, then the first important thought can be noted is the theme of external beauty. By bad attire and dirt, the author means unkemptness. Nature can bestow great beauty on a person, but if it is not maintained at the proper level, then no one will notice it. The princess knew about her attractiveness, but because of her father's wishes she was forced to wear a donkey skin. About yours appearance the girl guessed only after looking into the water surface. After that, she already wore it in order to continue hiding from her father. The author skillfully demonstrates that people are inherently incapable of seeing beauty if there is only a repulsive appearance on the outside. By this, he also confirms that most members of society are accustomed to judging by the cover and do not try to discern something more in a person. Charles Perrault played with this through a fairly simple children's story, where everything must end well. IN real life Many people, under the pressure of certain factors, forget about self-development. By doing this, they lose their internal and external attractiveness, putting on the invisible skin of a killed donkey. From this we can conclude what the fairy tale teaches. "Donkey Skin" is a work for children, and it says that outer beauty and internal should always be in harmony, but this is only one side of the analysis of this work.

Another important thought

In the fairy tale, the author paid a lot of attention to the first part, namely the reasons for the appearance of the donkey skin. This demonstrates a case of blind stubbornness that leads to disastrous consequences. The king clearly decided to marry his daughter, albeit an adopted one, and the girl always dreamed of love for another person. She turns to the sorceress for help, who comes up with different ways avoid the wedding. Sewing dresses of any color shows how strong stubbornness can be. This feeling does not allow the king to see the true desires of his daughter. He is only interested in what she outshines with her beauty. ex-wife, and therefore he will fulfill the queen’s dying wish by marrying her. The only way out is to escape from the palace, which is what the princess decides to do, and for shelter she changes her appearance using the skin of a killed donkey.

Charles Perrault perfectly demonstrates the relationship between two people when one of them blindly strives for his goal. In this case, for the other individual, escape from this stubbornness is the only the right way out. Sometimes this may be leaving for a while to increase the distance, and often it happens that this is where the relationship between people ends. That is why the main idea of “Donkey Skin” is the need to pay attention to loved ones and listen to their desires. The author successfully played on this topic, and also became one of the first to raise such issues in literature.

Film of the same name based on the work

In 1982, the director shot a film of the same name based on famous fairy tale Charles Perrault. The writers took their own approach to the story and changed the story a little. The main characters of “Donkey Skin” were only the princess, who received the name Teresa, and the sorceress. The plot begins with the fact that an evil witch predicted great troubles for the girl at birth. They began from the moment the princess ran away from her wedding. They wanted to force her to marry an unloved person, and she wanted to always be together with Jacques, an impoverished prince from another kingdom. After his escape main character forced to take on the image of a poor servant and wander around the world. The police are even looking for her all over the world in order to punish her for her crime. Teresa hopes to use the fairy's magic ring to help Jacques and live happily with him until old age. A lot of people left reviews about the film “Donkey Skin”. The main advantage was noted easy perception current events. The film was shot with a focus on a children's audience, and kids will enjoy watching this. The story is good, without violence, which has become popular even in animated cartoons modernity. The production is made with love, every aspect of the story is presented as simply as possible. The film is recommended for viewing by parents with their children before bed or on a day off.

Biography of Charles Perrault

Huge merit Perrault in that he selected several stories from the mass of folk tales and recorded their plot, which had not yet become final. He gave them a tone, a climate, a style that was characteristic of the 17th century, and yet very personal.

Among the storytellers who “legalized” the fairy tale in serious literature, the very first and honorable place is given to French writer Charles Perrault. Few of our contemporaries know that Perrault was a venerable poet of his time, an academician of the French Academy, the author of famous scientific works. But it was not his thick, serious books that brought him worldwide fame and recognition from his descendants, but wonderful tales"Cinderella", "Puss in Boots", "Bluebeard".

Charles Perrault was born in 1628. The boy's family was concerned about the education of their children, and at the age of eight, Charles was sent to college. As historian Philippe Ariès notes, Perrault’s school biography is the biography of a typical excellent student. During their training, neither he nor his brothers were ever beaten with rods - an exceptional case at that time.

After college, Charles takes private law lessons for three years and eventually receives a law degree.

At twenty-three he returns to Paris and begins his career as a lawyer. Perrault's literary activity occurred at a time when a fashion for fairy tales appeared in high society. Reading and listening to fairy tales is becoming one of the common hobbies of secular society, comparable only to reading detective stories by our contemporaries. Some prefer to listen to philosophical fairy tales, others pay tribute to ancient fairy tales, passed down in the retellings of grandmothers and nannies. Writers, trying to satisfy these demands, write down fairy tales, processing plots familiar to them from childhood, and the oral fairy tale tradition gradually begins to turn into a written one.

Perrault's fairy tales are based on well-known folklore plots, which he presented with his characteristic talent and humor, omitting some details and adding new ones, “ennobling” the language. Most of all, these tales were suitable for children. And it is Perrault who can be considered the founder of world children's literature and literary pedagogy.

Charles Perrault, now we call him a storyteller, but in general during his lifetime (he was born in 1628, died in 1703). Charles Perrault was known as a poet and publicist, dignitary and academician. He was a lawyer, the first clerk of the French Minister of Finance Colbert.

When Colbert founded the Académie de France in 1666, one of its first members was Charles's brother, Claude Perrault, whom Charles had recently helped win a competition to design the façade of the Louvre. A few years later, Charles Perrault was also accepted into the Academy, and he was assigned to head the work on the “General Dictionary of the French Language”.

The story of his life is both personal and social, and politics mixed with literature, and literature, as if divided into what glorified Charles Perrault over the centuries - fairy tales, and what remained transient. For example, Perrault became the author of the poem “The Age of Louis the Great,” in which he glorified his king. His famous works are “Great Men of France”, voluminous “Memoirs” and many others. A collection was published in 1695 poetic tales Charles Perrault.

But the collection “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings” was published under the name of Charles Perrault’s son Pierre de Armancourt - Perrault. It was the son who, in 1694, on the advice of his father, began to write down folk tales. Pierre Perrault died in 1699. In his memoirs, written a few months before his death (he died in 1703), Charles Perrault does not write anything about who was the author of the fairy tales or, more precisely, the literary record.

These memoirs, however, were published only in 1909, and twenty years after the death of the writer, academician and storyteller, in the 1724 edition of the book “Tales of Mother Goose” (which, by the way, immediately became a bestseller), authorship was first attributed to Charles Perrault alone . In a word, there are many “blank spots” in this biography. The fate of the storyteller himself and his fairy tales, written in collaboration with his son Pierre, is described in such detail for the first time in Russia in the book “Charles Perrault” by Sergei Boyko.