1697. _The Tales of Mother Goose_, by Charles Perrault. In France the collecting of fairy tales began in the seventeenth century. French, German, and Italian tales were all derived independently by oral tradition. In 1696, in _Recueil_, a magazine published by Moetjens, at The Hague, appeared _The Story of Sleeping Beauty_, by Perrault. In 1697 appeared seven other tales by Perrault. Eight stories were published in 12mo, under a title borrowed from a _fabliau_, _Contes de ma Mere l'Oye_. In a later edition three stories were added, _The Ass's Skin_, _The Clever Princess_, and _The Foolish Wishes_. The tales of Perrault were:--
1. The Fairies. 2. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. 3. Bluebeard. 4. Little Red Riding Hood. 5. Puss-in-Boots. 6. Cinderella. 7. Rique with the Tuft. 8. Little Thumb. 9. The Ass's Skin. 10. The Clever Princess. 11. The Foolish Wishes.
Immediately afterwards the tales appeared published at Paris in a volume entitled, _Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe, avec des Moralites--Contes de ma Mère l'Oye_. The earliest translation into English was in a book containing French and English, _Tales of Passed Times, by Mother Goose, with Morals. Written in French by M. Charles Perrault and Englished by R.S., Gent_. An English translation by Mr. Samber was advertised in the English _Monthly Chronicle_, March, 1729. Andrew Lang, with an introduction, has edited these tales from the original edition, published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1888. These tales made their way slowly in England, but gradually eclipsed the native English tales and legends which had been discouraged by Puritan influence. In Perrault's time, when this influence was beginning to decline, they superseded the English tales, crowding out all but _Jack the Giant-Killer, Tom Hickathrift, Jack and the Beanstalk, Tom Thumb_, and _Childe Rowland_.
1650-1705. _Fairy Tales_, by Madame D'Aulnoy. In France there were many followers of Perrault. The most important of these was Madame D'Aulnoy. She did not copy Perrault. She was a brilliant, witty countess, and brought into her tales, entitled _Contes de Fées_, the graces of the court. She adhered less strictly to tradition than Perrault, and handled her material freely, making additions, amplifications, and moral reflections, to the original tale. Her weaving together of incidents is artistic and her style graceful and not unpleasing. It is marked by ornamentation, sumptuousness, and French sentimentality. It shows a lack of naïveté resulting from the palace setting given to her tales, making them adapted only to children of high rank. Often her tale is founded on a beautiful tradition. _The Blue-Bird_, one of the finest of her tales, was found in the poems of Marie de France, in the thirteenth century. Three of her tales were borrowed from Straparola. Among her tales the most important are:--