Children’s

"The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" (French: La Belle au bois dormant, "Sleeping Beauty") is a classic fairy tale written by Charles Perrault, which involves a beautiful princess, a sleeping enchantment, and a handsome prince. Once upon a time, when the Queen gave birth to a baby princess, Angels came down and gave the infant blessings. However one evil Angel set a curse that would make the princess prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Another Angel set a magic on the princess that she would sleep, instead of dying, for a hundred years until a prince comes and awakes her from her sleep. At the age of 16, the princess gets her finger pricked by the sprindle, and falls asleep. After 100 years, a prince hears about a beautiful princess sleeping in the castle....

The Ridiculous Wishes or The Three Ridiculous Wishes is a French literary fairy tale by Charles Perrault. A woodcutter complained of his poor lot. Jupiter granted him three wishes. The woodcutter went home, and his wife persuaded him to put off the wishing until the next day, after he had thought, but while sitting by the fire, he wished for sausages. His wife taxed him for his folly, and angry, he wished the sausages on her nose. Finally, they agreed to use the last wish to take the sausages off her nose, leaving them no better off than before... Collection «  Best classic fairy tales ».

"Master Cat; or, The Booted Cat" (French: Le Chat Botté), commonly known in English as "Puss in Boots", is a European literary fairy tale about a cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for his penniless and low-born master. The tale opens with the third and youngest son of a miller receiving his inheritance—a cat. At first, the youngest son laments, as the eldest brother gains the mill, and the middle brother gets the mules. The feline is no ordinary cat, however, but one who requests and receives a pair of boots. Determined to make his master's fortune, the cat bags a rabbit in the forest and presents it to the king as a gift from his master, the fictional Marquis of Carabas. The cat continues making gifts of game to the king for several months. One day, the king decides to take a drive with his daughter...

«  The Fairies  » is a classic folk tale by Charles Perrault. Once upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters. The elder was often mistaken for her mother, so like her was she both in nature and in looks. Both of them were so disagreeable and arrogant that no one could live with them. The younger girl, who was a true likeness of her father in the gentleness and sweetness of her disposition, was also one of the most beautiful girls imaginable. The mother doted on the elder daughter naturally enough, since she resembled her so closely; and she disliked the younger one just as intensely. She made her eat all her meals in the kitchen and work from morning till night. One of the poor child's many duties was to go twice a day and draw water from a spring a good half mile away, bringing it back in a large pitcher. One day when she was at the spring an old woman came up and begged for a drink...

"Little Red Riding Hood" is a famous fairy tale about a young girl's encounter with a wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings. The Little Red Riding Hood story is among the most popular fairy tales in the world. Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her grandmother gave her a red riding hood and the girl loved it so much she wore it all the time. Therefore everybody started to call her Little Red Riding Hood. One day mother told the girl her grandmother fare ill. Because she lived alone deep in the wood, she would probably be happy to get some food. Then she gave the girl a basket with food and a bottle of wine, and told her: "Don't stray from the path!". The girl promised that but soon forgot about her promise. After a while she met a wolf in the woods...

"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper" (French: Cendrillon or La Petite Pantoufle de verre), is a very famous European folk tale. Once upon a time, there was a wealthy widower who married a proud and haughty woman as his second wife. She had two daughters, who were equally vain and selfish. By his first wife, he'd had a beautiful young daughter, a girl of unparalleled goodness and sweet temper. The stepmother and her daughters forced the first daughter into servitude, where she was made to work day and night doing menial chores. One day, the Prince invited all the young ladies in the land to a ball, planning to choose a wife from amongst them. The two stepsisters gleefully planned their wardrobes for the ball, and taunted Cinderella by telling her that maids were not invited to the ball. As the sisters departed to the ball, Cinderella cried in despair. Her Fairy Godmother magically appeared and immediately began to transform Cinderella from house servant to the young lady she was by birth, all in the effort to get Cinderella to the ball. She turned a pumpkin into a golden carriage, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen. She then turned Cinderella's rags into a beautiful jeweled gown, complete with a delicate pair of glass slippers. The Godmother told her to enjoy the ball, but warned that she had to return before midnight, when the spells would be broken....

Blue beard (French: La Barbe bleue) is a very famous classic fairy tale written by Charles Perrault. Bluebeard is a wealthy aristocrat, feared and shunned because of his ugly, blue beard. He has been married several times, but no one knows what became of his wives. He is therefore avoided by the local girls. When Bluebeard visits one of his neighbours and asks to marry one of his two daughters, the girls are terrified, and each tries to pass him on to the other. Eventually he talks the younger daughter into visiting him, and after hosting a wonderful banquet, he persuades her to marry him. After the ceremony, she goes to live with him in his castle. Very shortly after, Bluebeard announces that he must leave the country for a while; he gives all the keys of the château to his new wife, telling her they open the doors to rooms which contain his treasures. He tells her to use the keys freely and enjoy herself whilst he is away. However, he also gives her the key to one small room beneath the castle, stressing to her that she must not enter this room under any circumstances. She vows she will never enter the room. He then goes away and leaves the house in her hands. Immediately, she is overcome with the desire to see what the forbidden room holds; and, despite warnings from her visiting sister, Anne, the girl abandons her guests during a house party and takes the key to the room...

The Fables of Jean de La Fontaine were issued in several volumes from 1668 to 1694. They are classics of French literature. The Fables supply delights to three different ages: the child rejoices in the freshness and vividness of the story, the eager student of literature in the consummate art with which it is told, the experienced man of the world in the subtle reflections on character and life which it conveys. The Fables were regarded as providing an excellent education in morals for children, and the first edition was dedicated to the six-year old Dauphin, the Eldest Son of the King. Eventually the fables were learned by heart for such entertainments and afterwards they were adopted by the education system, not least as linguistic models as well. Most famous Fables are « The raven and the fox », « The frog that wished to be as big as the ox », « The city rat and the country rat », « The wolf and the dog », « The lion going to war », for example.
The Fables were adapted from the classical fabulists like Aesop. The subject of each of the Fables is often common property of many ages and races. What gives La Fontaine's Fables their rare distinction is the freshness in narration, the deftness of touch, the unconstrained suppleness of metrical structure, the unfailing humor of the pointed the consummate art of their apparent artlessness. Keen insight into the foibles of human nature is found throughout, but in the later books ingenuity is employed to make the fable cover, yet convey, social doctrines and sympathies more democratic than the age would have tolerated in unmasked expression. Almost from the start, the Fables entered French literary consciousness to a greater degree than any other classic of its literature. For generations many of these little apologues have been read, committed to memory, recited, paraphrased, by every French school child. Countless phrases from them are current idioms, and familiarity with them is assumed. “La Fontaine's Fables,” wrote Madame de Sévigné, “are like a basket of strawberries. You begin by selecting the largest and best, but, little by little, you eat first one, then another, till at last the basket is empty".

The Fables of Jean de La Fontaine were issued in several volumes from 1668 to 1694. They are classics of French literature. The Fables supply delights to three different ages: the child rejoices in the freshness and vividness of the story, the eager student of literature in the consummate art with which it is told, the experienced man of the world in the subtle reflections on character and life which it conveys. The Fables were regarded as providing an excellent education in morals for children, and the first edition was dedicated to the six-year old Dauphin, the Eldest Son of the King. Eventually the fables were learned by heart for such entertainments and afterwards they were adopted by the education system, not least as linguistic models as well. Most famous Fables are « The raven and the fox », « The frog that wished to be as big as the ox », « The city rat and the country rat », « The wolf and the dog », « The lion going to war », for example.
The Fables were adapted from the classical fabulists like Aesop. The subject of each of the Fables is often common property of many ages and races. What gives La Fontaine's Fables their rare distinction is the freshness in narration, the deftness of touch, the unconstrained suppleness of metrical structure, the unfailing humor of the pointed the consummate art of their apparent artlessness. Keen insight into the foibles of human nature is found throughout, but in the later books ingenuity is employed to make the fable cover, yet convey, social doctrines and sympathies more democratic than the age would have tolerated in unmasked expression. Almost from the start, the Fables entered French literary consciousness to a greater degree than any other classic of its literature. For generations many of these little apologues have been read, committed to memory, recited, paraphrased, by every French school child. Countless phrases from them are current idioms, and familiarity with them is assumed. “La Fontaine's Fables,” wrote Madame de Sévigné, “are like a basket of strawberries. You begin by selecting the largest and best, but, little by little, you eat first one, then another, till at last the basket is empty".