From this preface it becomes clearer:
It is dangerous for children to listen to evil people,
Especially for girls
Both slender and beautiful-faced.
It is no surprise or wonder
To end up on the third course for the wolves.
«Little Red Riding Hood». Charles Perrault
The complete collection of tales by Charles Perrault in unadapted translations for adults.
In Russia, Perrault's tales have long gained wide renown – children of many generations are well acquainted with The Cat in Boots, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood. But all these were adapted versions of the tales. Soviet publishers, striving to adapt them to children's perception, often went overboard. At that time, it was already established that fairy tales must necessarily end well. For example, after 1945, all editions of «Little Red Riding Hood» had a happy ending: in the finale, the wolf's belly is cut open, and the girl is saved. In Perrault's version, however, the tale ends tragically. In his version, Little Red Riding Hood breaks the rules of decency and pays for it with her life.
This collection includes all of Perrault's tales – prose and poetic – in unadapted translations published by the editorial office of Mikhail Alexandrovich Petrovsky. Also included are the most well-known tales by his continuators and followers – as examples of French fairy tale literature of the 17th-18th centuries.
The book is illustrated with engravings by Gustave Doré, as well as magnificent drawings by John Gilbert, Walter Crane, John Batten, Henri de Montherlant, Jules-Marie Desandre, Clément-Pierre Marillier, and Alexander Dmitrievich Silin, representing great historical and artistic value.
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