In 1662, Perrault retired from his office in the Public Buildings, selling his right therein to Monsieur de Blainville, a son-in-law of Colbert. Until his death, May, 16, 1703, he devoted himself to literature and to the education of his children, and this was probably the happiest portion of his life, for he loved to be in the bosom of his family. He wrote for the amusement of his children that which has now become the most celebrated of his writings, which has done more to perpetuate his name and fame, and by which he is better known than by the more pretentious and serious papers and poems,--the _Contes de Mère l’Oye_ (Stories of Mother Goose). The first edition was published in 1697 under the name of his son, Perrault d’Armancourt, and dedicated to Mademoiselle Elizabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, the sister of the Duke of Chartres and the niece of Louis XIV. These Mother Goose stories were as follows: _Little Red Riding-Hood_, _The Fairies_, _Bluebeard_, _The Sleeping Beauty_, _Puss in Boots_, _Cinderella_, _Requet à la Houppe_, to which _Le Petit Poucet_, _The Adroit Princess_, and _The Ass’s Skin_ were afterwards added. There were still others in verse and fable translated. Perrault was more poet than prose writer--his serious works were in poetry: _Painting_, _The Apology for Women_, _The Century of Louis the Grand_, _Genius_ (to Fontanelle), and _A Portrait of the Voice of Iris_. We, however, are interested alone in _Bluebeard_.[1] [1] See Appendix A. Studious historians or astute critics may dispute Perrault’s history of Bluebeard having been founded upon the life of Gilles de Retz, but the country people (the folk) of Brittany will simply smile at such erudition and continue in their former belief that Bluebeard represents a cruel, wicked man who lived here hundreds of years ago and who was executed for his many crimes against humanity; and the old men and women and the nurses will repeat the story of Gilles de Retz under the name of Bluebeard,--sometimes how he abducted and murdered the children, and other times how he murdered his wives. In that country Gilles de Retz will always be known as Bluebeard, and we must accept their verdict as final.[2] Rev. Dr. Shahan writes: DEAR PROFESSOR WILSON: I have looked through your interesting work with the greatest pleasure. It is just such a tale as I would delight in tracing through its strange genesis and stranger propaganda.... I wonder if the actual facts were not soon plaited back into ancient nursery tales of a kindred tone, and a fresh lease of life thus given to mythical narratives that would otherwise not have had strength enough to perpetuate themselves to our time, at least in such intensity and vitality.