Produced by Chris Curnow, Iris Gehring and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: Decoration] OLD-TIME STORIES [Illustration: "THEY REACHED THE HOUSE WHERE THE LIGHT WAS BURNING."] OLD-TIME STORIES _told by_ MASTER CHARLES PERRAULT _translated from the French by A.E.Johnson with illustrations by_ W.HEATH ROBINSON [Illustration: Decoration] NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY _First Published, 1921_ _Printed in Great Britain_ PREFATORY NOTE Of the eleven tales which the present volume comprises, the first eight are from the master-hand of Charles Perrault. Charles Perrault (1628-1703) enjoyed much distinction in his day, and is familiar to students of French literature for the prominent part that he played in the famous _Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns_, which so keenly occupied French men of letters in the latter part of the seventeenth century. But his fame to-day rests upon his authorship of the traditional _Tales of Mother Goose; or Stories of Olden Times_, and so long as there are children to listen spellbound to the adventures of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and that arch rogue Puss in Boots, his memory will endure. To the eight tales of Perrault three others have been added here. 'Beauty and the Beast,' by Mme Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1781), has a celebrity which warrants its inclusion, however inferior it may seem, as an example of the story-teller's art, to the masterpieces of Perrault. 'Princess Rosette' and 'The Friendly Frog' are from the prolific pen of Mme d'Aulnoy (1650-1705), a contemporary of Perrault, whom she could sometimes rival in invention, if never in dramatic power. [Illustration: Decoration] CONTENTS PAGE THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD 1 PUSS IN BOOTS 21 LITTLE TOM THUMB 34 THE FAIRIES 55 RICKY OF THE TUFT 61 CINDERELLA 75 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD 92 BLUE BEARD 99 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 113 THE FRIENDLY FROG 138 PRINCESS ROSETTE 174 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS COLOURED PLATES 'They reached the house where the light was burning' (see page 41) _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE