_Two of the most useful books that have been read by me in preparing this edition are_ M. Andre Lefevre's _edition of the Contes, with his bibliographical and other notes, and the 'Contes de Ma Mere L'Oye avant Charles Perrault,' by the late_ M. Charles Deulin. _I have also read, I think, most of the modern editions of the Contes which offer any fresh criticism or information, and acknowledgments will be found in the proper place._ _The Introduction contains a brief sketch of_ Perrault, _and of the circumstances in which his tales were composed and published. Each prose story has also been made the subject of a special comparative research; its wanderings and changes of form have been observed, and it is hoped that this part of the work may be serviceable to students of Folklore and Mythology._ _In this little book, as in all researches into tradition, I have received much aid from the writings and from the kind suggestions of_ M. Henri Gaidoz, _and from the knowledge and experience of_ Mr. Alfred Nutt. _It is almost superfluous to add that without the industry of such students as_ Herr Reinhold Koehler, M. Paul Sebillot, Mr. Ralston, M. Cosquin, _and very many others, these studies of story could never have been produced_. A. L. _INTRODUCTION._ CHARLES PERRAULT. In Eisen's portrait of Charles Perrault, the medallion which holds the good-natured face under the large _perruque_ is being wreathed with flowers by children. Though they do not, for the most part, know the name of their benefactor, it is children who keep green the memory of Perrault, of the author of _Puss in Boots_ and _Bluebeard_. He flies for ever _vivu' per ora virum_, borne on the wings of the fabulous Goose, _notre Mere L'Oye_. He looked, no doubt, for no such immortality, and, if he ever thought of posthumous fame, relied on his elaborate _Parallele des Anciens et des Modernes_ (4 vols. Paris, 1688-96). But fate decided differently, and he who kept open the Tuileries gardens in the interests of children for ever, owes the best of his renown to a book in the composition of which he was aided by a child. Though a man of unimpeached respectability of conduct, Charles Perrault was a born Irregular. He was a truant from school, a deserter of the Bar, an architect without professional training, a man of letters by inclination, a rebel against the tyranny of the classics, and immortal by a kind of accident. He did many things well, above all the things that he had not been taught to do, and he did best of all the thing which nobody expected him to have done. A vivid, genial and indomitable character and humour made him one of the best-liked men of his age, and better remembered than people with far higher contemporary reputation than his own.