Produced by Geetu Melwani, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net THE TALES OF MOTHER GOOSE AS FIRST COLLECTED BY CHARLES PERRAULT IN 1696 _A NEW TRANSLATION BY CHARLES WELSH_ WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY M.V. O'SHEA PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ILLUSTRATED BY D.J. MUNRO AFTER DRAWINGS BY GUSTAVE DORE D.C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO [Illustration: "SHE MET WITH GAFFER WOLF." p. 80.] [Transcriber's note: In the story "Riquet of the Tuft," the following symbols are used to represent special characters: [=e] = the letter "e" with superior macron [=a] = the letter "a" with superior macron] CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR M.V. O'SHEA vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix CINDERELLA, OR THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER 1 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD 13 LITTLE THUMB 29 THE MASTER CAT, OR PUSS IN BOOTS 45 RIQUET OF THE TUFT 54 BLUE BEARD 66 THE FAIRY 75 LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD 80 NOTE 85 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "She met with Gaffer Wolf" _Frontispiece_ PAGE "It went on very easily" 11 "Let me see if I can do it" 15 "Slipped in under his father's seat" 30 "The Marquis of Carabas is drowning!" 48 "I am exact in keeping my word" 63 "If you open it, there's nothing you may not expect from my anger" 67 "With all my heart, Goody" 75 "He fell upon the good woman" 81 INTRODUCTION What virtues do these stories possess that have kept them alive for so long a time? They have to some degree stimulated and nourished qualities of supreme worth in individual and social life. With the young the struggle against greed and falsehood and pride and cowardice is a very real one, and situations in which these homely, fundamental traits are involved are full of interest and seriousness. Again, to mature people the reward of well-doing and the punishment of evil conduct portrayed in these stories are apt to seem too realistic, too much also on the cut-and-dried pattern; but it is far different with children. They have a very concrete sense of right and wrong, and they demand a clear, explicit, tangible outcome for every sort of action. They must have concrete, living examples, with the appropriate outcome of each, set before them.