The Tales of Mother Goose: As First Collected by Charles Perrault in 1696Perrault, Charles
General
The Tales of Mother Goose: As First Collected by Charles Perrault in 1696
Perrault, Charles
Children's stories, French -- Translations into English; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- France
The good woman was overjoyed at this, and gave them a good supper; but
they were so much afraid that they could not eat. As for the Ogre, he
sat down again to drink, being highly pleased that he had the
wherewithal to treat his friends. He drank a dozen glasses more than
ordinary, which got up into his head and obliged him to go to bed.
The Ogre had seven daughters, who were still little children. These
young Ogresses had all of them very fine complexions; but they all had
little gray eyes, quite round, hooked noses, a very large mouth, and
very long, sharp teeth, set far apart. They were not as yet wicked, but
they promised well to be, for they had already bitten little children.
They had been put to bed early, all seven in one bed, with every one a
crown of gold upon her head. There was in the same chamber a bed of the
like size, and the Ogre's wife put the seven little boys into this bed,
after which she went to bed herself.
Little Thumb, who had observed that the Ogre's daughters had crowns of
gold upon their heads, and was afraid lest the Ogre should repent his
not killing them that evening, got up about midnight, and, taking his
brothers' bonnets and his own, went very softly and put them upon the
heads of the seven little Ogresses, after having taken off their crowns
of gold, which he put upon his own head and his brothers', so that the
Ogre might take them for his daughters, and his daughters for the little
boys whom he wanted to kill.
Things turned out just as he had thought; for the Ogre, waking about
midnight, regretted that he had deferred till morning to do that which
he might have done overnight, and jumped quickly out of bed, taking his
great knife.
"Let us see," said he, "how our little rogues do, and not make two jobs
of the matter."
He then went up, groping all the way, into his daughters' chamber; and,
coming to the bed where the little boys lay, and who were all fast
asleep, except Little Thumb, who was terribly afraid when he found the
Ogre fumbling about his head, as he had done about his brothers', he
felt the golden crowns, and said:--
"I should have made a fine piece of work of it, truly; it is clear I
drank too much last night."
Then he went to the bed where the girls lay, and, having found the boys'
little bonnets:--
"Ah!" said he, "my merry lads, are you there? Let us work boldly."
And saying these words, without more ado, he cruelly murdered all his
seven daughters. Well pleased with what he had done, he went to bed
again.
So soon as Little Thumb heard the Ogre snore, he waked his brothers, and
bade them put on their clothes quickly and follow him. They stole softly
into the garden and got over the wall. They ran about, all night,
trembling all the while, without knowing which way they went.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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