The Immortal Gazette: Charles Perrault – The Fairy Tale Spin Doctor
Alice was back in her favorite armchair, a steaming cup of enchanted tea in one hand and yet another ancient tome in the other. Across from her, Loki and Rumplestiltskin lounged like two troublemakers waiting for chaos to unfold.
Loki eyed the book suspiciously. “Alright, what are we learning today, professor?”
Alice smirked. “Today’s subject: Charles Perrault—the man who rebranded fairy tales and made them prim, proper, and marketable.”
Rumplestiltskin leaned forward. “Oh, this should be good.”
Alice tapped the book. “So, let’s start with the basics. Perrault was a French author born in 1628. Unlike our dear Giambattista Basile, who was all about the gritty folklore, Perrault was a polished member of the French court—he was rich, educated, and well-connected.”
Loki waved a hand. “So, you’re saying he was a sellout?”
Alice grinned. “Oh, big time. See, he didn’t invent fairy tales. What he did was take old folktales—many of which Basile had already written in their rawest, messiest forms—and turn them into something acceptable for French nobility. He made fairy tales fashionable.”
Rumplestiltskin cackled. “So he is the reason we get all those tame versions?”
Alice nodded. “Exactly. Take Little Red Riding Hood. Before Perrault, the story was a gruesome cautionary tale where the wolf ate both Grandma and Red, and that was it. No woodsman to the rescue, no happy ending. Just ‘don’t talk to strangers, kids, or you die.’”
Loki raised an eyebrow. “So Perrault made it… nicer?”
“Oh, not at all,” Alice said with a wicked grin. “He actually added the ‘moral lesson’ at the end, hammering in the idea that young ladies should beware charming men—because they are the real wolves.”
Rumplestiltskin let out a low whistle. “Now that’s a warning label.”
Alice continued. “He did the same with Cinderella. Before Perrault, Cinderella stories were all over the place. Sometimes she murdered her stepmother, sometimes she had supernatural birds helping her. But Perrault? He was the first to introduce the pumpkin carriage, the fairy godmother, and—get this—the glass slipper.”
Loki frowned. “Wait… so the glass slipper was his idea?”
Alice nodded. “Oh, yes. And let’s talk about Sleeping Beauty, or as he called it, La Belle au bois dormant. Basile’s version was a horror show, remember? Well, Perrault cleaned it up. He introduced the prince kissing the sleeping maiden without all the problematic details. But even his version doesn’t stop there—after they marry, the prince’s mother turns out to be an ogre who tries to eat Sleeping Beauty and her children.”
Loki snorted. “What is wrong with these people?”
Alice shrugged. “Fairy tales were never meant to be sweet bedtime stories. But Perrault knew who he was writing for. His 1697 book, Histoires ou contes du temps passé, was written with the French aristocracy in mind. He dedicated it to the king’s niece and made sure the stories fit their refined tastes.”
Rumplestiltskin smirked. “So he took brutal old tales and sugarcoated them for the rich.”
Alice grinned. “Oh, completely. And that’s why we remember his versions instead of Basile’s or the even older folktales. He made them elegant, he gave them morals, and he made them sellable.”
Loki leaned back. “So let me get this straight. Perrault was basically the public relations guy of fairy tales?”
Alice raised her cup. “Exactly. He polished them up, slapped on some moral lessons, and made sure they could be read at noble dinner parties without anyone fainting.”
Rumplestiltskin chuckled. “And let me guess—the Brothers Grimm stole from him the same way he borrowed from Basile?”
Alice grinned. “You know it. The Grimms took Perrault’s polished versions and re-Gothicized them, adding back some of the darkness but keeping his structure.”
Loki smirked. “So Basile was the wild original, Perrault was the fairy tale PR guy, and the Grimms were the dark-and-gritty remix artists?”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Now that is a perfect summary.”
Rumplestiltskin clapped his hands together. “I love learning how history is just one giant cycle of people stealing each other’s ideas.”
Alice grinned, flipping the book closed. “Welcome to literary history—where the real fairy tale is who gets remembered.”
🖋️✨📜🖤
