Histoires ou contes du temps passé

As a young man, Perrault began writing, receiving royal attention for a series of honorary poems written for Louis XIV of France in 1660, which may have been the catalyst for his two-decade post as secretary to Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

[6] Children's literature scholar Jack Zipes speculates that Perrault's fairy tales may have been written to be the last word in a decade-long literary quarrel.

Préciosité was reflected in fashions, conversations, art and literature that were elevated and affected with great embellishments and meant to be brilliant in an effort to separate the upper levels of society from the vulgarity and coarseness of the bourgeoisie.

The game of telling fairy stories amongst the précieuses in the then highly fashionable ladies' literary salons became popular in the late 17th century.

[6] Zipes says Perrault published in Contes stories written explicitly for his "peers in the literary salons",[5] whereas Humphrey Carpenter believes he wrote for an audience of aristocratic children as well.

[3] Between 1691 and 1694, Perrault wrote three stories in verse form, "Griselidis" (a novella, originally titled La Marquise de Salusses ou la Patience de Griselidis and read to the Académie française), "The Ridiculous Wishes" (published in the Mercure galant in 1693[6][8]), and "Donkeyskin", that were published in a single volume in 1694 and republished a year later in a volume with a preface.

[9] The year 1695 saw the manuscript edition of the Contes de ma mère l'Oye (Stories of Mother Goose), containing five of the later to be published prose tales.

[10] The stories assembled in the 1697 edition were "The Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bluebeard", "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots", "Diamonds and Toads" (Les Fées), "Cinderella", "Riquet with the Tuft", and "Hop o' My Thumb".

[2] However, Zipes claims modern scholarship shows little evidence that Pierre wrote the stories, or that the volume was the result of a collaboration between father and son.

[2] The book contains an introductory letter to "Mademoiselle", saying "No one will think it strange that a child should have found pleasure in composing the Tales in this volume, but some will be surprised that he should have presumed to dedicate them to you.

[11] Although some of Perrault's tales had folkloric origins, he modified them with elaborate detail written in intentionally brilliant language for an audience of sophisticated adults who expected embellishment.

[10] The first edition of the volume has margin notes for "Little Red Riding Hood" telling the reader the last lines are to be read in a loud voice to scare the child, leading Carpenter to believe it was written as a children's game, though he goes on the say that the sexual connotations are impossible to ignore.

[11] Such was already the case with "Griselidis", intended to be a "modern novella", although based on a contemporary chapbook (or bibliotheque bleue) and ultimately on a version in Boccaccio's 14th-century Decameron which was later translated to Latin by Petrarch.

The chapbook version had simple language intended for an uneducated and unsophisticated audience, whereas Perrault embellished the story to appeal to the sophisticates who frequented the literary salons.

[17] Zipes claims Perrault's tales have "withstood the test of time" because he was the "greatest stylist" and that in the Contes he brought a "modern approach to literature".

[6] For example the main character in the first tale, Griselidis, achieves goodness through the blessing of God although she is not of noble birth; the moral is that through her ordeals she becomes worthy to be wife to a nobleman.

Duggan writes that in the stories generally the female characters begin in a state of sin: their experiences or ordeals purify and deliver them while simultaneously making them powerless.

[20] Furthermore, Perrault emphasizes the danger posed to women from men, as in his moral written for "Little Red Riding Hood"—wolves wait in the forest (or in the drawing rooms) for les jeunes demoiselles (the young maidens).

[2] Other scholars, however, disagree with Zipes, such as Hansjorg Hohr, who believes Perrault shows in Cinderella's character a resilient young woman, knowledgeable about fashions, witty and clever, generous, and above all skilled.