The Tales of my Mother Goose

The Tales of my Mother Goose is a collection of literary fairy tales by Charles Perrault, first published in Paris in 1697. It brings together short, self-contained stories written in French at a time when fairy tales were especially popular in Parisian literary salons. Perrault wrote the book after leaving his role as secretary to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the minister to Louis XIV, and turning more fully to writing. Rather than following one continuous plot, the book is made up of individual tales that reshape familiar material into literary form.

This book suits readers who want to see where a lot of classic fairy tale tradition comes from, and who are curious about stories that were already being rewritten for an adult literary audience. Its appeal is in the mix of familiar patterns, concise storytelling, and the moral framing common to early fairy tales. It works well for readers interested in folklore, older European storytelling, and short narrative forms. In style, it sits close to other collections of adapted tales and to fairy tale traditions shaped from well known stories.