‘Fairies, The’
‘Fairies, The’.Charles Perrault's tale ‘Les Fées’ (‘The Fairies’) appeared in his collection Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Stories or Tales of Past Times, 1697). An early version of this tale occurs in Ovid's Metamorphoses, where the goddess Latona transforms into frogs a group of mean‐spirited peasants. Other antecedents include stories found in Giovan Francesco Straparola's Le piacevoli notti (The Pleasant Nights, 1550–3) and Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone (1634–6). Perrault's tale portrays an unnamed younger sister who kindly does the bidding of a good fairy, disguised as a crone, and receives the gift of flowers and precious jewels issuing from her...
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