translated by A.E. Johnson 1969
illustrated by Gustave Dore
These are the original dark and gruesome stories with serious morals and might come as bit of a shock to those who only know the Disney versions. (The ogre in "Little Tom Thumb" slits his seven daughters' throats for goodness sake!). I confess, even from childhood "Blue Beard" has always been one of my favorites. (I won't even try to analyze why!)
The Moral of Sleeping Beauty:
Many a girl has waited long
For a husband brave or strong;
But I'm sure I never met
Any sort of woman yet
Who could wait a hundred years,
Free from fretting, free from fears.
Now, our story seems to show
That a century or so,
Late or early, matters not;
True love comes by fairy-lot.
Some old folk will even say
It grows better by delay.
Yet this good advice, I fear,
Helps us neither there nor here.
Though philosophers may prate
How much wiser 'tis to wait,
Maids will be a-sighing still-
Young blood must when young blood will!
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