The main character of the fairy tale by Ch. Perrault " Donkey skin" - a young girl. After the death of her father, the girl was taken to be raised in the royal palace, since the king and queen did not have children of their own. It so happened that the queen fell ill and died. Before her death, she made the king promise that he would marry only a woman who would be more beautiful and better than her.

The king grieved for a long time, but the courtiers persuaded him to marry a second time. But all the contenders for the queen’s place seemed worse to the king than his deceased wife. And then the courtiers told him that the only thing better than a queen could be a girl taken into her upbringing, a young princess. The king agreed with the courtiers and ordered the princess to prepare for the wedding. But the girl did not want to marry the old king, and she turned to the Lilac Fairy for help.

The fairy advised to find a reason to postpone the wedding and demand a sky-colored dress from the king. The court tailors managed to sew such a dress. Then, at the request of the princess, they sewed a moon-colored dress, as well as a dress as bright as the sun.

The princess had to again turn to the fairy for help, and she advised her to demand from the king the skin of his favorite donkey, which gave gold coins instead of manure. The king, without hesitation, did what the princess asked. The wedding was inevitable.

Then the fairy advised the girl to run away from the palace, wrapped in a donkey skin. She said that the princess's dresses would follow her underground in a magic chest. The princess smeared her face with mud, put on a donkey skin and fled from the palace.

The king's servants could not find her, and the girl got a job in the same house. She had to wash clothes, herd sheep and do other dirty work. No one wanted to communicate with the dirty little donkey skin and everyone laughed at the girl. Over time, people gave her the nickname Donkey Skin.

Sometimes the princess locked herself in her closet and called from underground magic chest and dressed up in one of her wonderful dresses. At one of these moments, she was accidentally seen by a young prince who came to that house to rest. The prince fell in love with the beauty he saw in the closet, but no one could explain to him what kind of girl she was. All the people loudly assured that a dirty little thing named Donkey Skin lived in the closet.

The prince fell ill from love experiences. His mother, the queen, tried to find out what was happening to her son. He told her that he wanted Donkey Skin to bake him a pie. The Queen found out who we were talking about and gave orders. The princess, having received an order from the royal palace, locked herself in a closet and put on one of her beautiful dresses and began to bake a pie. At the same time, she accidentally dropped her ring into the dough.

When the prince began to eat the pie brought to him, he found this ring and decided that he would marry the girl for whom the ring would fit. All the girls in the kingdom tried on the ring, but it didn’t fit anyone. Then they remembered Donkey Skin and called her to the palace. The princess, having received the invitation, put on a moon-colored dress, threw a donkey skin over it and went to the palace.

When the ring fit her, the girl took off the donkey skin and everyone saw how beautiful the princess was. The king and queen immediately began to ask her to marry the prince. At that moment, the fairy Lilac appeared and told the girl’s story. The king and queen, hearing this story, immediately arranged the wedding of their son with the princess. The wedding was luxurious and magnificent.

That's how it is summary fairy tales.

The main idea of ​​Charles Perrault's fairy tale “Donkey Skin” is that you should not give up and go against your own principles. The heroine of the fairy tale did not want to marry the old king, and she preferred to live dirty in donkey skin rather than become the wife of an old man.

The fairy tale by Charles Perrault teaches us to courageously overcome hardships and difficulties and always hope for the best.

I liked the fairy tale “Donkey Skin” main character, a princess who had many difficult moments in her life, but she managed to cope with all the problems and became the wife of a young prince.

What proverbs fit the fairy tale “Donkey Skin”?

It’s better to be a girl than to be married to an unloved husband.
Patience overcomes everything.
All is well that ends well.

Once upon a time there lived a successful, strong, brave, kind king with his beautiful wife, the queen. His subjects adored him. His neighbors and rivals worshiped him. His wife was charming and gentle, and their love was deep and sincere. They had an only daughter whose beauty was equal to her virtue.

The king and queen loved her more than life itself.

Luxury and abundance reigned everywhere in the palace, the king's advisers were wise, the servants were hardworking and faithful, the stables were full of the most thoroughbred horses, the cellars were filled with countless supplies of food and drink.

But the most amazing thing was that in the most prominent place, in the stable, stood an ordinary gray long-eared donkey, served by thousands of efficient servants. This was not just the king's whim. The point was that instead of the sewage that should have littered the donkey's bedding, every morning it was strewn with gold coins, which the servants collected daily. Life was so wonderful in this happy kingdom.

And then one day the queen fell ill. The learned and skilled doctors who came from all over the world could not cure her. She felt that her hour of death was approaching. Calling the king, she said:

I want you to fulfill my last wish. When after my death you get married...

Never! - the king, who had fallen into grief, desperately interrupted her.

But the queen, gently stopping him with a gesture of her hand, continued in a firm voice:

You should get married again. Your ministers are right, you are obliged to have an heir and must promise me that you will agree to the marriage only if your chosen one is more beautiful and slimmer than me. Promise me this, and I will die in peace.

The king solemnly promised her this, and the queen died with the blissful confidence that there was no other woman in the world as beautiful as she.

After her death, the ministers immediately began to demand that the king marry again. The king did not want to hear about it, grieving for days about his dead wife. But the ministers did not lag behind him, and he, telling them the queen’s last request, said that he would marry if there was someone as beautiful as her.

The ministers began to look for a wife for him. They visited all the families that had daughters of marriageable age, but none of them could compare with the queen in beauty.

One day, sitting in the palace and grieving over his dead wife, the king saw his daughter in the garden, and darkness clouded his mind. She was more beautiful than her mother, and the distraught king decided to marry her.

He informed her of his decision, and she fell into despair and tears. But nothing could change the madman's decision.

At night, the princess got into the carriage and went to her godmother Lilac the Sorceress. She calmed her down and taught her what to do.

Marry your father - big sin“, she said, “so we will do this: you will not contradict him, but you will say that you want to receive a dress the color of the sky as a gift before the wedding.” This is impossible to do, he will not be able to find such an outfit anywhere.

The princess thanked the sorceress and went home.

The next day she told the king that she would agree to marry him only after he got her a dress as beautiful as the sky. The king immediately summoned all the most skilled tailors.

Urgently sew a dress for my daughter that would make the blue vault of heaven pale in comparison,” he ordered. - If you do not follow my order, you will all be hanged.

Soon the tailors brought the finished dress. Light golden clouds floated against the background of the blue sky. The dress was so beautiful that next to it all living things faded.

The princess didn't know what to do. She again went to the Lilac Sorceress.

“Demand a dress in the color of the month,” said the godmother.

The king, having heard this request from his daughter, again immediately convened the most the best masters and in such a menacing voice he gave them orders that they sewed the dress literally the next day. This dress was even better than the previous one. The soft shine of the silver and stones with which it was embroidered upset the princess so much that she disappeared into her room in tears. Lilac the Sorceress again came to the aid of her goddaughter:

Now ask him to wear a dress the color of the sun,” she said, “at least it will keep him busy, and in the meantime we’ll come up with something.”

The loving king did not hesitate to give all the diamonds and rubies to decorate this dress. When the tailors brought it and unwrapped it, all the courtiers who saw it were immediately blinded, it shone so brightly and shimmered. The princess, saying that the bright shine gave her a headache, ran to her room. The sorceress who appeared after her was extremely annoyed and discouraged.

Well, now,” she said, “the most turning point in your destiny has come. Ask your father for the skin of his favorite famous donkey who supplies him with gold. Go ahead, my dear!

The princess expressed her request to the king, and he, although he understood that this was a reckless whim, did not hesitate to order the donkey to be killed. The poor animal was killed, and its skin was solemnly presented to the princess, numb with grief. Moaning and sobbing, she rushed to her room, where the sorceress was waiting for her.

Don’t cry, my child,” she said, “if you are brave, grief will be replaced by joy.” Wrap yourself in this skin and get out of here. Go as long as your feet go and the earth carries you: God does not abandon virtue. If you do everything as I command, the Lord will give you happiness. Go. Take mine magic wand. All your clothes will follow you underground. If you want to put something on, tap the ground twice with your stick and what you need will appear. Now hurry up.

The princess put on an ugly donkey skin, smeared herself with stove soot and, unnoticed by anyone, slipped out of the castle.

The king was furious when he discovered her disappearance. He sent one hundred and ninety-nine soldiers and one thousand one hundred and ninety-nine policemen in all directions to find the princess. But it was all in vain.

Meanwhile, the princess ran and ran further and further, looking for a place to sleep. Kind people gave her food, but she was so dirty and scary that no one wanted to take her into their home.

Finally she ended up on a large farm, where they were looking for a girl who would wash dirty rags, wash pig troughs and take out the slops, in a word, do all the dirty work around the house. Seeing the dirty, ugly girl, the farmer invited her to hire him, believing that it was just right for her.

The princess was very happy, she worked hard day after day among the sheep, pigs and cows. And soon, despite her deformity, the farmer and his wife fell in love with her for her hard work and diligence.

One day, while collecting brushwood in the forest, she saw her reflection in the stream. The vile donkey skin she was wearing horrified her. She quickly washed herself and saw that her former beauty had returned to her. Returning home, she was again forced to put on the nasty donkey skin.

The next day was a holiday. Left alone in her closet, she took out her magic wand and, tapping it twice on the floor, summoned a chest of dresses to her. Soon, immaculately clean, luxurious in her sky-colored dress, covered in diamonds and rings, she admired herself in the mirror.

At the same time, the king's son, who owned this area, went hunting. On the way back, tired, he decided to stop to rest at this farm. He was young, handsome, beautifully built and kind-hearted. The farmer's wife prepared lunch for him. After eating he went to look around the farm. Entering a long dark corridor, he saw a small locked closet in the depths and looked through the keyhole. His surprise and admiration knew no bounds. He saw such a beautiful and rich dressed girl, which I have never seen even in a dream. At that very moment he fell in love with her and hurried to the farmer to find out who this beautiful stranger was. He was told that in the closet lived a girl named Donkey Skin, so named because she was dirty and disgusting to such an extent that no one could even look at her.

The prince realized that the farmer and his wife knew nothing about this secret and there was no point in asking them. He returned to his home in the royal palace, but the image of a beautiful divine girl constantly tormented his imagination, not giving him a moment of peace. As a result, he fell ill and fell ill with a terrible fever. The doctors were powerless to help him.

Perhaps, they told the queen, your son is tormented by some terrible secret.

The excited queen hurried to her son and began to beg him to tell her the reason for his grief. She promised to fulfill his every wish.

The surprised queen began to ask her courtiers who Donkey Skin was.

“Your Majesty,” one of the courtiers, who was once at this distant farm, explained to her. - This is a terrible, vile, black ugly woman who removes manure and feeds slop to pigs.

“It doesn’t matter what it is,” the queen objected to him, “perhaps this is a strange whim of my sick son, but since he wants it, let this Donkey Skin personally bake a pie for him.” You must get him here quickly.

A few minutes later the walker delivered the royal order to the farm. Hearing this. Donkey Skin was very happy about this occasion. Happy, she hurried to her closet, locked herself in it and, having washed and dressed in beautiful clothes, began to prepare a pie. Taking the whitest flour and the most fresh eggs with butter, she began to knead the dough. And then, by accident or on purpose (who knows?), the ring slipped off her finger and fell into the dough. When the pie was ready, she put on her ugly, greasy donkey skin and gave the pie to the court walker, who hurried with it to the palace.

The prince greedily began to eat the pie, and suddenly he came across a small gold ring with an emerald. Now he knew that everything he saw was not a dream. The ring was so small that it could only fit on the prettiest finger in the world.

The prince constantly thought and dreamed about this fairy-tale beauty, and he was again seized by a fever, and even with a much greater greater strength than before. As soon as the king and queen learned that their son was very seriously ill and there was no hope for his recovery, they ran to him in tears.

My dear son! - cried the saddened king. - Tell us what do you want? There is no such thing in the world that we would not get for you.

“My dear father,” answered the prince, “look at this ring, it will give me recovery and heal me from sadness. I want to marry a girl for whom this ring will fit, and it doesn’t matter who she is - a princess or the poorest peasant girl.

The king carefully took the ring. He immediately sent out a hundred drummers and heralds to inform everyone of the royal decree: the girl on whose finger a gold ring is put will become the prince’s bride.

First the princesses came, then came the duchesses, baronesses and marquises. But none of them could put on the ring. They twisted their fingers and tried to put on the ring of the actress and the seamstress, but their fingers were too thick. Then it came to the maids, cooks and shepherdesses, but they too failed.

This was reported to the prince.

Did Donkey Skin come to try on the ring?

The courtiers laughed and replied that she was too dirty to appear in the palace.

Find her and bring her here,” the king ordered, “everyone without exception should try on the ring.”

Donkey Skin heard the beating of drums and the cries of heralds and realized that it was her ring that had caused such a commotion.

As soon as she heard a knock on her door, she washed herself, combed her hair and dressed nicely. Then she put the skin on herself and opened the door. The courtiers sent for her, laughing, led her to the palace to the prince.

Is it you who live in a small closet in the corner of the stable? - he asked.

Yes, Your Highness,” answered the dirty woman.

Show me your hand,” the prince asked, experiencing unprecedented excitement. But what was the amazement of the king and queen and all the courtiers when, from under the dirty, stinking donkey skin, a small white hand poked out, onto whose finger a gold ring easily slipped, which turned out to be just right. The prince fell to his knees in front of her. Rushing to pick it up, the dirty woman bent down, the donkey skin slid off her, and everyone saw a girl of such amazing beauty that only happens in fairy tales. Dressed in a dress the color of the sun, she shone all over, her cheeks would have been the envy of the best roses in the royal garden, and her eyes the color of the blue sky shone brighter than the largest diamonds in the royal treasury. The king beamed. The Queen clapped her hands with joy. They began to beg her to marry their son.

Before the princess had time to answer, Lilac the Magician descended from heaven, scattering the most delicate aroma of flowers around. She told everyone the story of Donkey Skin. The king and queen were immensely happy that their future daughter-in-law came from such a rich and noble family, and the prince, hearing about her courage, fell in love with her even more.

IN different countries wedding invitations have flown. The first one sent an invitation to the princess's father, but did not write who the bride was. And then the wedding day arrived. Kings and queens, princes and princesses came to see her from all sides. Some arrived in gilded carriages, some on huge elephants, fierce tigers and lions, some arrived on fast eagles. But the richest and most powerful was the princess's father. He arrived with his new wife, the beautiful widow queen. With great tenderness and joy, he recognized his daughter and immediately blessed her for this marriage. As a wedding gift, he announced that his daughter would rule his kingdom from that day forward.

This famous feast lasted for three months. And the love of the young prince and the young princess lasted for a long, long time, until one fine day it died along with them.

As a child, when I was a strange little girl, I preferred books to noisy gatherings of my peers. I also lived in the village for the whole summer. At the dacha with my grandparents, brother and sister. And I had My Little Room there, which was officially called the Study (in fact, in an old adobe hut built at the beginning of the century, it served either as a storage room or a utility room, but does anyone really care)). And there I read, played with my doll families, drew, and sometimes closed myself so that no one would touch me, and was transported to fairy-tale worlds. These worlds were mainly from the fairy tales of Charles Perrault; they seemed to me more refined than, for example, the Brothers Grimm, and more glamorous (of course - princesses, kings, secrets) than Andersen. I read them in my mother’s book from 1960, with strange black and white engravings.
My favorite fairy tale was "Donkey Skin". It was this princess that I liked to imagine myself as, dressing up in anything from my grandmother’s closet and playing out whole performances with myself.
And recently I found this book in children's books and re-read it. Oh, what archetypal depths opened up before me!))) And then Google helped me find a couple more options - in my book the princess was adopted, but in the original, it seems, my own daughter king (censorship probably). Well, I was pleased with the comments of psychoanalysts.

From here - http://kate-kapella.livejournal.com/30384.html brief retelling fairy tales and comments kate_kapella . She compares her to Cinderella.

Tales of Charles Perrault. "Donkey Skin"
"Donkey Skin" was once the most famous of French literary fairy tales. It was actually synonymous with the word “fairy tale”. It was only later that it was supplanted by “Cinderella,” which was very similar in plot, but this happened when the tone was no longer set by the aristocracy, but by the bourgeoisie. The worker Cinderella became a more suitable heroine than the hiding princess Donkeyskin.

And in this fairy tale (by the way, written in verse) there is something to read. There is magic, and outfits (including gold, like Cinderella), and a fairy godmother, and a prince who saw the girl only once, fell in love and then chose her by trying on. Not just shoes, but rings.

But there are also differences. The tales are very similar in plot, but they are completely different in spirit and morality.

The story begins with how one powerful king's beautiful wife dies. Being not only beautiful, but also smart, she asks her husband to swear that his new chosen one will be better than her. The calculation turned out to be correct - a year later the king was going to marry again, but it turned out that it was very difficult to find women equal to his late wife. But then something happened that the queen had not foreseen - the king noticed that his sixteen-year-old daughter was much more beautiful than her mother, smart, kind, charming, and generally full of all sorts of virtues. And he decided to marry his daughter (as an aside, I will say that the fairy tale was based on a Renaissance novella).

The girl, not daring to refuse, turned to her fairy godmother for help. She advised me to agree, but to stall for time and forgive various fabulous outfits as a gift - azure, lunar and sunny-gold. Let's be honest, the fairy tale does not idealize the princess (which cannot be said about Cinderella, whose kindness and wonderful character are described almost enthusiastically), for example, when she saw the moon dress, she was so delighted that she almost gave up. As her last gift, the princess asked for the skin of a gold-bearing donkey. And she received it. After which she realized that she couldn’t hold on any longer, and ran away, throwing on that same skin so that no one would pester her.

The fairy gave her a wand, with which at any time she could get a chest with fabulous outfits donated by the king, and the princess set off. Somewhere in one of the neighboring kingdoms, she found a job as a dishwasher (or something like that) in a rich house and lived quietly for some time in a remote hut. Her only joy was getting out her chest and trying on dresses.
And then one day a local prince got lost nearby. Imagine his amazement when, looking through the window of an inconspicuous hut, he saw a beautiful girl in a chic dress. But when he knocked on the door, a dirty woman dressed in donkey skin opened it.

The prince left, but he still turned out to be not such a sucker and suspected something. Because of the thoughts that overwhelmed him about the beauty, he fell ill, the doctors did not help, his parents did not know what to do. And suddenly the prince announced that he wanted Donkey Skin to bake him a pie. No one contradicted the patient; they called the girl, gave her food and told her to bake. Well, while she was kneading the dough, a precious ring fell from her finger (again an analogy with Cinderella, but what a big difference - Cinderella drops her shoe by accident, she does not pretend to be a prince at all, Donkey Skin, in turn, does not wear rings, she is hiding, but she goes to knead the dough with a ring on her finger). The prince finds the ring (by the way, Perrault mentions that he almost choked) and announces that he will marry the one who will fit it. That is, he accepts the rules of the game proposed by his beauty.

The following is a description of the measures that the girls took to make their fingers thinner. I won’t describe it in detail, it’s creepy to remember it myself. They were measured in this order: princesses, daughters of dukes and marquises, daughters of barons, daughters of ordinary nobles, daughters of the bourgeois, grisettes, laborers. No democracy, like in Cinderella. Strict hierarchy.

The last one was Donkey Skin. They didn’t want to let her in, but the prince insisted. He put a ring on her finger and... the girl took off her skin and turned into a princess in a golden dress.

Then a cheerful feast, and for the wedding. All the neighboring kings were invited to the wedding, and one recognized his missing daughter in the bride. During this time he lost his temper, bitterly repented and was now happy to see her as the prince’s bride. The prince and his relatives, in turn, were terribly happy to learn that the bride was also the heiress of the kingdom.

All. Happy end.

There are not just many parallels with Cinderella. There are so many of them that these two fairy tales simply could not coexist peacefully, because they occupied the same niche in fairy-tale literature. We already know that Cinderella won in the end. Why?

As I said at the beginning, “Donkey Skin” is an aristocratic fairy tale. And “Cinderella” is bourgeois. Apparently, Marx was right, times change and ideas change with them.

The princess in Donkey Skin actually went through as much as Cinderella. But she behaved completely differently, and the moral in the fairy tale is completely different.

The princess struggled with the misfortunes that befell her; she herself chose the share of a servant for the sake of saving her honor. But she always knew that she was a princess. Cinderella was made a servant by someone else's evil will, she did not try to resist, accepted her share without complaint and was even pleased with it to some extent (the fairy tale emphasizes her kindness and desire to please).

The prince knew about the princess that she was both a princess and a maid, and he first threw a test ball - he checked whether the princess wanted to communicate with him. The prince knew nothing about Cinderella, but at least he managed to talk to her at the ball (I’m thinking, maybe she at least gave him some advances at the ball?).

The princess deliberately threw the ring into the dough, inviting the prince to take part in a courtly game. He accepted her invitation. Cinderella, according to the author, dropped the shoe by accident, that is, she did not intend to continue the acquaintance, perhaps out of an inferiority complex.

The prince in “Donkey Skin” himself invited all potential brides to the palace and even put the ring on the princess’s finger himself. The prince in “Cinderella” sent courtiers and did not see the future bride until she was brought to him (in the German version, he measured it himself, but every now and then he took the wrong girl, apparently he did not look at her face).

And finally the finale. “Donkey Skin” ends with the princess revealing her incognito identity and everyone seeing - she got what she had every right to. In “Cinderella,” the heroine, benefited by the prince, also becomes a benefactor for her relatives.

Should we draw conclusions? Or will everyone understand the difference themselves?

But times have changed again, and the character of Cinderella from the Hollywood cartoon has already moved very far away from Charles Perrault’s Cinderella...

And here - http://www.livelib.ru/book/1000309965 description of the book "Bluebeard" - this is a collection of Perrault's fairy tales without editing for children. In addition, there are comments on fairy tales from the perspective of psychoanalysis. An interesting read, I must say. True, the text of the fairy tales themselves could not be found on the Internet, but there are comments. Here's directly about the subject:

Donkey Skin
This fairy tale was admired by Gustave Flaubert and Anatole France, who assured that with a light heart he would sacrifice an entire philosophical library if only they would leave him “Donkey Skin.”

The prose retelling (in Russian translation - “Donkey Skin”) appeared much later than the poetic version in 1781, and, apparently, belongs not to Perrault, but to M. Leprince de Beaumont.

In this tale, which has gained extraordinary popularity, three main motives can be distinguished. The first, associated with an unwanted marriage, goes back to the chanson de geste about the Beautiful Helen of Constantinople. The second motive - dressing in animal skin - is found, for example, in the medieval novel "Perceforest", where the princess, in order to hide, dresses in lamb skin. And finally, the third motive - the motive of recognition with the help of a certain object - has also already been found in literature: the story of trying on a ring in the same "Perceforest", trying on a shoe in "Cinderella". Even the magic donkey, which replaces the mint in this tale, is not a new motif; as a predecessor of the donkey, one can point to the hen that lays golden eggs in the fairy tale with which the Pentameron opens.

According to representatives of psychoanalysis, the theme of incest is completely open in this tale, since the king finds beauty equal to the merits of his late wife only in his daughter. The image of the fairy godmother embodies the superego. A donkey spewing gold coins through its anus is associated with the bourgeoisie and bankers. Frightened by her father's criminal desire, the heroine runs, covering herself with a stinking donkey skin, and finds herself in a pigsty, among dung and dirt. The appearance of the voyeur prince is significant. The girl strangely also sees the prince peeping through the keyhole. The girl sends him her ring - a symbol of a vagina yearning to be penetrated. Thanks to shared love, the couple overcomes the Oedipus complex.

Starts with a description happy life the brilliant king, his beautiful and faithful wife and their lovely little daughter. They lived in a magnificent palace, in a rich and prosperous country. In the royal stable, next to the frisky horses, “a fat donkey hung his ears peacefully.” “The Lord made his womb so good that if he sometimes shit, it was with gold and silver.”

But “in the prime of her magnificent years, the ruler’s wife was suddenly struck down by illness.” Dying, she asks her husband to “go down the aisle a second time only with that chosen one who will finally be more beautiful and worthy than me.” The husband “swore to her through a river of mad tears about everything she was waiting for... Among the widowers, he was one of the noisiest! I cried so much, I sobbed so much...” However, “less than a year has passed, there is shameless talk about matchmaking.” But the deceased is surpassed in beauty only by her own daughter, and the father, inflamed with a criminal passion, decides to marry the princess. She, in despair, goes to her godmother - the good fairy who lives “in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of a cave, between shells, corals, mother-of-pearl.” To upset the terrible wedding, the godmother advises the girl to demand from her father a wedding dress in the shade of clear days. “The task is tricky and in no way possible.” But the king of the tailors called the masters and ordered from the high throne chairs that the gift should be ready by tomorrow, otherwise how could he not hang them in an hour! And in the morning the tailors bring “a wonderful gift.” Then the fairy advises her goddaughter to demand silk “lunar, unusual - he won’t be able to get it.” The king calls the gold seamstress - and four days later the dress is ready. The princess almost submits to her father with delight, but, “compelled by her godmother,” she asks for an outfit of “wonderful sunny flowers.” The king threatens the jeweler terrible torture- and in less than a week he creates “porphyry from porphyry.” - What a surprise - new clothes! - the fairy whispers contemptuously and orders to demand the skin of a precious donkey from the sovereign. But the king's passion is stronger than stinginess - and the skin is immediately brought to the princess.

Here “the stern godmother found that disgust is inappropriate on the paths of goodness,” and on the advice of the fairy, the princess promises the king to marry him, and she, throwing a vile skin over her shoulders and smearing her face with soot, runs from the palace. The girl puts wonderful dresses in the box. The fairy gives her goddaughter a magic twig: “As long as you have it in your hand, the box will crawl behind you in the distance, like a mole hiding underground.”

Royal messengers search in vain for the fugitive throughout the country. The courtiers are in despair: “no wedding, which means no feasts, no cakes, which means no pastries... The chaplain was most upset of all: he didn’t have time to have a snack in the morning and said goodbye to the wedding treat.”

And the princess, dressed as a beggar, wanders along the road, looking for “even a place as a poultry keeper, even a swineherd. But the beggars themselves spit after the slob.” Finally, the unfortunate woman is taken on as a servant by a farmer - “to clean the pig stalls and wash greasy rags. Now in the closet behind the kitchen is the princess’s yard.” The impudent villagers and “the peasants are bothering her disgustingly,” and even mocking the poor thing. Her only joy is to lock herself in her closet on Sunday, wash herself, dress up in one or another marvelous dress and twirl in front of the mirror. “Ah, moonlight makes her look a little pale, and sunny light makes her look a little fuller... A blue dress is the best of all!”

And in these parts “a luxurious and omnipotent king kept a brilliant poultry yard.” The prince and a crowd of courtiers often visited this park. “The princess has already fallen in love with him from afar.” Oh, if only he loved girls in donkey skin! - the beauty sighed. And the prince - “a heroic look, a fighting spirit” - somehow came across a poor hut at dawn and saw through a crack a beautiful princess in a marvelous outfit. Struck by her noble appearance, the young man did not dare to enter the hut, but, returning to the palace, “he did not eat, did not drink, did not dance; he lost interest in hunting, opera, fun and girlfriends” - and thought only about the mysterious beauty. He was told that a dirty beggar, Donkey Skin, lived in a squalid hut. The prince doesn't believe it. “He cries bitterly, he sobs” - and demands that Donkey Skin bake him a pie. A loving queen mother will not contradict her son, and the princess, “hearing this news,” hurries to knead the dough. “They say: working extraordinarily, she... completely, completely by accident! “I dropped my ring into the dough.” But “my opinion is that this was her calculation.” After all, she saw how the prince looked at her through the crack!

Having received the pie, the patient “devoured it with such greedy passion that, truly, it seems like a fair amount of luck that he did not swallow the ring.” Since the young man in those days “was losing terribly weight... the doctors decided unanimously: the prince was dying of love.” Everyone begs him to marry - but he agrees to take as his wife only the one who can put a tiny ring with an emerald on her finger. All the girls and widows begin to thin their fingers.

However, the ring did not suit either noble noblewomen, or cute grisettes, or cooks and farm laborers. But then “from under the donkey’s skin appeared a fist that looked like a lily.” The laughter stops. Everyone is shocked. The princess goes to change clothes - and an hour later she appears in the palace, resplendent with dazzling beauty and luxurious attire. The king and queen are happy, the prince is happy. Rulers from all over the world are called to the wedding. The princess's come to his senses, seeing his daughter, cries with joy. The prince is delighted: “what a lucky chance that his father-in-law is such a powerful ruler.” “Sudden thunder... The fairy queen, a witness of the misfortunes of the past, descends to her goddaughter to glorify virtue forever...”

Moral: “It is better to endure terrible suffering than to betray a duty of honor.” After all, “youth can be satisfied with a crust of bread and water, while she keeps her outfit in a golden box.”

Charles Perrault

“Tales of My Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Old Times with Teachings”

Donkey skin

The poetic tale begins with a description of the happy life of the brilliant king, his beautiful and faithful wife and their lovely little daughter. They lived in a magnificent palace, in a rich and prosperous country. In the royal stable, next to the frisky horses, “a fat donkey hung his ears peacefully.” “The Lord made his womb so good that if he sometimes shit, it was with gold and silver.”

But “in the prime of her magnificent years, the ruler’s wife was suddenly struck down by illness.” Dying, she asks her husband to “go down the aisle a second time only with that chosen one who will finally be more beautiful and worthy than me.” The husband “swore to her through a river of mad tears about everything she was waiting for... Among the widowers, he was one of the noisiest! I cried so much, I sobbed so much...” However, “less than a year has passed, there is shameless talk about matchmaking.” But the deceased is surpassed in beauty only by her own daughter, and the father, inflamed with a criminal passion, decides to marry the princess. She, in despair, goes to her godmother - the good fairy who lives “in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of a cave, between shells, corals, mother-of-pearl.” To upset the terrible wedding, the godmother advises the girl to demand from her father a wedding dress in the shade of clear days. “It’s a tricky task, but it’s not achievable.” But the king of the tailors called the masters and ordered from the high throne chairs that the gift should be ready by tomorrow - otherwise how could he not have hung them up in an hour! And in the morning the tailors bring “a wonderful gift.” Then the fairy advises her goddaughter to demand silk “lunar, unusual - he won’t be able to get it.” The king calls the gold seamstress - and four days later the dress is ready. The princess almost submits to her father with delight, but, “compelled by her godmother,” she asks for an outfit of “wonderful sunny flowers.” The king threatens the jeweler with terrible torture - and in less than a week he creates “porphyry from porphyry.” - What a surprise - new clothes! - the fairy whispers contemptuously and orders you to demand the skin of a precious donkey from the sovereign. But the king’s passion is stronger than stinginess - and the skin is immediately brought to the princess.

Here “the stern godmother found that disgust is inappropriate on the paths of goodness,” and on the advice of the fairy, the princess promises the king to marry him, and she, throwing a vile skin over her shoulders and smearing her face with soot, runs from the palace. The girl puts wonderful dresses in the box. The fairy gives her goddaughter a magic twig: “As long as you have it in your hand, the box will crawl behind you in the distance, like a mole hiding underground.”

Royal messengers search in vain for the fugitive throughout the country. The courtiers are in despair: “no wedding, which means no feasts, no cakes, which means no pastries... The chaplain was most upset of all: he didn’t have time to have a snack in the morning and said goodbye to the wedding treat.”

And the princess, dressed as a beggar, wanders along the road, looking for “even a place as a poultry keeper, even a swineherd.” But the beggars themselves spit after the slob.” Finally, the unfortunate woman is taken on as a servant by a farmer - “to clean the pig stalls and wash greasy rags. Now in the closet behind the kitchen there is the princess’s yard.” The impudent villagers and the “men are disgustingly bothering her,” and even mocking the poor thing. Her only joy is to lock herself in her closet on Sunday, wash herself, dress up in one or another marvelous dress and twirl in front of the mirror. “Ah, moonlight makes her look a little pale, and sunny light makes her look a little fuller... A blue dress is the best of all!”

And in these parts “a luxurious and omnipotent king kept a brilliant poultry yard.” The prince and a crowd of courtiers often visited this park. “The princess has already fallen in love with him from afar.” Oh, if only he loved girls in donkey skin! - the beauty sighed. And the prince - “a heroic look, a fighting spirit” - somehow came across a poor hut at dawn and saw through a crack a beautiful princess in a marvelous outfit. Struck by her noble appearance, the young man did not dare to enter the hut, but, returning to the palace, “he did not eat, did not drink, did not dance; he lost interest in hunting, opera, fun and girlfriends” - and thought only about the mysterious beauty. He was told that a dirty beggar named Donkey Skin lived in a squalid hut. The prince doesn't believe it. “He weeps bitterly, he sobs” - and demands that Donkey Skin bake him a pie. A loving queen mother will not contradict her son, and the princess, “hearing this news,” hurries to knead the dough. “They say: working extraordinarily, she... completely, completely by accident! “I dropped my ring into the dough.” But “my opinion is that this was her calculation.” After all, she saw how the prince looked at her through the crack!

Having received the pie, the patient “devoured it with such greedy passion that, truly, it seems like a fair amount of luck that he did not swallow the ring.” Since the young man in those days “was losing terribly weight... the doctors decided unanimously: the prince was dying of love.” Everyone begs him to marry, but he agrees to take as his wife only the one who can put a tiny ring with an emerald on her finger. All the girls and widows begin to thin their fingers.

However, the ring did not suit either noble noblewomen, or cute grisettes, or cooks and farm laborers. But then “from under the donkey’s skin appeared a fist that looked like a lily.” The laughter stops. Everyone is shocked. The princess goes to change clothes - and an hour later she appears in the palace, resplendent with dazzling beauty and luxurious attire. The king and queen are happy, the prince is happy. Rulers from all over the world are called to the wedding. The princess's come to his senses, seeing his daughter, cries with joy. The prince is delighted: “what a lucky chance that his father-in-law is such a powerful ruler.” “Sudden thunder... The fairy queen, a witness of the misfortunes of the past, descends to her goddaughter to glorify virtue forever...”

Moral: “It is better to endure terrible suffering than to betray a duty of honor.” After all, “youth can be satisfied with a crust of bread and water, while she keeps her outfit in a golden box.”

Blue Beard

Once upon a time there lived a very rich man who had a blue beard. She disfigured him so much that, seeing this man, all the women ran away in fear. His neighbor, a noble lady, had two daughters of wondrous beauty. He asked any of these girls to marry him. But none of them wanted to have a spouse with a blue beard. They also didn’t like the fact that this man had already been married several times and no one knew what fate befell his wives.

Bluebeard invited the girls, their mother, friends and girlfriends to one of his luxurious country houses, where they had fun for a whole week. And so it began to seem to the youngest daughter that the owner of the house’s beard was not so blue, and that he himself was a very respectable man. Soon the wedding was decided.

A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he was leaving on business for six weeks. He asked her not to be bored, to have fun, to call her friends, gave her the keys to all the chambers, storerooms, caskets and chests - and forbade her to enter only one small room.

His wife promised to obey him, and he left. Immediately, without waiting for the messengers, the girlfriends came running. They were eager to see all the riches of Bluebeard, but they were afraid to come in front of him. Now, admiring the house full of priceless treasures, the guests enviously extolled the happiness of the newlywed, but she could only think about the small room...

Finally, the woman abandoned her guests and rushed headlong down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Curiosity overcame fear - and the beauty opened the door with trepidation... In the dark room, the floor was covered with dried blood, and on the walls hung the bodies of Bluebeard's former wives, whom he had killed. Out of horror, the newlywed dropped the key. Picking it up, she locked the door and, trembling, rushed to her room. There the woman noticed that the key was stained with blood. The unfortunate woman took a long time to clean the stain, but the key was magical, and the blood, wiped off on one side, appeared on the other...

That same evening Bluebeard returned. His wife greeted him with ostentatious delight. The next day he demanded the keys from the poor girl. Her hands were shaking so much that he immediately guessed everything and asked: “Where is the key to the small room?” After various excuses, I had to bring the dirty key. “Why is he bleeding? - inquired Bluebeard. — Did you enter the small room? Well, madam, that’s where you’ll stay now.”

The woman, sobbing, threw herself at her husband’s feet. Beautiful and sad, she would have pitied even a stone, but Bluebeard had a heart harder than stone. “At least allow me to pray before I die,” the poor thing asked.” “I give you seven minutes!” - answered the villain. Left alone, the woman called her sister and said to her: “Sister Anna, look if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today." The girl climbed the tower and from time to time said to the unfortunate woman: “You can’t see anything, only the sun is scorching and the grass is glistening in the sun.” And Bluebeard, clutching a large knife in his hand, shouted: “Come here!” - “Just a minute!” - answered the poor thing and kept asking sister Anna if the brothers were visible? The girl noticed clouds of dust in the distance - but it was a herd of sheep. Finally she saw two horsemen on the horizon...

Then Bluebeard roared throughout the house. The trembling wife came out to him, and he, grabbing her by the hair, was about to cut off her head, but at that moment a dragoon and a musketeer burst into the house. Snatching their swords, they rushed at the villain. He tried to escape, but the beauty’s brothers pierced him with steel blades.

The wife inherited all of Bluebeard's wealth. She gave a dowry to her sister Anna when she married a young nobleman who had loved her for a long time; the young widow helped each of the brothers achieve the rank of captain, and then she herself married a good man, who helped her forget about the horrors of her first marriage.

Moral: “Yes, curiosity is a scourge. It confuses everyone; it was born on the mountain of mortals.”

Rike with a tuft

One queen gave birth to such an ugly son that the courtiers for a long time They doubted whether he was a man. But the good fairy assured that he would be very smart and would be able to give his intelligence to the person he loved. Indeed, as soon as he learned to babble, the child began to say the sweetest things. He had a small tuft on his head, which is why the prince was nicknamed Rike with the tuft.

Seven years later, the queen of a neighboring country gave birth to two daughters; Seeing the first one - beautiful as day - the mother was so happy that she almost felt bad, but the second girl turned out to be extremely ugly. But the same fairy predicted that the ugly girl would be very smart, and the beauty would be stupid and awkward, but she would be able to bestow beauty on whoever she liked.

The girls grew up - and the beauty always had much less success than her smart sister. And then one day in the forest, where the silly girl went to mourn her bitter lot, the unfortunate woman met the ugly Rike. Having fallen in love with her from the portraits, he came to the neighboring kingdom... The girl told Rika about her misfortune, and he said that if the princess decided to marry him in a year, she would immediately become wiser. The beauty foolishly agreed - and immediately spoke so witty and graceful that Riquet wondered if he had given her more intelligence than he had left for himself?..

The girl returned to the palace, amazed everyone with her intelligence and soon became her father’s main adviser; All fans turned away from her ugly sister, and the fame of the beautiful and wise princess thundered throughout the world. Many princes wooed the beauty, but she made fun of them all, until finally one rich, handsome and smart prince appeared...

Walking through the forest and thinking about choosing a groom, the girl suddenly heard a dull noise under her feet. At that same moment the earth opened up, and the princess saw people preparing a luxurious feast. “This is for Rike, tomorrow is his wedding,” they explained to the beauty. And then the shocked princess remembered that exactly a year had passed since the day she met the freak.

And soon Rike himself appeared in a magnificent wedding dress. However, the wiser princess flatly refused to marry such an ugly man. And then Rike revealed to her that she could endow her chosen one with beauty. The princess sincerely wished that Rike would become the most wonderful and amiable prince in the world - and a miracle happened!

True, others argue that it is not a matter of magic, but of love. The princess, admiring the intelligence and loyalty of her admirer, stopped noticing his ugliness. The hump began to give special importance to the prince’s posture, the terrible limp turned into a manner of leaning slightly to one side, the slanting eyes acquired a captivating languor, and the large red nose seemed mysterious and even heroic.

The king gladly agreed to marry his daughter to such a wise prince, and the next day they celebrated a wedding, for which the smart Rike already had everything ready.

Donkey skin. In a rich kingdom, where even a donkey spoiled gold and silver, the queen died. Before her death, she took an oath that the king would only marry a girl more beautiful than the queen. This turned out to be the daughter of the king and queen himself. The king intends to marry his own daughter. The princess, in despair, turns to her fairy godmother and she advises her to give impossible tasks to the king, but the king was able to complete everything and presented her with an outfit in the shade of a clear day, made of moon silk and solar flowers, as well as the skin of a precious donkey. The princess assures her father that she will get married, but puts her outfits in a box, hides under the skin and, smearing her face with soot, runs away. The princess gets a job cleaning pigsties and washing rags. Sometimes she takes out her dresses and dresses up. One day the prince spied her dressing up in a fairytale outfit and fell in love.

The prince in love wanted the girl to bake him a pie. The princess, while carrying out an errand, dropped her ring into the pie. The prince found it and vowed to marry the owner of the ring. The women of the kingdom were unable to pull the tiny ring onto their fingers and the ring only fit a donkey skin. The princess put on a precious outfit and came to the palace. The prince, his parents and the princess's father were happy on the lovers' wedding day.

Blue Beard. Next door to a lady who had beautiful daughters lived a rich widower with a blue beard. He had been married before, but no one knew where his wife was now. He decided to marry again and came to the lady to woo her daughters, and in order to convince one of the beauties to become his wife, he invited them to live with him.

Soon Bluebeard's wedding took place with youngest daughter neighbors. And a month later, Bluebeard left and, leaving the keys to all the halls and chambers, demanded that his wife never enter one of the rooms.

Immediately, relatives, friends and girlfriends came to visit the newlywed, but she, struck by curiosity, left them and went to inspect the forbidden room. Opening it, she dropped the key on the floor, covered in the blood of her previous wives. No matter how much she cleaned the key, the blood stains did not leave it. Returning home, Bluebeard, seeing blood on the key, realized that his wife had disobeyed him and, grabbing her, tried to cut off her head, but his wife’s brothers ran into the house and stabbed him with sharp blades.

The wife inherited all the wealth, provided for her family, and she herself remarried a kind man.

Rike with a tuft. In the kingdoms, two queens had children. One queen gave birth to a boy, but her son was so ugly that for a long time they did not believe that it was a child. And the other queen gave birth to two daughters. The first girl was as charming as an angel, but the second was terribly ugly. The good fairy, having visited both queens, assured that children born scary would be extremely smart, and the beauty would be stupid and extremely awkward. And so it happened. Boy Rike and the ugly princess were as smart as the beautiful princess was stupid. One day the silly girl ran into the forest, where she cried over her fate. There she met Rike. Rike invited her to become his wife in a year, and in return he would share his mind with the princess. She agrees. At that very moment, the beauty became wiser and, having returned to the palace, the clever girl was appointed by the king as the main adviser.

Rumors about the smart and beautiful princess spread all over the world and suitors began to arrive. The princess even chose one of them as her husband, when she suddenly saw that many people had come to prepare the wedding feast. It turned out that a year had already passed. Rike himself arrived, but the princess refused to marry the freak. Then Rike said that just as he shared his intelligence, the princess could give him beauty. The smart princess agreed and after the wedding, Rike became a handsome prince.