Once upon a time there was a Queen who had a son so ugly and so misshapen that it was long disputed whether he had human form. A fairy who was at his birth said, however, that he would be very amiable for all that, since he would have uncommon good sense.

In 1669 Perrault advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains each representing one of the fables of Aesop in the labyrinth of Versailles in the gardens of Versailles. Water jets spurting from the animals mouths were conceived to give the impression of speech between the creatures. In the tales he used images from around him such as the Chateau Ussé for Sleeping Beauty and in Puss in Boots the Marquis of the Château d'Oiron and contrasted his folktale subject matter with details and asides and subtext drawn from the world of fashion.

Charles Perrault (12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie française. The best known of his tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood) Cendrillon (Cinderella) Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots) and La Barbe bleue (Bluebeard).