1. THE MEANING OF FAIRY TALES
“Little Red Riding Hood” original version is replete with murder, cannibalism, and sex
Modern version is a sanitized and censored version of the original story

2. CHARLES PERRAULT “Mother Goose” was pen name for Charles Perrault
Collected French peasant folk tales during the late 18th century and published them in a book attributed to “Mother Goose”
Most peasant folk tales have been transmitted to us in this manner
The problem is that most of them were so cleaned up by Perrault and others that they only bear a slight resemblance to the stories that peasants told

3. HORRIFYING STORIES
Many original peasant folk tales were downright horrifying
In “Sleeping Beauty,” a married Prince Charming repeatedly rapes the princess while she is sleeping
In “Cinderella,” she becomes a servant to escape her father who is always trying to molest and rape her
In “Hansel and Gretel, the children trick the ogre into slitting the throats of his own children
In “Beauty and the Beast,” the Beast cannibalizes a series of brides in their wedding bed
Other examples include “The Three Dogs” and “My Mother Killed Me and My Father Ate Me”
Not passed on through “Mother Goose”

4. BRUTAL RURAL WORLD Stories reflect a world of raw and naked brutality
The world of an 18th century peasant
Peasant inhabited a world of malnutrition/starvation, of step-mothers and orphans, of unending and backbreaking toil, of naked exploitation at the hands of their social superiors, of brutal emotions, of squalor, and of death
This was the environment that produced some of the most beloved fairy tales of today

5. MOTHER GOOSE VERSION OF PUSS ‘N BOOTS
Miller dies and leaves his mill to his eldest son, his mule to his second son, and a cat to his third
But the cat is a genius at domestic intrigue and exploits the vanity, stupidity, and unsatisfied appetites of the brothers through a series of tricks
Ultimately leads to a rich marriage for his master and a huge estate for himself

6. PEASANT PUSS ‘N BOOTS
Father dies and leaves farm to eldest son and only a handful of coins to the youngest son
Since he already had a large family, he became destitute
Youngest son begs brother for grain
Brother tells him to strip off his clothes, stand in the rain, and then roll in the granary
He can keep all the grain that sticks to his body
But not enough grain sticks, so he takes to the road
Meets a good fairy (disguised as a cat) who helps him solve a series of riddles which leads him to a pot of gold
Buys a farm with the gold

7. TOM THUMB AND THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
Woodsman and wife had seven boys
A famine hit and the parents decided to get rid of their sons
Abandoned them in forest to cope with the problem of survival in a period of demographic disaster
Typical theme in numerous folk tales
Parents turning children out to live on the road as beggars or thieves
Or parents running away and leaving children on their own
Example: “Orange Apple”
Dramatized struggle for scarce resources which pitted poor against rich

8. WICKED STEP-MOTHERS To eat or not to eat was a common theme
Often in connection with the theme of the wicked stepmother
Special meaning for peasants because demography made step mothers important figures in village society
Example: Cinderella

9. FOOD AND MEAT
Importance of food is illustrated in “The Three Ridiculous Wishes”
“wishing” usually took the form of food in peasant folk tales
And meat took first place as the type of food most wished for
The “luxury of luxuries” in a society of de facto vegetarians
Example: “The Ghoul”

10. ROOTED IN REALITY
Even though peasants also imagined other dreams coming true (including castles, princes, and princesses), their wishes usually remained fixed on common items of the everyday world
Especially food of some sort or another
Wish fulfillment was therefore a strategy for survival, not a fantasy of escape
Peasant folk tales were rooted in the real world
Almost always took place in either the household/village or on the open road
Opposition between the village and the road runs through many peasant folk tales
Just as it ran through the lives of peasants everywhere in the 18th century

11. WORK
Peasant families could not survive in 18th century France unless everyone worked together as an economic unit
Folk tales did not condemn child labor; they expressed indignation when it did not occur
Example: “Rumplestilzchen”
Expressed basic fact of peasant life: everyone faced endless, limitless labor, from childhood until the day they died

12. LIFE ON THE ROAD Sons had most room to maneuver in folk tales
Often explored the dimension of life on the road
Boys often took to the road because they had no land, no work, and no food at home
Became farm hands, domestic servants, or, on occasion, apprentices
Hero of “Jean de l’Ours” served as a blacksmith apprentice for five years before going off on his adventures

13. DANGER ON THE ROAD
Young men confronted danger everywhere when they took to the road
Bandits and wolves were everywhere
Young men stood a good chance of having their money stolen and throats cut
The mysterious houses in the middle of dangerous forests in folktales like Tom Thumb and Hansel and Gretel was reality for many of the audience, not fantasy

14. BEGGING Fortune-seeking was simply another way of saying begging
Beggars swarmed through peasant folk tales
Folk tales like “The Bracelet,” “The Two Travelers,” and “Nourouas,” all illustrate the desperation of those tottering on the line between poverty in the village and destitution on the road

15. SUMMARY
Whenever one looks behind Mother Goose to the peasant versions of these stories, one finds elements of realism
Not photographic accounts of peasant life, but a picture that corresponds to everything that social historians have been able to piece together regarding what peasant life was like during this period
By showing how life was lived in the village and on the road, these tales helped orient the peasants
They mapped the ways of the world and demonstrated the folly of expecting anything more than cruelty from a cruel social order and a cruel world
They also told peasants how the world was put together and provided a strategy for coping with it

16. CAUTIONARY TALES Peasant folk tales tended to be cautionary
They did have a positive message and showed that generosity, honesty, and courage won rewards
But they did not express confidence in the effectiveness of loving enemies or turning the other cheek
Demonstrated that you cannot trust everyone you meet along the road
Also demonstrated that the world was arbitrary and amoral
No rhyme or reason to the universe
Disaster cannot be predicted and strikes by chance
It simply must be endured
Example: “Little Red Riding Hood”

17. CUNNING
Good behavior did not determine success in the village or on the road
Cunning is emphasized in peasant folk tales above all else
Hero gets the princess by using his wits
And sometimes this means performing unethical acts
Examples: “The Loyal Servant,” “The Man Who Didn’t Want to Die,” and “The Devil’s Chauffer”
Tales do not necessarily advocate immorality, but they do undercut the notion that virtue will be rewarded

18. TRICKSTERISM Roguery runs through most French folk tales
Often takes the form of “tricksterism”
The French trickster is usually a younger son, step-daughter, an abandoned child, a poor shepherd, an underpaid farm hand, an oppressed servant, or an abused apprentice
All of whom use their wits and cunning to overcome their social and economic disadvantages and get revenge on their oppressors
French folk tales show no sympathy for village idiots or stupidity in any form
Numbskulls represented the antithesis of tricksterism
Epitomize the deadly sin of simplicity

19. DAVID AND GOLIATH
Tricksterism pits the little against the big, the poor against the rich, the underprivileged against the powerful
Provided a strategy for peasants to cope with their enemies
French underdogs turn the tables on the high and mighty in an earthy manner and down-to-earth setting
Not in a fantasy context

20. LIMITS French folk tales dwell on theme of humiliation
Clever weakling makes a fool of the strong oppressor by raising a chorus of laughter at his expense
But this type of laughter had its limits
Once it subsides, things return to normal; nothing fundamental changes
Tricksterism permits the underdog to grasp some marginal advantage by playing on the vanity and stupidity of his superiors
But the trickster still works within the system, turning its weak points to his advantage and therefore ultimately confirming it

21. COPING STRATEGY
Tricksterism expressed an orientation to the world rather than a latent strain of revolutionary radicalism
It provided a way of coping with a harsh society instead of a formula for overthrowing it
Example: “The Devil and the Blacksmith”
Moral: cheating is a good strategy for living
Only strategy available to “little people” who must take things as they are and make the most of them

22. CONCLUSION
The French folk tale was not an innocent story nor was it a form of escapist fantasy
It was a means for peasants to understand the real world around them and gave them a strategy of coping with it as best they could
It did not challenge this world in any kind of revolutionary sense nor did it put forward any viable alternatives to the status quo
It simply taught peasants how to deal with this status quo and, by doing so, gives us insight into what this status quo was like for those who suffered most from it

23. THE GREAT CAT MASSACRE MAIN CHARACTERS
Nicholas Contat (apprentice printer)
Jacques Vincent (print shop master)
“La Grise” (favorite cat of master’s wife)

24. GETTING THE JOKE
Most people today do not see why the cat massacre was so funny to Contat and his fellow workers
Our inability to “get the joke” indicates the distance that separates our mental world from that of the people of preindustrial Europe
Their culture is alien and foreign to us
But, by attempting to “get the joke,” we will be able to penetrate the urban popular culture of preindustrial Europe and gain insight into the world of the people who lived there

25. TENSIONS
Most obvious explanation of the episode is that it was actually a veiled attack on the master and his wife
A reflection of deep tensions in the workplace
Workers obliquely striking back at the employers they detested

26. CHANGES
Printing industry did undergo fundamental changes in early 19th century
Small shops were forced out of business by large printing houses
Owners of large printing houses put the squeeze on journeymen by hiring underqualified printers who had not served apprenticeships
Printing trade was undergoing a major structural change
An ominous one which threatened to destroy traditional family-like relationship between masters and journeymen
Also threatened journeymen’s status as valuable, highly skilled workers

27. BREAK DOWN
Contat saw mythical “fraternal union of friendship” between masters and journeymen breaking down
Saw masters separate themselves from their journeymen and apprentices and act more and more like employers
Saw masters enter a different subculture which excluded journeymen and apprentices
But why did he select cats as a vehicle to protest this development?

28. CHARIVARIS
Cats played an important role in many popular festivals of the time
Charivaris
Burlesque, mocking processions, accompanied by a lot of noise, which were designed to humiliate individuals who had violated traditional community norms
Cats played an important part in these events
“Katzenmusik”

29. KILLING CATS Cats had a tremendous amount of ritual value
Common literary theme and current in popular culture was the torture and killing of cats
Nothing unusual about the ritual killing of cats
Contat and his fellow workers were actually drawing on a common element in their popular culture

30. EVIL POWERS Cats suggested witchcraft
Only one way to protect yourself from sorcery by cats
Maim them in some way and you could break their evil power
Cats also had occult powers of their own, independent of their association with witches
Cats also had a great deal of power over households
Only way to contain this power was to maim them in some way
Cats also had power over sex
Common sexual metaphor
Howling of cats at night was believed to be the shouting of names of cuckholded husbands
Reason why cats were provoked to howl during charivaris

31. SYMBOLISM
When people of preindustrial France heard a cat howl or saw one cross their path, they could draw on any number of images
Witchcraft, the occult, danger, sex, charivari, etc.
Cats had enormous symbolic weight in the folklore of preindustrial France
And it is obvious that it had penentrated Contat’s print shop

32. TRICKING THE MASTER
Sorcery is a recurrent theme throughout Contat’s account
The apprentices tricked their master and exploited his superstitions to such an extent that he ordered them to run riot
And they ran riot at his expense by killing “La Grise”

33. BEAUTY OF THE JOKE
Because of the strong symbolic relationship between cats and female sexuality, they were able to obscenely insult their boss and his wife
By assaulting her pet the way they did, they symbolically ravished her
This was beauty of the joke
They had provoked their boss to authorize the massacre of cats
Then used the massacre to punish him by insulting his wife and symbolically raping her
And he never even knew what was going on

34. SKILL
Joke worked well because the workers skillfully manipulated an entire repertoire of ceremonies and symbols that they had at their disposal
They used symbols to hide the full meaning of what they were doing while simultaneously revealing enough to make the master look like a fool for not recognizing what was going on
This required great skill and dexterity in manipulating symbols in an oral, pantomime context

35. SUMMARY
The skillful and imaginative manipulation of symbols by common printers reveals an entire world of expression and meaning manifested almost entirely by word of mouth and actions
A world of expression that was as colorful, subtle, and expressive as anything our literate, electronic culture of today has produced
Allows us to enter a symbolic world that died with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and which greatly affected the way preindustrial people viewed their world and attempted to express themselves within it