The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales from the Old French

by Arthur Quiller-Couch, Roe Kendall (Reading)

These four French fairy tales, perennial favorites for centuries, have been translated and retold by Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch. They include Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle de Villeneuve and The Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, and Cinderella by Charles Perrault.

Genres: Fantasy, Classics, Fairy Tales, Audiobook, Romance, Childrens, Short Stories

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch was a Cornish writer, who published under the pen name of Q. He is primarily remembered for the monumental "Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900" (later extended to 1918), and for his literary criticism. He guided the taste of many who never met him, including American writer Helene Hanff, author of 84 Charing Cross Road, its sequel, Q's Legacy, and the putatively fictional Horace Rumpole via John Mortimer, his literary amanuensis.

Reviews

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I consider myself very lucky to own an original 1910 copy of this book. It is exquisitely beautiful. As a child, I didn't read it but would stare for hours at the beautiful illustrations by Edmund DuLac. It is very well written, of course, something which, as an adult, I can now appreciate fully. Given the words and phrases used, it does not lend itself very well to bedtime reading for children. But instead, a whimsical journey of lands far, far away for adult Prince and Princesses wishing to lose themselves in traditional fairy tales.

[Adia · Rating 3 out of 5]

includes The Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast.
wasn't as good as i'd hoped it would be; there were a lot of details added to the tales that i felt were unnecessary and cheapened the stories. Sleeping Beauty included a Haemophobic servant boy, and the prince takes a bath upon arriving to the enchanted castle instead of kissing Aurora; Bluebeard's facial hair appears to lose its eponymous color; and Cinderella's father joins in on the ridicule, shunning his daughter "Cinderslut"(which is what she was called in this telling). either the translator added some things or i grew up with adulterated fairytales. my favorite of this collection was Beauty and the Beast.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to read the actual stories behind some of my favorite princess movies, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. Bluebeard was also an interesting read read, but it won't be a Disney movie any time soon

[Jodotha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, and then there's the French fairy tales! My favorite! (I know, I know - me and every other person in the western world...) I particularly loved the presentation of these tales here, though. I'm tempted to look up the original versions and see if they're very similar. This collection didn't spare the details that often get left out in retellings. Good narration as well. But, ah, fairy tales with romance! My favorite, indeed.

[Marquise · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Nice edition, without anything new to add to the tales for the most part.

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I wanted to read some classic fairy tales from the source, since I have vague future plans of reading a few retellings based on some of these. I realised soon after borrowing that this isn't the source; the translator pretty much rewrote the stories after translating them, and put his own spin on most of them. Particularly Beauty and the Beast by de Villeneuve. And he also adjusted the Perrault stories, I believe. Ah well. It was still an enjoyable read. Not as much whimsy as I would have expected to get, and quite a lot more moralising than I did expect, but still good. Listened to the audiobook as read by Roe Kendall, who has one of those lovely, classic voices. I'm not quite confident enough in my French to read the old French straight from the source, so I guess until I am, this'll have to do.

[Erin Fritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was wonderful to read a more classic version of these tales to my daughter than the Disney versions she knows so well. I'm sure she only caught a quarter of what I read (she is 4) but sat quietly for over 30 minutes at a time just enhanced with the beautiful language. I probably should have previewed Blue Beard first- was a little too dark and graphic for her, but we easily glossed over those parts. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Michele at A Belle's Tales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning -- inside and out. Exquisitely illustrated, this book contains four stories: "The Sleeping Beauty," "Blue Beard," "Cinderella," and "Beauty and the Beast." This is not for the kiddies, but is a beautiful addition to the shelves of collectors and those fairy tale lovers who remain young at heart.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

content

1. The Sleeping Beauty
2. Blue Beard
3. Cinderella
4. Beauty and the Beast

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiller-Couch was Helene Hanff's favorite author. I could think of no better recommendation.

[Nick H · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Note: I’m marking each set of ‘dates read’ to correspond to the reading of an individual story, not a full re-reading of this whole collection.]

NOTES ON THIS COLLECTION
I found it fascinating to read about how translator Quiller-Couch went about interpreting these works. He essentially first created an exact translation, then rewrote that translation at his own discretion. It’s a little more on the Robert Graves side of ‘translating for feeling, not for content.’ I tend to agree with this concept, and I imagine anyone who’s tried to express the same thought in two different languages might be inclined to agree as well. Narrator Kendall does a very good job overall, giving it the exact kind of feel one might hope for with this type of collection. [AUDIBLE]

通訳車の考え方が面白い、僕もそう思う。通訳は完璧な言葉から言葉までの仕事じゃないね。自分の言葉が必要

SLEEPING BEAUTY
[Quiller-Couch Translation / Kendall Narration]
[⭐️⭐️ __ __ __ ] [10/06/23 - 10/07/23]
Simple, and without much in the way of surprises. I didn’t find this one very interesting, but at least it’s short. I actually thought the little joking poems at the end about the moral of the story were the most entertaining part- I wish there were more pieces like that in the main text. Narration by Kendall is exactly what it needs to be, and works perfectly. [LIBRARY AUDIOBOOK]

簡単、あまり面白くない。少なくとも短い。実は1番面白いは後書き！

BLUEBEARD
[Quiller-Couch Translation / Kendall Narration]
[⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ __ ] [10/07/23 - 10/07/23]
Pretty exciting, and with some nice tension created during the ending. This one reads as much more modern than expected for a fairy tale. Although to that point, there’s barely any ‘fairy tale’ aspects in it (not that that matters). Narration by Kendall is great again, though I don’t love her overextending outside her vocal range to affect a male voice. Not sure why so many narrators of both genders do this- it’s always better when they just speak more normally, rather than pitching way up or down from their natural style. [LIBRARY AUDIOBOOK]

かなりエクサイティング、いろんなテンション！

CINDERELLA
[Quiller-Couch Translation / Kendall Narration]
[⭐️⭐️⭐️ __ __ ] [10/07/23 - 10/07/23]
Starts off with some promising concepts, but the ending comes too quickly to really create any interesting dramatic turns. Narrator Kendall does well. [LIBRARY AUDIOBOOK]

最初に面白いけどちょっと普通になる

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
[Quiller-Couch Translation / Kendall Narration]
[⭐️⭐️⭐️ __ __ ] [10/07/23 - 10/08/23]
A lot of the logic leading into the main story is pretty shaky, but once it gets going it’s a nice heartwarming story. Narrator Kendall does a good job. [LIBRARY AUDIOBOOK]

いろんなちょっと変な論理ある、けどメイン話が可愛い

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid telling of the classic fairy tales - "Sleeping Beauty," "Blue Beard," "Cinderella," and "Beauty and the Beast". Also, I liked how relatively modern the text felt, despite being written in 1910, without all the endless moralizing and attempts to be cutesy typical of the Victorian/Edwardian period.

[Jessica Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - Was worth a read, but I didn't like the tale of Blue Beard. Given that he's a villan, I guess that makes him unlikable but the story was a little darker and creepier than I expected. But now I know the tale of Blue Beard I guess...

I did enjoy the other stories though! Sleeping Beauty was my favorite in these sets of stories.

[JJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

1910 "translations" which read more like interpretations. A lot missing from the originals, and much filtered through the era it was "translated" in. And much of the interpretation is just weird and seems not to understand the stories, or in fact much of the real world parts of them.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've learned a few things from reading fairy tales- they are horribly sexist and refer to women in the ugliest of terms.
I'll stick the Disney versions which are way kinder.

I stopped reading at Beauty and the Beast- I'd had enough.

[Wintermote · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goodness, old fairy tales are not for the faint of heart. This was a beautifully illustrated edition with a perfectly fitting cover. Though not my favorite, the 5-year-old is already begging me to read it to her again.

[Crystal Swafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m always enamored by the distinctions of the same story in different cultures that can have vastly different meanings. I enjoyed all of these nearly familiar tales. Bluebeard was a completely new tale to me so it brought quite the intrigue.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and mostly-consensus/mainstream retelling of some classic fairy tales (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast). Makes me hate Disney more and more ("you cannot hate disney enough. you think you do, but you do not") for what they've done to European cultural legacy.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audio version. The reader was good, but I felt the stories were average.

[Jacqui Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite version of these stories, there's much of the original tales that's missing and very watered down.

[Ayre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically the Disney version of these fairy tales. Every story has a moral and ends happily ever after.

Nothing special and/or new about this but it was cute enough.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The french were out of pocket for calling Cinderella ‘cinderslut’. Like I get it but come on dude

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

They were fine. I was hoping for the gruesome non kidly versions. This is Disney rated.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic retelling of fairy tales. A little long winded with pretty language. Blue Beard is an interesting and violent story

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good overall. A different version than I'd heard before and a new story.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice translation

[Lauren Mayet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was by far one of the better children’s books I have read in my journey through fairytales. I have only seen the Disney cartoon of this. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by this. It was beautiful watching the words come alive in my mind as I tried to picture the characters as real instead of a cartoon.

[MollyK · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51275/...