n with much charm,' in prose, and
without the author's name, were appearing in Moetjens' _Recueil_. In
1697 these prose _contes_ were collected, published, and declared to be
by P. Darmancour, Perrault's little boy, to whom the _Privilege du Roy_
is granted[17].

Critics have often declared that Perrault merely used the boy's name as
a cover for his own, because it did not become an Academician to publish
fairy tales, above all in prose. It may be noted that Perrault did not
employ his usual publisher, Coignard, but went to Barbin. There might
also have been a hope that little Perrault Darmancour, while shielding
his father, 'fit parfaitement bien sa Cour en meme tems,' like _Le Petit
Poucet_. Considering how Perrault's other works are forgotten, and how
his Tales survive, and regarding his boy as partly their author, we may
even apply to him the Moral of _Le Petit Poucet_.

'Quelquefois, cependant, c'est ce petit Marmot
Qui fera le bonheur de toute la famille!'

The dedication, signed P. Darmancour, is addressed to Mademoiselle, and
contains very agreeable flattery of the sister of the future Regent[18].
These motives would, indeed, account for Perrault's use of his boy's
name. But it had occurred to me, before discovering the similar opinion
of M. Paul Lacroix, that P. Darmancour really was the author of the
_Contes_, or at least a _collaborateur_[19]. The naivete, and popular
traditional manner of their telling, recognised by all critics, and the
cause of their popularity, was probably given by the little lad who, as
Mlle. L'Heritier said, a year before the tales were published, 'a mis
depuis peu les Contes sur le papier avec tant d'agrement.' The child,
according to this theory, wrote out, by way of exercise, the stories as
he heard them, not from _brodeuses_ in Society, but from his Nurse, or
from old women on his father's estates. The evidence of Madame de
Sevigne and of Mlle. L'Heritier, as well as the testimony of the
_contes_ which ladies of rank instantly took to printing, shews how the
stories were told in Society. Allegorical and other names were given to
the characters, usually nameless in _Maerchen_. Historical circumstances
were introduced, and references to actual events in the past. _Esprit_
raged assiduously through the narratives. Moreover the traditional tales
were so confounded that Madame d'Aulnoy, in _Finette Cendron_, actually
mixes _Cinderella_ with _Hop o' My Thumb_[20].

Contrast with