Donkey Skin

DONKEY SKIN

Author:

First edition:

Peau d'Ane, 1694

Main illustrators:

Boiry Devéria Doré Gigoux Gourlier Kelek Lorioux

In short:

A Princess, helped by her Fairy Godmother, tries to postpone her marrying her widowed father by asking him impossible gifts, but it does not work. So the Princess, hiden under a donkey skin, runs away to live in a farm. But a young and charming prince discovers her and they get married.

Selection of edition:

Contes, illustrated by Achille Devéria, Mame, 1835.
Contes des fées de Charles Perrault, illustrated by Jean-François Gigoux, 150 etchings, Lecou, 1851.
Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Gustave Doré, 384 etchings, Hetzel, 1862.
Peau d'Ane, illustrated by Lucien Pissarro, 1902.
Les Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Félix Lorioux, Hachette, 1927.
Contes de Perrault, illustarted by Michel Gourlier, 21 colour illustrations, éd. G.P., collection "Rouge et or souveraine", 1977, 28 p.
Peau d'Ane et autres contes de Perrault, illustrated by Marie-Thérèse Hardy, 1977.
Contes de Charles Perrault, illustrated by Kelek, Hatier, collection "Contes de...", 1986.
Peau d'Ane, illustrated by Véronique Boiry, Hachette, 1987.

More about Donkey Skin:

Its origins:

The tale was originally oriental, but it became well-known in France since 1547. In Northen Afgrica and India there are anonymuos transcriptions of the tale and Lamy edited the tale in 1787.

Perrault's version dates back, according to Marc Soriano, to 1693. Perrault wrote the text in verse and signed it with his own name. In Parallels between the Ancients and the Moderns he tried to demonstrate that modern tales are as good as ancien ones. He published Les souhaites ridicules (Ridiculous wishes) and Donkey Skin with a preface in 1694 under the title of Contes en vers (Tales in Verse). The end calls back Cinderella, the smallest foot on earth.

Adaptations:

Donkey Skin, film directed by Jacques Demy in 1970