LITTLE THUMB



Author:


Charles Perrault

First edition:


Le Petit Poucet, in Contes de ma mère l'Oye ou Histoires ou contes du temps passé avec des moralités (Mother Goose Tales), Barbin, 1697

Main illustrators:


Backès Boudignon Doré Gauthier Gigoux Hoffmann Kelek Lapointe Lorioux Viney



In short:


Little Thumb, not taller than a thumb, is the youngest of seven brothers. Their parents, under pressure for their pauper finaltail situation, want to abandon them all in the forest, but Little Thumb leaves white pebbles and so all brothers can find their way back home. Unwillingly again, their parents bring them back to the forest, successfully this time because, instead of stones, Little Thumb has left bread crusts which brids have eaten. So he and his seven brothers are left all alone in the forest. An ogre takes them prisonners to his castle, but once again, Little Thumb manages to save them all by taking the ogre's giant boots and get back home.



Selection of edition:


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.
Les Contes de Perrault, illustrated by Félix Lorioux, Hachette, 1927.
Contes de Grimm, illustrated by Zig Brunnet, Delagrave-Biblio Juventa, 1949.
Le Petit Poucet, illustrated by Fernando Saez, éd. G.P., 1970.
Le Petit Poucet, illustrated by François Jeannequin, éd. G.P., 1977.
Le Petit Poucet, ilustrated by Françoise Boudignon, Hatier, collection "Babi Conte", 1978.
Le Petit Poucet, illustrated by Lidia Postma, 1983.
Le Petit Poucet, de Perrault, illustrated by Michel Charrier, Hachette, collection "Mes plus beaux contes", 1986.
Le Petit Poucet, illustrated by M. Fauron, Mango, collection "Au temps jadis", 1994.
Le Petit Poucet, illustrated by Marie-Laure Viney, Nathan, 1994.



More about Little Thumb:


Together with Little Red Riding Hood, Little Thumb is Perrault's most reedited tale because it was one of the most successful among children. This success is due to the narrator's force and to the topic of a little character defeating a huge figure, intelligence defeating brute force.
The great and vast acceptance of Little Thumb in the 19th century made illustrators work a lot on it. After 1880 several variants appear: Chinese Little Thumb, Counting out Little Thumb, Comedy of Little Thumb...