History: From the Oral Tradition to Charles Perrault's Tales of Mother Goose
The Oral Tradition
Long before recorded history, family units and tribes shared their group traditions and values through stories told around the campfire.
Long before recorded history, family units and tribes shared their group traditions and values through stories told around the campfire.
The European oral tradition reached its climax in the feudal era of the Middle Ages (from the fifth to fifteenth century). What are often called castle tales and cottage tales provided people with literature long before those tales were widely accessible in writing or print.
The ruling classes favored poetic epics about the reputed deeds of the lord of the manor or his ancestors. In the great halls of castles, minstrels or bards accompanied themselves on lyres or harps while singing tales about noble warriors, such as Beowulf and King Arthur, or ballads of chivalrous love in regal surroundings, such as those found in the French version of "Cinderella."
The ruling classes favored poetic epics about the reputed deeds of the lord of the manor or his ancestors. In the great halls of castles, minstrels or bards accompanied themselves on lyres or harps while singing tales about noble warriors, such as Beowulf and King Arthur, or ballads of chivalrous love in regal surroundings, such as those found in the French version of "Cinderella."
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Around cottage fires or at country fairs, humbler people had different heroes: Storytellers shared folktales about people much like the peasants themselves, people who daily confronted servitude, inscrutable natural phenomena, and unknown spiritual forces. In these tales, even the youngest or poorest person had the potential to use resourcefulness or kindness to go from rages to riches and to live "happily ever after." Often, such achievements required outwitting or slaying wolves, dragons, malevolent supernatural beings, or great lords.
A child was considered a small adult who should enter into adult life as quickly as possible and stories primarily for young people were considered unnecessary. Consequently, the stories about giants, heroes, and simpletons that relieved the strain of adult life also entertained children. These favorite tales, which had been told and retold for hundreds of years, were eventually chosen for some of the first printed books in Europe.
Books in Print
A significant event occurred in the 1450s, when the German Johannes Gutenberg discovered a practical method for using movable metal type, which made possible the mass production of books. After learning the printing process in Germany, William Caxton established England's first printing press in 1476.
When Caxton opened his printing business, most of the books used with children were not written for their interest. Instead, books for children adhered to the sentiment that young readers should read only what would improve their manners or instruct their minds. Caxton's Book of Curtesye, first printed in 1477, contained directions for drawing readers away from vice and turning them toward virtue.
The majority of books that Caxton published were not meant to be read by children, but three of his publications are now considered classics in children's literature: Reynart the Foxe, The Book of the Subtyle Historyes and Fables of Esope (The Fables of Aesop), and Le Morte d'Arthur.
Chapbooks
Caxton's books were (relatively) beautiful, but they were too expensive for the common people. Soon, however, peddlers (or chapmen) were selling crudely printed chapbooks for pennies at markets and fairs, along with ribbons, patent medicines, and other wares.
Some of the first chapbooks were based on ballads, such as "The Two Children in the Wood," and traditional tales such as "Jack the Giant Killer." The content of chapbooks fell into the following five categories: religious instruction, interpretations of the supernatural, romantic legends, ballad tales, and historical narratives.
Neither the religious nor the educational establishments were delighted about the reading of chapbooks by children. When the religious establishment began to scrutinize the education of children as well as their reading material, chapbooks had to retreat underground.
Puritan Influence
Puritans considered tales about giants, fairies, and witches to be impious and corrupting. They urged that children not be allowed to read such materials and instead be provided with literature to instruct them and reinforce their moral development.
Required Reading for Colonial Children in North America
Pilgrim's Progress and Spiritual Milk for Boston Babies in Either England were required reading for colonial children in North America. Another important book in colonial homes was The New England Primer, first printed in 1690 by Benjamin Harris. The New England Primer sold an estimated annual average of 25,000 copies over a period of 150 years, or total sales of 3 million copies.
The Primer served as a combination alphabet and catechism designed to teach Puritan ideals. Children learned to read from primers. The predominant method of instruction involved children memorizing the names of letters and the sound of syllables. Fluidity of reading, not comprehension, was the goal (Alex Menard).
The Primer served as a combination alphabet and catechism designed to teach Puritan ideals. Children learned to read from primers. The predominant method of instruction involved children memorizing the names of letters and the sound of syllables. Fluidity of reading, not comprehension, was the goal (Alex Menard).
In a book, meaning can be shaped, extended, or modified by visual elements. This is particularly evident in children’s illustrated books, where the balance of text and illustrative elements can be more equal—or the visual can even take precedence over the text that it “accompanies.” Take early alphabet books, for instance. The New England Primer, the first primer (or ABC teacher and elementary reader) first issued in the United States in the 1670s, famously begins its alphabet rhymes with the verse:
"In Adam's Fall / we sinned all." Accompanying this verse is a woodcut showing Adam and Eve standing under the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, apparently just before eating the apple. Apart from the mnemonic aspect of the rhyme itself–making it easy to remember (and recite)—the illustration complements the cautionary nature of the text in a pretty vivid way that likely stayed in young reader’s minds (Jeff Barton). |
Language is being presented as more or less inseparable from religion and moral teaching: A is for Adam, the original co-sinner, for the eating of the Apple. Other illustrative examples in the Primer include Job, Queen Esther, and the whale that swallowed Jonah—along with a cat, a dog, and an “idle fool” with a dunce cap, everyday object-examples presumably readily accessible to children at the time. This is consistent with Locke’s recommended use of familiar, everyday objects—and pictures of them—as learning aids for educating children and for fixing concepts more vividly in their minds (Jeff Barton)
John Locke
In a social environment that viewed children as small adults and expected them to behave accordingly, few considered that children might have interests and educational needs of their own.
The English philosopher John Locke, however, envisioned the child's mind at birth as a tabula rasa, a blank page on which ideas were to be imprinted.
Locke advocated milder ways of teaching and bringing up children. He believed that children who could read should be provided with easy, pleasant books suited to their capabilities--books that encouraged them to read and rewarded them for their reading efforts but that did not fill their heads with useless "trumpery" or encourage vice (Norton).
Locke recommended the following books for children: Aesop's Fables and Reynard the Fox for the delight they offered children and the useful reflections they offered the adults in children's lives (Norton).
Charles Perrault and Contes de ma Mere l'Oye (Tales of Mother Goose)
In seventeenth century France: Charles Perrault, a gifted member of the Académie Française, published Contes de ma Mere l'Oye (Tales of Mother Goose).
The stories in Contes de ma Mere l'Oye were not those normally referred to as Mother Goose rhymes today: Instead, these stories were well-known fairy tales such as "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Puss in Boots," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Blue Beard."
Perrault did not create these tales; he retold stories from the French oral tradition that had entranced children and provided entertainment in the elegant salons of the Parisian aristocracy for generations.
Perrault was one of the first writers to recognize that fairy tales have a special place in the world of children. At last, entertainment was written for children rather than adopted by them because nothing else was available (Norton). |