15

When he dedicated the Histoires ou contes du temps passé to “Mademoiselle,” Charles Perrault asked the reader to read his fairy-tales the same way he would try to crack a riddle. One clue could be given by Miss L’Héritier, who disclosed in 1696 that the fairy-tale could also be a play on proverbs. This study focuses on “Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre” and discloses several proverbial phrases in many parts of the tale. The extensive use of proverbs hidden in the text creates a shadow story that does not reinforce a first reading of the tale, but, on the contrary, damages a naïve understanding of it: the virtuous and meek heroine whom all children admire turns out to be a smart and secretive actress who succeeds in her plans with the amused complicity of adult readers.