--- title: Google Doodle Honors 'Father of Fairytales' Charles Perrault description: The 17th century French academic behind famous fables like 'Cinderella' and 'Puss in Boots' was a true pioneer of storytelling. canonical: https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-12T02:47:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:45.326Z og:title: Google Doodle Honors 'Father of Fairytales' Charles Perrault og:description: The Frenchman behind famous fables like 'Cinderella' was a storytelling pioneer og:url: https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f4efe3c9673329/698878a93c163978bf45b85a/screen-shot-2016-01-12-at-10-32-44-am.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 10.32.44 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Honors 'Father of Fairytales' Charles Perrault twitter:description: The Frenchman behind famous fables like 'Cinderella' was a storytelling pioneer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f4efe3c9673329/698878a93c163978bf45b85a/screen-shot-2016-01-12-at-10-32-44-am.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Google Doodle Honors Charles Perrault, the Father of the Fairytale ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 12, 2016 2:47 AM UTC  Google by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 12, 2016 2:47 AM UTC If you’ve ever read a story that begins with “Once upon a time…” then there’s a good chance you’ve come across the work of the man whose 388th birthday Tuesday’s [Google Doodle](http://www.google.com/doodles/charles-perraults-388th-birthday) is celebrating. Charles Perrault, an academic from Paris who spent most of his life in the court of King Louis XV in the 17th century, may not be a household name, but _Cinderella_ and _Sleeping Beauty_ — two of his best-known fairytales — definitely are. The Doodle created by artist Sophie Diao features scenes from both those stories, as well as two more of his famous fables, _Mother Goose_ and _Puss in Boots_. Perrault, who died in 1703, only started writing stories in his sixties after he had retired. He borrowed several elements from stories that were already widely narrated, but provided what were then modern twists to the narrative. Moreover, the act of presenting them in written form was itself an unprecedented move at the time, and made him a true pioneer of storytelling. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/"},"headline":"New Google Doodle Honors Charles Perrault, the Father of the Fairytale","datePublished":"2016-01-12T02:47:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:45.326Z","description":"The man behind famous fables like Cinderella was a true pioneer of storytelling","url":"https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","Cinderella"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f4efe3c9673329/698878a93c163978bf45b85a/screen-shot-2016-01-12-at-10-32-44-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5f4efe3c9673329/698878a93c163978bf45b85a/screen-shot-2016-01-12-at-10-32-44-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 10.32.44 AM","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/","name":"New Google Doodle Honors Charles Perrault, the Father of the Fairytale"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4176621/google-doodle-charles-perrault-fairytale-cinderella-sleeping-beauty/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```