Subsequently, when the Belles-Lettres Academy was founded in 1663, Charles Perrault was appointed its secretary and served under Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Minister of Finance Louis XIV). The 'purchase' of official state roles was a common practice in seventeenth-century France. In 1654, he moved in with his brother Pierre, who took over (read: bought) the position of chief tax collector of the city of Paris. Perrault also participated in the creation of the 'Academy of Sciences', as well as in the renovation of the Academy of Painting. He attended good schools in the city and studied law before starting his career in the civil service (following in the footsteps of his father and older brother Jean). He was born on January 12, 1628, into a wealthy Parisian bourgeois family, the seventh child of Pierre Perrault and Poletta Le Clerc. Perrault was a very influential figure on the French literary scene of the seventeenth century.

Many of Charles Perrault's stories, transcribed by the Brothers Grimm, will continue to be printed and many have been adapted for opera and ballet (such as Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty), theater, and movies (Walt Disney). The most famous Perrault stories include Le Petit Chaperon (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botte (Puss in Boots), La Belle au Bois dormant (The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood), and La Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard). Charles Perrault was a French writer and a member of the Academie Francaise, which laid the foundations of a new literary genre fairy tales.

The sleeping beauty charles perrault