France has a great range of folklore which mostly originated from the medieval times.
The stories of these times were usually told by travelling minstrels who travelled between different kingdoms to sing their songs to the women with whom they were in love. There are also rare traces of written stories like the well known “Chanson de Roland”. Some medieval French folklore has become very famous around the world such as, “Les chevaliers de la table ronde” which is the story of King Arthur and Excalibur, alongside other chivalry tales. Some other well-known tales may include the story of the fairy Mélusine and the tale of the Gévaudan beast.
France is also the country of origin of very internationally-famous tales written by Charles Perrault such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or Little Red Riding Hood. Although these tales were originally written to provide some sort of morality to children in times where they couldn’t get a proper education, nowadays, they have lost some of their original meaning and are usually read just for fun. Some of the stories such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were made into Disney movies which contributed in making them well known.
To conclude, French folklore includes a great number of well known tales, alongside more locally known stories, all of which contributed to form France’s history.
-Ines Latrille-France (near Paris)