Charles Deulin (1827–1877) was a French writer, theatre critic, and folklorist who is most known for his contemporary adaptations of European folk tales. Among his many stories are " Cambrinus, King of Beer", " The Twelve Dancing Princesses", " The Enchanted Canary", and " The Nettle Spinner'. Deulin was born into a poor family in

Condé-sur-l'Escaut Condé-sur-l'Escaut (, literally ''Condé on the Escaut''; ) is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the border with Belgium. The population as of 1999 was 10,527. Residents of the area are known as Condéens or Con ...

. a former

department of France In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the Regions of France, administrative regions a ...

a commune on the Belgian border of northern France. His father was a tailor, but Deulin found work as secretary to a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

—who also happened to be a

patron of the arts Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

. After Deulin eloped with a local girl and moved to Paris, he made a living writing columns and theatre reviews for various periodicals; but his most successful works were

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

based on the folk tales of the countryside. He reinvigorated the tales by infusing them with the character of the time and place in which he lived. The vernacular language and familiar ambiance appealed to his readers in the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

. His first effort, "Le compère de la mort", was an adaptation of an oral story he had once heard. He went on to research and write three short story collections, which were well-received and widely read: '' Tales of a Beer Drinker'' (1868), ''Tales of King Cambrinus'' (1874), and ''Small Town Stories: Tales and Novellas'' (1875). After Deulin's death in 1877, his publisher distributed the author's final contribution to

folkloristics Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

: ''Mother Goose Tales before Perrault'' (1878). (

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , , ; 12 January 162816 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his ...

(1628–1703) is the author of '' Tales of Mother Goose'' (1697) and the founder of the

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

genre.)

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''Contes du roi Cambrinus''
at Gallica,

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deulin, Charles 19th-century French writers French male short story writers French short story writers French folklorists Collectors of fairy tales Fairy tale scholars Folklore writers 1827 births 1877 deaths 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers

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