Ravel originally wrote Ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose) as a piano duet for the Godebski children, Mimi and Jean, ages 6 and 7. It is inspired by the tales of Charles Perrault (Sleeping Beauty and Little Tom Thumb, 1697), by Madame Leprince de Beaumont (Beauty and the Beast, 1757) and by Madame d'Aulnoy (The Green Serpent, 1697).