A fairy tale is a kind of folktale or fable. In these stories we meet witches and queens, giants and elves, princes, dragons, talking animals, ogres, princesses, and sometimes even fairies. Marvelous and magical things happen to characters in fairy tales. A boy may become a bird. A princess may sleep for a hundred years. A seal may become a girl. Objects too can be enchanted — mirrors talk, pumpkins become carriages, and a lamp may be home to a genie.
The oldest fairy tales were told and retold for generations before they were written down. French fairy tales were the first to be collected and written down, but now we can read fairy tales from almost any culture. When these stories were studied together, something amazing was discovered. From countries as distant and different as Egypt and Iceland similar fairy tales are told. Both Egypt and Iceland have "Cinderella" stories, as do China, England, Korea, Siberia, France, and Vietnam; and the list doesn't stop there. There may be a thousand versions of the Cinderella story, each with a unique telling which carries cultural information about the time and place the story was told. One thing is for sure; people everywhere like stories in which truth prevails over deception, generosity is ultimately rewarded, hard work overcomes obstacles, and love, mercy and kindness are the greatest powers of all.
Today, some authors still like to retell and invent new fairy tales. The Cinderella story was recently re-imagined by Diane Goode in her book Cinderella: The Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper. Jon Scieszka's fractured fairy tales in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales are another example of a retelling but with humor. So jump in and find out what makes these fairy tales so enduring, or try your hand at creating your own!
Elements of Fairy Tales:
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"once upon a time," "long, long ago," "happily ever after"
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setting: castle; forest; or town
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good character - hero or heroine
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bad character - villain
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good wins over evil; usually a happy ending
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talking animals
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royalty
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magic
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threes or sevens
Let's use the flipchart below to take a closer look at fairy tales!
