Fairy tales

Hey Bloggers,

I thought I would do this post about Fairy tales because that is usually one of the first stories a child will listen to and remember by heart these days. When I was  young girl I would love to hear the princess stories as much as any little girl. To hear the stories about the prince saving the princess from the evil person and then living happily ever after.

What are fairly tales?

Fairly tales are a type of short story that typically features fantasy characters like Fairies, Goblins, Elves, Giants, Mermaids, and usually magic. Although the genre is called Fairy tales, only a small number of the tales actually mention Fairies.

In cultures where Demons and Witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller ans hearers as being grounded in historical truth. Unlike legends, they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and real places, people and events; they take place ‘once upon a time’ rather than in actual times.

Fairly tales came from different oral stories passes down in European cultures. They were first marked out by the writers of the Renaissance, such as Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile but it was stabilized  through the work of later collectors such as Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm (who I will talk about later in this blog). During this time the name was coined by Madam d’Aulnoy who invented the term conte de fée, or fairy tale, in the late 17th century. The oral tradition of  fairy tales come long before the written page. Tales were told or enacted dramatically, rather than written down, and handed down from generation to generation. 


Originally fairy tales were ment for adults just the same as they were for children. In the 12th and 20th centuries the fairy tales became associated with children’s literature. Servants, or other woman of lower class, would tell these stories to their children. In the modern era, fairy tales were changes to fit an audience of children.

The Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children’s and Household Tales and rewrote their tales after complaints that they were not suitable for children. The Brothers Grimm concentrated mostly on sexual references; Rapunzel, in the first edition, revealed the prince’s visits by asking why her clothing had grown tight, thus letting the witch deduce that she was pregnant, but in subsequent editions carelessly revealed that it was easier to pull up the prince than the witch.

The German brothers named Jacob and Whilhelm Grimm were linguist, cultural researchers and authors who both collected folklore. There first collection was revised and published many times between 1812 and 1857 and grew from 86 stories to more than 200. Today the collection of the Grimm Brothers can be found in more than 100 translations and have been turned to many films such as:


  • Snow White
  • The Little Mermaid
  • Cinderella
  • Sleeping Beauty and more.

Fairy tales have always been apart of children’s lives and they should be. children should know that in every story there will be good times and bad times and they should always do the right thing. As time changes so will fairy tales but they will always be loved and cherished in children’s hearts as they grow.



One response to “Fairy tales

  1. Siempre me han gustado los cuentos de hadas. Siempre que leo uno de estos mi mente viaja a diferentes lugares hasta donde llega mi imaginacion. Pero lo malo es que cuando te imaginas este mundo magico tu mende se confunde y piensa que son reales. Yo creo que los cuentos de hadas no deben ser leidos a los ninos hasta que ellos tengan ese sentido de realismo.

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