Fairy Tales

Common motifs ~
· Talking animals / objects
· Cleverness / trickster / word games
· Traveler’s tales
· Origins ~ where do we come from?
· Triumph of the poor
· Human weakness explored (i.e., curiosity, gluttony, pride, laziness, etc.)
· Human strengths glorified (i.e., kindness, generosity, patience, etc.)
· Trickster (sometimes ahero, sometimes on the side of evil but humans benefit)
· Tall story (slight exaggeration – hyperbole)
· Magic words or phrases; repetition of phrases/words (abracadabra!)
· Guardians (fairy godmothers, mentors, magical helpers, guides, etc.)
· Monsters (dragons, ogres, evil creatures, etc.)
· Struggle between good and evil, light and dark
· Youngestvs. Oldest (sons, daughters, sibling rivalry)
· Sleep (extended sleep, death-like trances)
· Impossible tasks (ridiculously mind-numbing, fantastic effort needed to complete, etc.)
· Quests
· Gluttony / Starvation (there’s a fine line between eating for survival and succumbing to temptation)
· Keys, passes (opening new doors)
· Donors, Benefactors,Helpers

What is a fairy tale? Fairy tales and fables are terms that are often used interchangeably, and in fact, a fairy tale is actually considered a particular type of folk tale. Since both folk tales and fairy tales are handed down from one generation to the next, it's sometimes hard to see the difference between the two.

The distinctive qualities of a fairy tale, that often set it apartfrom other stories like legends and myths, are its descriptiveness and its complicated and sometimes lengthy plot. While folk tales are often very simplistic in their storylines, characters, and description, fairy tales are often much more in depth, with more complex characters and a variety of setting and plot changes.

Main writers:

Charles Perrault: He was born in Paris on January 12, 1628,and died on May 16, 1703. He writes Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty , Puss in Boots and Cinderella.

Grimm Brothers: Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm is born January 4, 1785, in Hanau, Germany. Wilhelm Carl Grimm is born February 24, 1786, in Hanau, Germany. They write Snow White, The Brave Little Tailor, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Hänsel and Grethel

Carlo Lorenzini: (November 24, 1826 –October 26, 1890), better known as Carlo Collodi, was a Florentine children’s writer known for the world-renowned fairy tale The Adventures of Pinocchio.

Alexander Afanasyev: (Rusia: July 11, 1826 — October 23, 1871 ) He was a Rusian folklorist who recorded and published over 600 Russian folktales and fairytales
Some of his tales are: The Animals in the Pit, The Cat, The Rooster, and the Fox,The Wolf and the Goat, The Fox and the Crane, The Swan-Geese, The Three Kingdoms, Prince Ivan and Princess Martha, Baba-Yaga and Puny.

Hans Christian Andersen: (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875) was a Danish author and poet, most famous for his fairy tales.
Among his best-known stories are: The Steadfast, Tin Soldier, The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Little Match Girl, TheUgly Duckling, The Red Shoes

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson: (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known as Lewis Carroll.

His most famous writings are: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass as well as the poems “The Hunting of the Snark” and “Jabberwocky”, all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense.

Begins with Once Upon a Time, Once longago, Long, long ago etc.
Story setting is usually in a castle, forest, or town
Story has good / nice characters
Story has mean / bad characters
Many of the characters are animals or members of royalty
Story has magic
Story has the numbers 3 or 7 in it
Story has a problem
Problem in the story is solved
Good wins / outsmarts bad
Ending is "happily ever after"
In order for a story to be...