Fairy+Tales

toc = = =Fairy Tales=

**Definition and Origin**
“Fairy tales” come from the French phrase “contes des fee”. In the 17th century, many of the French fairy tales were in fact about fairies. Germans came up with their own fairy tales and called them "Märchen", a story of wonder and enchantment. Most of the fairy tales that are told nowadays, like Cinderella, are far older in origin than the 17th century. Fairytales were not originally intended for children. Many were created by women who were furtively rebelling against the constraints placed on them by their restrictive society. These stories were of great imagination and invention, and were often quite cruel and gruesome. As they were written down, many of fairy tales were edited and changed to remove the darker and more gruesome details of the stories. One prime example of the 'darker side' of Fairy Tales would the Cinderella. In the Disney version of today the sister's feet were too large to fit in the glass shoe and Cinderella had the help of the mice to get her out of the locked room. In the 'darker version' the sister was so desperate to fit the shoe that she cut off the side of her foot and placed it in the slipper. However as they rode away on a white horse, the blood trickled down the horse's white hair and that is how they found out she is not the true bride.

Many of the best-known tales today are changed to favour the charming prince rather than the clever heroine. Fairy tales are a type of folk tale. Folk tales can be described as stories which have been passed down for many generations. One of the most important defining factors about folk tales is that rather than belonging to just one person, the tale belongs to an entire culture. Most of these folk tales were passed down orally and were remembered easily since they were told over and over again. The main characters of fairy tales tend to be one-dimensional stereotypes of regular people to who incredible things happen. (Huang, 1999)

Names of Popular Fairy Tales
(Rock Canyon University Free School of Writing for Children, 2002)
 * Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp || Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves ||
 * Beauty and the Beast || The Wizard of Oz ||
 * Cinderella || Dick Whittington and His Cat ||
 * Hansel and Gretal || Jack and the Beanstalk ||
 * Jack the Giant Killer || Puss in Boots ||
 * Rapunzel || Red Riding Hood ||
 * Rumpelstiltzkin || Sindbad the Sailor ||
 * Sleeping Beauty || Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ||
 * Snow White and Rose Red || The Brave Little Tailor ||
 * The Emperor's New Clothes || The Frog Prince ||
 * The Gingerbread Man || The Golden Goose ||
 * The Little Match-Girl || The Little Mermaid ||
 * The Magic Carpet || The Musicians of Bremen ||
 * The Nightingle || The Pied Piper of Hamelin--Peppers ||
 * The Princess and the Pea || The Shoemaker and the Elves ||
 * The Six Swans || The Snow Queen ||
 * The Sorcerer's Apprentice || The Steadfast Tin Soldier ||
 * The Three Bears || The Three Little Pigs ||
 * The Tinderbox || The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse ||
 * The Ugly Duckling || Three Billy Goats Gruff ||
 * Thumbelina || Tom Thumb ||
 * Twelve Dancing Princesses ||

Image Gallery
//Sleeping Beauty

// //Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs//

//The Three Billy Goats Gruff//

//Jack and the Beanstalk//

//The Emperor's New Clothes//