Today we will take a look at the genre of fairy tales. What makes a fairy tale
different from other types of stories? What do fairy tales have in common?
From all parts of the world
fairy tales have the same themes and motifs. Some were created by unknown
authors long ago before people could read or write. Others were collected and
adapted like the ones by the Brothers Grimm who
gave us Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, or France's Charles Perrault who gave us Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella or
Denmark's Hans Christian Andersen who wrote his own stories such as The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, and The Little Mermaid. But what
do all fairy tales have in common?
let us begin with the setting. Fairy tales take place
undefined time and place. They begin with phrases like once upon a time, or a long, long
time ago. They take place in the kingdom far away in a forest, or wood,
or sometimes a humble cottage. And how about the
characters? Well, fairy tale characters share commonalities: the archetypal damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by a
heroic knight in shining armor or valiant prince. There are good characters too. They usually have magic
powers and they help the main character. But then there are evil characters who set out to hurt the good characters but
don't worry, those lose out in the end.
Another feature of the fairy tale is the recurrent pattern. These patterns usually come in sets of
threes or sevens. There are also overarching themes: poverty versus wealth, cleverness versus foolishness, and good versus evil. There are also underlying elements such as sexism,
transformation, justice, humility, and wit. And of course, fairy tales teach us lessons in morals. Those lessons and morals unite us in our common
culture. So why do we love fairy tales? Because they remind us of US! Albert Einstein
said, "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you
want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales" ...and in fairy tales they
lived happily ever after...but not always!