THE ORIGINAL FAIRY TALES. FAIRY TALES Fairy Tale: A fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures,...

THE ORIGINAL FAIRY TALES

FAIRY TALES

Fairy Tale: A fanciful

tale of legendary deeds

and creatures, usually

intended for children.

What makes the fairy

tale different from

folklore, fables, and tall

tales is its use of magic

and fantasy.

THE PURPOSE:

While today parents love telling their favorite Fairy Tales to their own

children, the dark and often gruesome plot lines of the original stories

were intended for adult audiences, not youngsters.

Fairy Tales were originally created and told by women who were

revolting against societal norms.

At that time, women were meant to be seen and not heard. Many

women did not agree with this concept and rebelled by creating

shockingly gruesome stories where the endings were not always happy.

They would then tell these stories at parties and other gatherings.

THE PURPOSE CONT.

Throughout history, tales continued to be told and retold as

women spent much of their time together, spinning, weaving, and

sewing. Their tales allowed them to create heroines that were

strong and enabled them to pass on stories to their daughters and

granddaughters that taught powerful lessons of conquering

adversity and rewarding virtuousness.

These tales often included cautionary warnings of what would

happen if young ladies (teenagers) did not behave as they should.

FAMOUS FAIRY TALE AUTHORS

Charles Perrault (France) 1600’s

Grimm Brothers (Germany) 1800’s

Hans Christian Andersen (Denmark)

1800’s

QUESTION…Question: If women originally came up with these fairy tales, why

are all the authors men?

Answer: These famous authors did not come up with these fairy tales

themselves. These tales had been around for years and years, spread by word

of mouth. These men just took these stories, tweaked them a little, and put

them in a book. Women could not be authors during this time, so men “stole”

their stories and published them in books. They also toned them down and

removed much of the violence so they would be more suitable for children

(even though by today’s standards, they’re still pretty rough).

CHARLES PERRAULT

Charles Perrault (France) 1600’s

Collected fairy tales and published

Tales of Mother Goose in 1697

Among the eight stories in this

book are The Sleeping Beauty, Little

Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella.

GRIMM BROTHERS

Grimm Brothers (Germany) 1800’s

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm

Wilhelm Carl Grimm

-The brothers went to school determined to study law as their father had done.-However, while attending school, Jacob became interested in the legends and both discovered that they enjoyed folk poetry.

GRIMM BROTHERS

The Grimm Brothers traveled about

the countryside for 13 years listening

to folktales as told by those who had

heard them from their mothers and

fathers.

Their 200 stories commonly called

Grimm’s Fairy Tales have been

translated into 70 languages.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

Hans Christian Anderson (Denmark) 1800’s

Andersen's writings began to be published in Danish in 1829. His

first works were poems, plays, novels, and impressions of his

travels.

In 1835 Andersen published Fairy Tales Told for Children.

He published these short stories with little appreciation of their

worth and returned to the writing of novels and poems. However,

people who read the stories--adults as well as children--wanted

more.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

In 1833 the king gave him a

grant of money for travel, and he

spent 16 months wandering

through Germany, France,

Switzerland, and Italy collecting

stories.

Andersen published 168 fairy

tales in all.

COMMON ELEMENTS OF FAIRY TALES

Talking animals / objects

Cleverness / trickster / word games

Travel

Triumph of the poor

Human weakness explored (i.e., curiosity, gluttony, pride, laziness, etc.)

Human strengths glorified (i.e., kindness, generosity, patience, etc.)

Tall story (slight exaggeration – hyperbole)

Guardians (fairy godmothers, mentors, magical helpers, guides, etc.)

Monsters (dragons, ogres, evil creatures, etc.)

Struggle between good and evil, light and dark

Youngest vs. Oldest (sons, daughters, sibling rivalry)

Sleep (extended sleep, death-like trances)

Impossible tasks (ridiculously mind-numbing, fantastic effort needed to complete, etc.)

Recurring 3’s, 6’s, or 7’s

FAIRY TALE RESEARCH

You will get into groups of 4 and research the fairy

tale that has been assigned to your group.

You will use the website:

www.surlalunefairytales.com

You will then create a powerpoint presentation that

you will share and present to the rest of the class.

Here are the Fairytales you will be researching:

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Sleeping

Beauty by

Charles Perrault

(1889)

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

By Charles Perrault,

(1697).

THREE LITTLE PIGS

The Three Little Pigs by

John Russell Smith, 1849.

HANSEL AND GRETEL

By The Brother’s Grimm1889

THE FROG KING

By The Brother’s Grimm

(1884)