The Original Fairy Tales
1
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.
2
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.
3
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.
4
Famous Fairy Tale Authors
Charles Perrault (France) 1600’s
Grimm Brothers (Germany) 1800’s
Hans Christian Andersen (Denmark)
1800’s
5
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).
6
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.
7
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.
8
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.
9
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.
10
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.
11
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
12
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:
13
Sleeping Beauty
 Sleeping Beauty
by Charles Perrault
(1889)
14
Little Red Riding Hood
 By Charles Perrault,
(1697).
15
Three Little Pigs
 The Three Little Pigs by
 John Russell Smith, 1849.
16
Hansel and Gretel
By The Brother’s Grimm
1889
17
The Frog King
 By The Brother’s Grimm
 (1884)
18