Exploring the characteristics of fairy tales Once upon a time Exploring the characteristics of fairy tales

A story of stories “Long ago in a different age, in a kingdom far away, nameless storytellers sat down by the fire and wove their tales for hungry imaginations.   “The people listening looked different depending on the time and their location, and the stories varied, too — while West Africans listened to how the Lion and the Mouse learned to hunt together, young Celts became absorbed in the tale of the shepherd who outsmarted the Sea Maiden. Though the characters and setting of such tales vary by region, the content is generally similar: the stories exist to shed light on the inexplicable, (such as in the Native American tale of how corn came to the earth), or to impart a moral lesson as in the fable of the Tortoise, who cleverly beats the Hare in a footrace through humble diligence and persistence.” Source

What are fairy tales? A kind of subgenre and more recent incarnation of folktales, fairy tales have become form of narrative text that is a significant literary genre in the modern world Not merely stories for children, nor necessarily containing fairies, fairy tales are traditional stories that are found in all cultures around the world They were passed down by word of mouth for many generations and so their original sources are uncertain, but those we know today were ultimately written down by some familiar authors, such as Hans Christian Anderson and the brothers Grimm The time and place in which the story of a fairy tale occurs are only loosely or not defined Tales in this genre incorporate fantastic elements in some form, including personified animals, witches, figures of royalty, magic and heroes There are readily identifiable elements of good and evil, usually in the form of characters, or right and wrong actions

A beginning such as ‘once upon a time’, ‘in a far away land’, ‘in a kingdom far, far away’ or ‘a long, long time ago’ An ending of ‘they all lived happily ever after’ or one in which the forces of good triumph over those of evil The typical frame

Heard it all before? There are a number of fairy tales with which we are all very familiar, but with a broad background of origin that spans cultures around the world, there are likely to be many that are strange and not known to us at all ACTIVITY – you are to research fairy tales and find one that you have not heard before. Write a brief summary of the story Make a list of the typical features of fairy tales that the story you find contains

Differences across cultures With their roots in oral storytelling, the fairy tales we are familiar with today are evolutions of tales that have varied from telling to telling and as the influences of different cultures came together and impacted upon one another ACTIVITY – this time you are to research a familiar fairy tale (Sur la lune is a good site for this as the stories there are annotated): Find two different versions of the tale Create a t-chart that outlines the differences and similarities between the two versions See if you can find any information that explains why the versions are different