Fairy tales
From parents to children
Experts argue about what exactly a fairy tale is. But one thing they all agree on is that a fairy tale does not have to have fairies in it. Most fairy tales grew out of folk stories which were passed down from parents to children.
They weren't written down
Because they weren't written down, there were different versions of the same fairy tales.
Sometimes, the same story varied depending on where it was told.
In the early 1800s, two German brothers began inviting story tellers to tell them their stories. The brothers wrote them down. The result was the first European book of fairy tales.
The Brothers Grimm
By 1812, after about five years of work, the Brothers Grimm had collected 86 fairy tales. They published them in a book called Children's and Household Tales.
Two years later they published another book with 70 more stories.
The brothers spent the rest of their lives adding and taking out fairy tales every time a new edition of their book came out.
Some of the most famous stories include Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella.
The final edition in 1857 had 211 stories.
Strange tales
The Brothers Grimm were not the only ones to collect folk tales.
More than 100 years before they started, Chinese writer Pu Songling collected stories and wrote them in classical Chinese. His book is called Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.
Pu's stories of ghosts, odd creatures and Daoist shamans have inspired many Chinese movies and television series. Examples include A Chinese Ghost Story and King Hu's A Touch of Zen.
The silver screen
The biggest thing to happen to fairy tales was Walt Disney. When he said he would make a cartoon version of Snow White, people thought he was mad.
Disney started working on it in 1934. It took more than three years and a lot of money to finish the film.
But Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became one of the biggest money-making films ever.
Disney went on to make many other fairy tales into movies.
Fairy tales today
The most famous modern fairy tale is Harry Potter. Some call it 'fantasy'. But the story of an orphan with hidden powers is a classic fairy tale.
Like all fairy tale heroes, Harry has to overcome many obstacles to discover his true powers. He also has to conquer monsters. And, as in many fairy tales, there is an evil enemy who wants to destroy him.
now do this
What other fairy tales do you know?
1 The Brothers Grimm ... fairy tales
a. made up
b. listened to and copied down
c. stole
2 When the Grimm brothers were finally done, they had ...
a. 211 fairy tales
b. 70 fairy tales
c. 156 fairy tales
3 Disney brought the fairy tale to the cinema with ...
a. Pinocchio
b. Dumbo
c. Snow White
Answers:
