The Tale of Fairy Tales
I happened to lay my hands on this book – The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman. The book writes about the differing styles between the fairy tales by Grimm and Anderson. The critics of the book also say it as a modern day fairy tale. I really was curious to find out more about the term “fairy tale”, its origins and what makes it so enduring.
Let me confess, although the fairy tales are intended for children, I as an adult am equally enthralled and entertained by them. I continue to savor them in any form – oral, written, movie, or theatre. Just the word “fairy tale” transports me to a magical imaginary world. An enchanting and wonderful place where lives prince and princess, elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, and other mystical and magical creatures. The wonder tales about these marvelous and magical things at combat, adventure, and romance - A child becoming a goat, A princess sleeping for a hundred years, Enchanted objects like the mirror-on-the-wall talking, A genie residing within a lamp, A young lad combating with witches, dragons, and giants to save his beloved, A beautiful maiden falling in love with an ugly and hideous beast and much more…
Maybe literally, “Fairy Tales” means “tales of fairies” or maybe “tales about fairies.” On second thoughts, the fairy tales are not just about fairies but a lot more than that. So I derived another simplistic definition of fairy tales. Maybe stories beginning with "Once Upon a Time..." and ending with "...And They lived Happily Ever After!" with a moral or a lesson to be learnt aka a disguised-morality-enchanting-stories. Nah! There is still something more than that. So I took professional help. Browsed encyclopedias and found that the origin of the term is from the French "contes de fees" which translated into English as "fairy tales." The French authoress, Madame d'Aulnoyis is credited to have coined the term “fairy tale.”
J. R. R. Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings triology fame) in his essay "On Fairy Stories” describes fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in Faërie, the land of fairies, princesses, dwarves, elves, and not only other magical creatures but many other marvels.
Tracing the existence of fairy tales is difficult as they follow the oral tradition. The oldest fairy tales were told and retold, and handed down from generation to generation. The stories collected were reworked to fit the written form. The oldest forms, Panchatantra by Pandit Vishnu Sharma, show considerable reworking from its oral form. These Indian stories have the characteristic of being a story within a story and are woven around five principles - Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends), Mitra Laabha (Gaining Friends), Suhrudbheda (Causing Dissension Between Friends), Vigraha (Separation), and Sandhi (Union).
French fairy tales were the first to be collected and written down. The French author, Charles Perrault published several tales from the oral tradition, with his own embellishments, as Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (aka Mother Goose Tales). The tales were an instant hit and popularized fairy tales. Some of the tales included Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots. The movie, Shrek made the character Puss in Boots more endearing.
Folklorists have found varying forms of fairy tales from every culture over many centuries. While analyzing the fairy tales from various cultures, folklorists found an amazing aspect. From countries as distant and different as Egypt and Iceland similar fairy tales are told. Both countries have "Cinderella" stories, differing only in cultural setup and time and place. Even China, England, Korea, Siberia, France, and Vietnam; and an endless list.
The Russian folklorist, Afanasyev was devoted to preserving all of the versions including the nuances of their dialects, grammar and syntax. Some of the best known tales collected include Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Beautiful, Father Frost, The Frog-Tsarevna, and Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf. I can vividly remember the hideous cannibalistic Baba Yaga perched in a large mortar with her knees almost touching her chin, and pushes herself across the forest floor with a pestle. Fortunately, the pure hearted are protected by the power of love, virtue, or a mother's blessing against the wrath of the witch and bestowed with wisdom, knowledge and truth.
As a matter of fact, the Grimms' collection of fairy tales is touted as all time bestsellers in German and English. Many of today's popular fairy tales are inspired from the Grimms, that includes - The Frog King, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Bremen Town Musicians, Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel - the damsel with the extra long tresses in distress.
Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author and poet, incidentally a dyslexic, has authored notable fairy tales including The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Thumbelina, and The Ugly Duckling. The Emperor's New Clothes is also popularized as a saying in English.
Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still retold today in different moulds. The Cinderella story was recreated by Diane Goode in her book Cinderella: The Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper. Jon Scieszka's successfully retold his humorous versions of fairy tales in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
In words of J. R. R. Tolkein - “I will say only this: a "fairy-story" is one which touches on or uses Faërie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faërie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic - but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso: if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away."
We all have to agree that we love to see truth triumph over deception, compassion prevails over deceit and conceit, kindness being eventually rewarded, hard work, grit and determination overcomes obstacles, there is something called as happiness forever and undying, everlasting, true love exists – which makes these fairy tales enduring, stories for ever after.
Let me confess, although the fairy tales are intended for children, I as an adult am equally enthralled and entertained by them. I continue to savor them in any form – oral, written, movie, or theatre. Just the word “fairy tale” transports me to a magical imaginary world. An enchanting and wonderful place where lives prince and princess, elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, and other mystical and magical creatures. The wonder tales about these marvelous and magical things at combat, adventure, and romance - A child becoming a goat, A princess sleeping for a hundred years, Enchanted objects like the mirror-on-the-wall talking, A genie residing within a lamp, A young lad combating with witches, dragons, and giants to save his beloved, A beautiful maiden falling in love with an ugly and hideous beast and much more…
Maybe literally, “Fairy Tales” means “tales of fairies” or maybe “tales about fairies.” On second thoughts, the fairy tales are not just about fairies but a lot more than that. So I derived another simplistic definition of fairy tales. Maybe stories beginning with "Once Upon a Time..." and ending with "...And They lived Happily Ever After!" with a moral or a lesson to be learnt aka a disguised-morality-enchanting-stories. Nah! There is still something more than that. So I took professional help. Browsed encyclopedias and found that the origin of the term is from the French "contes de fees" which translated into English as "fairy tales." The French authoress, Madame d'Aulnoyis is credited to have coined the term “fairy tale.”
J. R. R. Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings triology fame) in his essay "On Fairy Stories” describes fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in Faërie, the land of fairies, princesses, dwarves, elves, and not only other magical creatures but many other marvels.
Tracing the existence of fairy tales is difficult as they follow the oral tradition. The oldest fairy tales were told and retold, and handed down from generation to generation. The stories collected were reworked to fit the written form. The oldest forms, Panchatantra by Pandit Vishnu Sharma, show considerable reworking from its oral form. These Indian stories have the characteristic of being a story within a story and are woven around five principles - Mitra Bhedha (The Loss of Friends), Mitra Laabha (Gaining Friends), Suhrudbheda (Causing Dissension Between Friends), Vigraha (Separation), and Sandhi (Union).
French fairy tales were the first to be collected and written down. The French author, Charles Perrault published several tales from the oral tradition, with his own embellishments, as Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (aka Mother Goose Tales). The tales were an instant hit and popularized fairy tales. Some of the tales included Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots. The movie, Shrek made the character Puss in Boots more endearing.
Folklorists have found varying forms of fairy tales from every culture over many centuries. While analyzing the fairy tales from various cultures, folklorists found an amazing aspect. From countries as distant and different as Egypt and Iceland similar fairy tales are told. Both countries have "Cinderella" stories, differing only in cultural setup and time and place. Even China, England, Korea, Siberia, France, and Vietnam; and an endless list.
The Russian folklorist, Afanasyev was devoted to preserving all of the versions including the nuances of their dialects, grammar and syntax. Some of the best known tales collected include Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Beautiful, Father Frost, The Frog-Tsarevna, and Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf. I can vividly remember the hideous cannibalistic Baba Yaga perched in a large mortar with her knees almost touching her chin, and pushes herself across the forest floor with a pestle. Fortunately, the pure hearted are protected by the power of love, virtue, or a mother's blessing against the wrath of the witch and bestowed with wisdom, knowledge and truth.
As a matter of fact, the Grimms' collection of fairy tales is touted as all time bestsellers in German and English. Many of today's popular fairy tales are inspired from the Grimms, that includes - The Frog King, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Bremen Town Musicians, Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel - the damsel with the extra long tresses in distress.
Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author and poet, incidentally a dyslexic, has authored notable fairy tales including The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Thumbelina, and The Ugly Duckling. The Emperor's New Clothes is also popularized as a saying in English.
Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still retold today in different moulds. The Cinderella story was recreated by Diane Goode in her book Cinderella: The Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper. Jon Scieszka's successfully retold his humorous versions of fairy tales in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
In words of J. R. R. Tolkein - “I will say only this: a "fairy-story" is one which touches on or uses Faërie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faërie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic - but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso: if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away."
We all have to agree that we love to see truth triumph over deception, compassion prevails over deceit and conceit, kindness being eventually rewarded, hard work, grit and determination overcomes obstacles, there is something called as happiness forever and undying, everlasting, true love exists – which makes these fairy tales enduring, stories for ever after.
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