Как определить жанр сказки

Сказка — первый литературный жанр, с которым знакомится каждый ребенок. Простые сюжеты заставляют играть воображение. Тем удивительнее тот факт, что жанру сказки более тысячи лет. Расскажем подробнее, как он появился, чем отличается и какие виды сказок существуют.

Сказка как литературный жанр

Определить точно, когда люди начали сочинять сказки, невозможно. Вероятно, этот обычай зародился у наших предков еще тогда, когда появилась речь, хоть и не в современном представлении. Чтобы углубиться в историю сказки, разберемся, что это и какие ее особенности.

Что такое сказка?

Авторитетный российский педагог Светлана Белокурова пишет, что сказка — это эпический жанр народного творчества, прозаический устный рассказ о вымышленных событиях. Особенность сказки в том, что ее сюжет опирается на вымысел, в отличие от таких жанров фольклора, как былины, мифы, предания и пр.

Под сказкой чаще всего понимают фольклорное (народное) произведение, которое создавали и передавали в устной форме. Позже появился жанр литературной сказки. У такого произведения есть один автор, она закреплена в письменной форме, а ее сюжет зачастую связан с фольклорной сказкой.

Какие признаки жанра сказки? Его можно узнать по таким характерным чертам:

• Сюжет построен на противостоянии добра и зла. Положительные герои (спящая красавица, Иван-дурак, Иван-царевич, батыр, Алдар-косе) олицетворяют представление людей о высокой морали, справедливости, истинной красоте и пр. Отрицательные персонажи (злая мачеха, Кащей Бессмертный, Жезтырнак, Албасты и пр.) обычно символизируют темные силы, чуждые человеку.
• Используются устойчивые фразы. Например, в начале повествования часто встречаем «Жили-были…», «В некотором царстве, в некотором государстве…», в конце — «Стали они жить-поживать и добра наживать», «Сказка — ложь, да в ней намек, добрым молодцам урок».
• События наполнены волшебством. Зачастую главный герой или его помощники наделены особыми способностями либо используют чудесные предметы, прибегают к помощи волшебных животных.
• Персонаж сказки статичен, его характер не меняется на протяжении всей истории. Хорошие герои обязательно побеждают плохих, а зло всегда получает по заслугам.

Как отмечает филолог Елизавета Намычкина, сказка призвана развлекать и удивлять, но также и поучать. В каждой истории есть мораль, через такие сюжеты люди высказывали свой взгляд на добро и зло, нормы морали, ценности.

Как появился жанр сказка?

Сказку как отдельный жанр начали выделять не раньше XVII века. До этого границы между эпическими жанрами были стерты, под сказкой можно подразумевать любой устный рассказ, основанный на вымышленных или полувымышленных событиях.

В древние времена такие рассказы были главным инструментом передачи информации. Через мифы, легенды, былины люди транслировали свое представление мира, объясняли явления, которые не могли изучить и понять.

Со временем у человечества появлялось больше способов изучить окружающий мир. Сказка утратила свою первоначальную функцию, стала исключительно художественной единицей. Вымышленные истории использовали для развлечения и назидания, рассказывали их преимущественно детям.

Сказки передавались из поколения в поколение, они обрастали новыми деталями. Поэтому у большинства сказок есть несколько вариантов, но основной сюжет и посыл всегда одинаковы. Так в сказках народ кодировал свою мудрость.

Какие есть виды сказок в литературе?

Классификация народных сказок — задача непростая. Ей посвящено множество исследований. Все истории не похожи друг на друга, в каждой — своя мораль и способ решения конфликта.

Чаще всего в литературе встречается разделение жанра на три группы:

• волшебные сказки;
• сказки о животных;
• бытовые сказки.

В чем их отличительные особенности? Рассмотрим на примерах.

Что такое волшебная сказка?

Волшебная сказка повествует о необычных событиях, в которых участвуют фантастические персонажи — Морозко, Снегурочка, Водяной, Солнце, Месяц, Ветер, Кощей Бессмертный, Баба Яга и пр.

Как отмечает литературовед Елена Ковтун, в основе сюжета — противоборство добра и зла, хороших героев и плохих. Главный герой волшебной сказки — персонаж положительный. Он сталкивается с проблемой — тяжелой утратой, угрозой какой-либо беды. Поиски утраченного или недостающего становятся основным двигателем сюжета.

В пути герою приходят на помощь волшебные помощники:

• животные, умеющие разговаривать (конь, серый волк);
• предметы, наделенные чудесными свойствами (зеркальце, молодильные яблоки);
• стихии.

У такой сказки есть и стилистические особенности:

• особые поэтические формулы («ни в сказке сказать, ни пером описать», «за тридевять земель»);
• троичность (три испытания, три сына, три дороги).

В русском фольклоре волшебными считаются сказки «Царевна-лягушка», «Крошечка-Хаврошечка», «Гуси-лебеди», «Иван-царевич и Серый Волк». В казахском сказочном эпосе — «Савраска», «Заговоренная девушка», «Три брата и прекрасная Айлу», «Каражай» и пр.

Что такое сказка о животных?

В этих сказках главные персонажи — звери, птицы, рыбы, иногда растения, предметы и явления природы. Человек в сюжете играет второстепенную или вовсе незначительную роль.

В сказках у животных характеры людей. Каждое животное зачастую воплощает одно или несколько человеческих качеств: жадность, хитрость, жестокость, трусость и пр. То, что люди соотносили себя с определенными животными, отобразилось в некоторых именах сказочных персонажей: Михаил Потапович, Лиса Патрикеевна и т. д.

В русском эпосе сказки о животных представлены такими примерами:

• «Лиса и Волк»;
• «Волк и козлята»;
• «Звери в яме».

Есть и казахские сказки:

• «Лисица и Обезьяна»;
• «Мечта голодного волка»;
• «Ласточка и Богомол».

Что такое бытовая сказка?

Бытовая сказка — это история, которая происходит с обычными людьми в повседневной жизни. Здесь нет волшебства и чудес, фантастических локаций и героев. В основе бытовой сказки история человека, который попадает в нетипичную ситуацию, выходит из нее и получает за свой поступок вознаграждение или наказание.

В бытовых сказках присутствует ирония и даже сатира. Их сюжет строится на противопоставлении хороших людей плохим: чаще всего бедных, находчивых и добрых сравнивают с богатыми, скупыми и заносчивыми. Иногда врагами главных героев становятся персонифицированные образы Судьбы, Горя, Хвори и т. д.

Например, в казахской сказке «Щедрый и Скупой» человек, который поделился пищей и водой со спутником, вознаграждается богатством и новыми умениями, а скупой человек наказывается. В сказке «Раб конюх» награждается честный конюх и карается коварный и завистливый визирь.

В русском народном творчестве бытовыми считаются сказки:

• «Каша из топора»;
• «Ямщик и купец»;
• «Шел солдат домой» и пр.

На практике одно произведение может объединять в себе элементы каждого вида, особенно если говорить о литературной (авторской) сказке.

Сказка — это не просто удивительный вымышленный мир. Здесь ребенок знакомится с мирозданием, формирует первое представление о людях, своем народе и самих себе.

Оригинал статьи: https://www.nur.kz/family/school/1823337-skazka—eto-cto-takoe-osobennosti-zanra/

Ска́зка — жанр литературного творчества:

1. Сказка фольклорная — эпический жанр письменного и устного народного творчества: прозаический устный рассказ о вымышленных событиях в фольклоре разных народов^[1]. Вид повествовательного, в основном, прозаического фольклора (сказочная проза), включающий в себя разножанровые произведения, тексты которых опираются на вымысел. Сказочный фольклор противостоит «достоверному» фольклорному повествованию (несказочная проза) (см. миф, былина, историческая песня, духовные стихи, легенда, демонологические рассказы, сказ, предание, быличка).

2. Сказка литературная — эпический жанр: ориентированное на вымысел произведение, тесно связанное с народной сказкой, но, в отличие от нее, принадлежащее конкретному автору, не бытовавшее до публикации в устной форме и не имевшее вариантов^[2]. Литературная сказка либо подражает фольклорной (литературная сказка, написанная в народнопоэтическом стиле), либо создаёт дидактическое произведение (см. дидактическая литература) на основе нефольклорных сюжетов. Фольклорная сказка исторически предшествует литературной.

Слово «сказка» засвидетельствовано в письменных источниках не ранее XVII века. От слова «каза́ть»^[3]. Имело значение: перечень, список, точное описание. Современное значение приобретает с XVII—XIX века. Ранее использовалось слово баснь, до XI века — кощуна^{[источник не указан 1295 дней]}.

Слово «сказка» предполагает, что о нём узнают, «что это такое» и узнают, «для чего» она, сказка, нужна. Сказка целевым назначением нужна для подсознательного или сознательного обучения ребёнка в семье правилам и цели жизни, необходимости защиты своего «ареала» и достойного отношения к другим общинам. Примечательно, что и сага, и сказка несут в себе колоссальную информационную составляющую, передаваемую из поколения в поколение, вера в которую зиждется на уважении к своим предкам.

Фольклорная сказка

Фольклорная сказка, в основе которой лежит традиционный сюжет, относится к прозаическому фольклору (сказочная проза). Миф, потеряв свои функции, стал сказкой. Первоначально сказка, выделившаяся из мифа, противостояла мифу как:

1. Профанное — сакральному. Миф связан с ритуалом, поэтому миф, в определённое время и в определённом месте, раскрывает посвящённым тайные знания;
2. Нестрогая достоверность — строгой достоверности. Уход сказки от этнографичности мифа привело к тому, что художественная сторона мифа вышла на первый план в сказке. Сказка «заинтересовалась» увлекательностью сюжета. Историчность (квазиисторичность) мифа стала неактуальной для сказки. События сказки происходят вне географической приуроченности в рамках сказочной географии.

Фольклорная сказка имеет свою специфическую поэтику, в установлении которой настаивал Никифоров А. И. и Пропп В. Я.. Тексты данного жанра, строятся с помощью установленных традицией клише:

1. Сказочные формулы — ритмизованные прозаические фразы:
   • «Жили-были…», «В некотором царстве, в некотором государстве…» — сказочные инициалы, зачины;
   • «Скоро сказка сказывается, да не скоро дело делается» — срединные формулы;
   • «И я там был, мёд-пиво пил, по усам текло, да в рот не попало», «Сказка — ложь, да в ней намёк, добрым молодцам урок», — сказочная концовка, финал;
2. «Общие места» — кочующие из текста в текст разных сказочных сюжетов целые эпизоды:
   • Приход Ивана-царевича к Бабе-Яге, где проза перемежается с ритмизованными местами:
     • Клишированное описание портрета — «Баба-Яга, костяная нога»;
     • Клишированные формульные вопросы-ответы — «куда путь-дорогу держишь», «встань ко мне лицом, к лесу задом», и т. д.;
   • Клишированное описание места действия: «на калиновом мосту, на реке смородиновой»;
   • Клишированное описание действий: перемещение героя на «ковре-самолёте»;
   • Общефольклорные эпитеты: «красна девица», «добрый молодец».

Фольклорная сказка отвечает трём требованиям фольклорной бытийности (общефольклорные признаки):

1. Устность.
2. Коллективность.
3. Анонимность.

Сюжет фольклорной сказки, в отличие от сюжета литературной сказки, существует во множестве текстов, в которых допускается некоторая степень импровизации исполнителя сказочного материала. Тексты фольклорной сказки противостоят друг другу по степени схожести-несхожести как вариант-вариации. В сказковедении ставится проблема авантекста, разрешение которой решает вопрос о творческом мастерстве исполнителя сказочного фольклора, ведь он не запоминает текст сказки целиком, а порождает текст на глазах у слушателей, восстанавливая конструктивные элементы текста, — тематические (мотивы) и стилистические («общие места», формулы и пр.). Сказитель хранил в памяти сказочные сюжеты целиком или в форме единиц сюжета, т. н. мотива, и воспроизводил в исполняемой сказке. Сказковедение перечислило все обнаруженные сказочные сюжеты, собрав их в составленные указатели. Некоторые сказочные сюжеты встречаются в одном тексте (контаминация сюжетов). Сказитель, для придания эпического замедления, использовал приём утроения действия в сказке. В сказковедении идёт постоянный поиск метода полного описания структуры текста ф. с. Для удобного описания текста исследователи выделяют, помимо композиционно-сюжетного и стилистического уровней текста, ещё идейно-тематический и образный уровни. В архаические времена (распад первобытно-общинного строя) ф. с. напоминала миф (мифологическая сказка или миф-сказка), однако и поздняя классичесская сказка сохранила реликты мифологического сознания. Задача фольклористики, как междисциплинарной науки, стоящей на границе лингвистики, литературоведения, этнографии, вскрыть в тексте эти реликты.

Классификация фольклорной сказки

Фольклорная сказка включает несколько жанров (по другой классификации — жанровых разновидностей одного жанра сказки). В науке о сказке существует проблема классификации сказочных жанров. В «Сравнительном Указателе Сюжетов: Восточнославянская сказка», созданном на основе указателя Аарне, в котором систематизирована европейская, а потом, в последующих редакциях, Стита Томпсона (Thompson Stith) (см. Указатель сюжетов фольклорной сказки), сказка народов мира, представлены следующие жанры сказочного фольклора:

1. Сказки о животных, растениях, неживой природе и предметах.
2. Волшебные сказки.
3. Легендарные сказки.
4. Новеллистические (бытовые) сказки.
5. Сказки об одураченном чёрте.
6. Анекдоты.
7. Небылицы.
8. Кумулятивные сказки.
9. Докучные сказки.

Многие фольклористы (В. Я. Пропп, Э. В. Померанцева, Ю. И. Юдин, Т. В. Зуева) различают в составе жанра «Бытовые сказки» две жанровых разновидности: новеллистические и анекдотические сказки. Анекдотические сказки вбирают в себя сюжеты из группы «Сказки об одураченном чёрте», многие сюжеты, отнесённые к анекдотам, некоторые сюжеты, включённые в раздел новеллистические сказки, и некоторые сюжеты, причисленные к волшебным сказкам.

В повествовательном фольклоре не всегда можно провести чёткую границу между жанрами. Так, легендарная сказка может совмещать признаки сказки и легенды, а прозаические переделки былин могут быть отнесены в особую жанровую группу «Богатырская сказка». Изменение отношения к действительности носителей фольклора изменяет принадлежность повествования к тому или иному фольклорному жанру.

Жанровые разновидности сказки

Сказка о животных

Сказка о животных (животный эпос) — это совокупность (конгломерат) разножанровых произведений сказочного фольклора (сказка), в которых в качестве главных героев выступают животные, птицы, рыбы, а также предметы, растения и явления природы. В сказках о животных человек либо 1) играет второстепенную роль (старик из сказки «Лиса крадёт рыбу из воза (саней»)), либо 2) занимает положение, равноценное животному (мужик из сказки «Старая хлеб-соль забывается»).

Возможная классификация сказки о животных.

Прежде всего, сказка о животных классифицируется по главному герою (тематическая классификация). Такая классификация приведена в указателе сказочных сюжетов мирового фольклора, составленного Аарне-Томпсоном и в «Сравнительном Указателе Сюжетов. Восточнославянская сказка»:

1. Дикие животные.
   • Лиса.
   • Другие дикие животные.
2. Дикие и домашние животные
3. Человек и дикие животные.
4. Домашние животные.
5. Птицы и рыбы.
6. Другие животные, предметы, растения и явления природы.

Следующая возможная классификация сказки о животных — это структурно-семантическая классификация, которая классифицирует сказку по жанровому признаку. В сказке о животных выделяют несколько жанров. В. Я. Пропп выделял такие жанры как:

1. Кумулятивная сказка о животных.
2. Волшебная сказка о животных
3. Басня (аполог)
4. Сатирическая сказка

Е. А. Костюхин выделял жанры о животных как:

1. Комическая (бытовая) сказка о животных
2. Волшебная сказка о животных
3. Кумулятивная сказка о животных
4. Новеллистическая сказка о животных
5. Аполог (басня)
6. Анекдот.
7. Сатирическая сказка о животных
8. Легенды, предания, бытовые рассказы о животных
9. Небылицы

Пропп, в основу своей классификации сказки о животных по жанрам, пытался положить формальный признак. Костюхин же, в основу своей классификации, отчасти положил формальный признак, но в основном исследователь разделяет жанры сказки о животных по содержанию. Это позволяет глубже понять разнообразный материал сказки о животных, который демонстрирует разнообразие структурных построений, пестроту стилей, богатство содержания.

Третья возможная классификация сказки о животных является классификации по признаку целевой аудитории. Выделяют сказки о животных на:

1. Детские сказки.
   • Сказки, рассказанные для детей.
   • Сказки, рассказанные детьми.
2. Взрослые сказки.

Тот или иной жанр сказки о животных имеет свою целевую аудиторию. Современная русская сказка о животных в основном принадлежит детской аудитории. Таким образом, сказки, рассказанные для детей, имеют упрощенную структуру. Но есть жанр сказки о животных, который никогда не будет адресован детям — это т. н. «Озорная» («заветная» или «порнографическая») сказка.

Около двадцати сюжетов сказок о животных — это кумулятивные сказки (Рекурсивная). Принцип такой композиции заключается в многократном повторении единицы сюжета. Томпсон, С., Болте, Й. и Поливка, И., Пропп выделяли сказки с кумулятивной композицией в особую г,руппу сказок. Кумулятивную (цепевидную) композицию различают:

1. С бесконечным повторением:
   • Докучные сказки типа «Про белого бычка».
   • Единица текста включается в другой текст («У попа была собака»).
2. С Конечным повторением:
   • «Репка» — нарастают единицы сюжета в цепь, пока цепь не оборвётся.
   • «Петушок подавился» — происходит расплетание цепи, пока цепь не оборвётся.
   • «За скалочку уточку» — предыдущая единица текста отрицается в следующем эпизоде.

Другой жанровой формой сказки о животных является структура волшебной сказки (о структуре смотрите ниже) («Волк и семеро козлят» СУС 123, «Кот, петух и лиса» СУС 61 B).

Ведущее место в сказках о животных занимают комические сказки — о проделках животных («Лиса крадёт рыбу с саней (с воза) СУС 1, «Волк у проруби» СУС 2, «Лиса обмазывает голову тестом (сметаной) СУС 3, «Битый небитого везёт» СУС 4, «Лиса-повитуха» СУС 15 и т. д), которые влияют на другие сказочные жанры животного эпоса, особенно на аполог (басню). Сюжетное ядро комической сказки о животных составляют случайная встреча и проделка (обман, по Проппу). Иногда сочетают несколько встреч и проделок (контаминация). Героем комической сказки является трикстер (тот, кто совершает проделки). Основной трикстер русской сказки — лиса (в мировом эпосе — заяц). Жертвами её обычно бывают волк и медведь. Замечено, что если лиса действует против слабых, она проигрывает, если против сильных — выигрывает (Дм. Молдавский). Это идёт из архаического фольклора. В современной сказке о животных победа и поражение трикстера нередко получает моральную оценку. Трикстеру в сказке противопоставлен простофиля. Им может быть и хищник (волк, медведь), и человек, и животное-простак, вроде зайца.

Значительная часть сказок о животных занимает аполог (басня), в которой выступает не комическое начало, а нравоучительное, морализующее. При этом аполог не обязательно должен иметь мораль в виде концовки. Мораль вытекает из сюжетной ситуаций. Ситуации должны быть однозначными, чтобы легко сформировать моральные выводы. Типичными примерами аполога являются сказки, где происходит столкновение контрастных персонажей (Кто трусливее зайца? АТ 70; Старя хлеб-соль забывается AT 155; Заноза в лапе медведя (льва) AT 156. Апологом можно также считать такие сюжеты, которые были известны в литературной басне с античных времён (Лиса и кислый виноград АТ 59; Ворона и лисица AT 57 и многие другие). Аполог — сравнительно поздняя форма сказок о животных. Относится ко времени, когда моральные нормы уже определились и подыскивают для себя подходящую форму. В сказках этого типа трансформировались лишь немногие сюжеты с проделками трикстеров, часть сюжетов аполога (не без влияния литературы) выработал сам. Третий путь развития аполога — это разрастание паремии (пословицы и поговорки. Но в отличие от паремии, в апологе аллегория не только рациональна, но и чувствительна.

Рядом с апологом стоит так называемая новеллистическая сказка о животных, выделенная Е. А. Костюхиным. Новелла в животной сказке — это рассказ о необычных случаях с довольно развитой интригой, с резкими поворотами в судьбе героев. Тенденция к морализации определяет судьбу жанра. В нём более определённая мораль, чем в апологе, комическое начало приглушено, либо совсем снято. Озорство комической сказки о животных заменено в новелле иному содержанию — занимательному. Классический пример новеллистической сказки о животных — это АТ 160 «Благодарные звери». Большинство сюжетов фольклорной новеллы о животных складываются в литературе, а потом переходят в фольклор. Лёгкий переход этих сюжетов связан с тем, что сами литературные сюжеты складываются на фольклорной основе.

Говоря о сатире в сказках о животных, надо сказать, что литература некогда дала толчок к развитию сатирической сказки. Условие для появлении сатирической сказки возникает в позднем Средневековье. Эффект сатирического в фольклорной сказке достигается тем, что в уста животных вкладывается социальная терминология (Лиса-исповедница АТ 61 А; Кот и дикие животные АТ 103). Особняком стоит сюжет АТ 254** «Ёрш Ершович», которая является сказкой книжного происхождения. Поздно появившись в народной сказке сатира в ней не закрепилась, так как в сатирической сказке легко можно убрать социальную терминологию. Так в XIX веке сатирическая сказка непопулярна. Сатира внутри сказки о животных — это лишь акцент в крайне незначительной группе сюжетов о животных. И на сатирическую сказку повлияли законы животной сказки с проделками трикстера. Сатирическое звучание сохранилась в сказках, где в центре трикстер, а где была полнейшая нелепица происходящего, то сказка становилась небылицей.

Волшебная сказка

Волшебная сказка имеет в своей основе сложную композицию, которая имеет экспозицию, завязку, развитие сюжета, кульминацию и развязку (см. также Конфликт (литературоведение). По Проппу происходит от обряда инициации.

В основе сюжета волшебной сказки находится повествование о преодолении потери или недостачи, при помощи чудесных средств, или волшебных помощников. В экспозиции сказки присутствуют стабильно 2 поколения — старшее (царь с царицей и т. д.) и младшее — Иван с братьями или сёстрами. Также в экспозиции присутствует отлучка старшего поколения. Усиленная форма отлучки — смерть родителей. Завязка сказки состоит в том, что главный герой или героиня обнаруживают потерю или недостачу или же здесь присутствуют мотивы запрета, нарушения запрета и последующая беда. Здесь начало противодействия, то есть отправка героя из дома.

Развитие сюжета — это поиск потерянного или недостающего.

Кульминация волшебной сказки состоит в том, что главный герой, или героиня сражаются с противоборствующей силой и всегда побеждают её (эквивалент сражения — разгадывание трудных задач, которые всегда разгадываются).

Развязка — это преодоление потери, или недостачи. Обычно герой (героиня) в конце «воцаряется» — то есть приобретает более высокий социальный статус, чем у него был в начале.

В. Я. Пропп вскрывает однообразие волшебной сказки на сюжетном уровне в чисто синтагматическом плане. Он открывает инвариантность набора функций (поступков действующих лиц), линейную последовательность этих функций, а также набор ролей, известным образом распределённых между конкретными персонажами и соотнесённых с функциями. Функции распределяются среди семи персонажей:

• антагониста (вредителя),
• дарителя
• помощника
• царевны или её отца
• отправителя
• героя
• ложного героя.

Пропп создает т. н. метасхему волшебной сказки, состоящей из 31 функции. Мелетинский Е. М., продолжая за Проппом исследование по жанровому определению волшебной сказки, объединяет пропповские сказочные функции в крупные структурообразующие единицы для того, чтобы точнее дать жанровое определение волшебной сказке. Учёный говорит о том, что для волшебной сказки характерны такие общие единицы, представленные во всех сказочных текстах, как ελ…EL, где греческие буквы — это испытание героя сказки дарителем и вознаграждение героя (Баба-Яга даёт Ивану-царевичу волшебный клубок за то, что он себя правильно вёл). Латинские же буквы, в формуле Мелетинского, обозначают бой над антагонистом и победу над ним (в роли антагониста выступает в волшебной сказке Кощей Бессмертный, Змей Горыныч). Победа над антагонистом немыслима без помощи волшебного средства, полученного ранее от дарителя. Мелетинский предлагает выделять не только жанр волшебной сказки, но также различать её жанровые типы, вводя дополнительные единицы для определения жанровых типов волшебной сказки:

• наличие/отсутствие независимого от героя объекта борьбы (O — O)
• добывание брачного партнёра и чудесного предмета (O₁ — O₂)
• добывание объекта героем для себя или для царя, отца, семьи, своей общины (S — S_)
• фактор семейного характера основной коллизии (F — F)
• выявление сказки с отчётливо мифологической окраской враждебного герою демонического мира (M — M).

Благодаря этим единицам, можно выделить пять групп сказок:

• 1. O₁SˉFˉM — героические сказки, змееборческого типа (АТ 300—301).
     • O₂SˉFˉM — героические сказки типа quest (АТ 550—551).
  2. OˉSFˉM — архаические сказки типа «дети у людоеда» (АТ 311, 312, 314, 327).
     • B₁DˉSM — сказки о семейно гонимых, отданных во власть лесным демонам (АТ 480, 709).
     • OˉSFMˉ — сказки о семейно гонимых без мифических элементов (АТ 510, 511).
  3. O₁SFˉM — сказки о чудесных супругах (АТ 400, 425, и др.).
     • O₂SFˉMˉ — сказки о чудесных предметах (АТ 560, 563, 566, 569, 736).
  4. O₁SFˉMˉ- сказки о свадебных испытаниях (АТ 530, 570, 575, 577, 580, 610, 621, 675).
  5. O₁SˉFˉMˉ — (АТ 408, 653).
     • O₂SˉFˉMˉ — (АТ 665).

Пользуясь вышеизложенной классификацией типов волшебной сказки, надо иметь в виду, что во многих сказках есть, т. н. вторые ходы (перипетии), которая выражается в том, что главный герой сказки ненадолго теряет объект своего желания.

Мелетинский, выделяя пять групп волшебных сказок, пытается решить вопрос исторического развития жанра вообще, и сюжетов в частности. Выстраиваемая схема O — Oˉ, M — Mˉ, F — Fˉ, S — Sˉ, во многом соответствует общей линии развития от мифа к сказке: демифологизация основной коллизии и выдвижение на первый план семейного начала, сужение коллективизма, развитие интереса к личной судьбе и компенсации социально обездоленного. В волшебной сказке присутствуют все этапы этого развития. В сказке присутствуют некоторые мотивы, характерные для тотемических мифов. Совершенно очевидно мифологическое происхождение универсально распространённой волшебной сказки о браке с чудесным «тотемным» существом, временно сбросившим звериную оболочку и принявшим человеческий облик («Муж ищет исчезнувшую или похищенную жену (жена ищет мужа)» СУС 400, «Царевна-лягушка» 402, «Аленький цветочек» 425 °C и др.). Сказка о посещении иных миров для освобождения находящихся там пленниц («Три подземных царства» СУС 301 А, B и др.). Популярные сказки о группе детей, попадающих во власть злого духа, чудовища, людоеда и спасающихся благодаря находчивости одного из них («Мальчик-с-пальчик у ведьмы» СУС 327 B и др.), или об убийстве могучего змея — хтонического демона («Победитель змея» СУС 300₁ и др.). В волшебной сказке активно разрабатывается семейная тема («Золушка» СУС 510 А и др.). Свадьба для волшебной сказки становится символом компенсации социально обездоленного(«Сивка-Бурка» СУС 530). Социально обездоленный герой (младший брат, падчерица, дурак) в начале сказки, наделённый всеми отрицательными характеристиками со стороны своего окружения, наделяется в конце красотой и умом («Конёк-горбунок» СУС 531). Выделяемая группа сказок о свадебных испытаниях, обращает внимание на повествование о личных судьбах. Новеллистическая тема в волшебной сказке не менее интересна, чем богатырская. Пропп классифицирует жанр волшебной сказки по наличию в основном испытании «Битвы — Победы» или по наличию «Трудной задачи — Решение трудной задачи». Логичным развитием волшебной сказки стала сказка бытовая.

Новеллистическая сказка

Новеллистическая сказка (или, социально-бытовая) имеет одинаковую с волшебной сказкой композицию, но качественно отличающаяся от неё. Сказка данного жанра прочно связана с реальностью, здесь существует лишь один, земной мир, и реалистично передаются особенности быта, а главный персонаж — трикстер, обычный человек из народной среды, борющийся за справедливость со власть предержащими и добивающийся своего с помощью смекалки, ловкости и хитрости.

Анекдотическая сказка

Анекдотическая сказка, выделяемая Афанасьевым А. Н., отличается от анекдота тем, что сказка является развёрнутым повествованием анекдота.

Небылица

Небылицы — это сказки, построенные на бессмыслице. Они небольшие по объёму и часто имеют вид ритмизованной прозы. Небылицы представляют собой особый жанр фольклора, который встречается у всех народов как самостоятельное произведение или как часть сказки, скоморошины, былички, былины.

Собирание сказок

В Европе первым собирателем сказочного фольклора стал французский поэт и литературный критик Шарль Перро (1628—1703), в 1697 году издавший сборник «Сказки матушки Гусыни». В 1704—1717 годах в Париже вышло сокращённое издание арабских сказок «Тысячи и одной ночи», подготовленное Антуаном Галланом для короля Людовика XIV. Однако начало систематическому собиранию сказочного фольклора положили представители немецкой мифологической школы в фольклористике, прежде всего члены кружка гейдельбергских романтиков братья Гримм. Именно после того, как они издали в 1812—1814 годах сборник «Домашние и семейные немецкие сказки», разошедшийся крупным тиражом, интерес к родному фольклору проявили писатели и учёные других стран Европы. Однако у братьев Гримм были предшественники в самой Германии. Например, ещё в 1782—1786 годах немецкий писатель Иоганн Карл Август Музеус (умер в 1787 году) составил пятитомный сборник «Народные сказки немцев», но опубликован он был только в 1811 году его другом поэтом Виландом. В России начинателем собирания русских народных сказок явился русский этнограф Александр Николаевич Афанасьев. Подготовленный им сборник «Русские детские сказки» вышел в Москве в 1870 году. Большой вклад в собирание и организацию детского фольклора внесли такие личности как Авдеева, Даль. В истории собирания детского фольклора оставил заметный след и этнограф-собиратель Шейн. Он выделил детский фольклор как особую область науки. Вклад в популяризацию и коллекционирование сказок внёс также украинский поэт Малкович.^[4]

Происхождение (генезис) и развитие сказок

Мифологическая сказка

Фольклорные сказки происходят из тотемических мифов первобытнообщинного общества (примитивных народов Северной Азии, Америки, Африки, Австралии и Океании). Первичные, архаичные сказки называют архаическими или мифологическими. Носители архаического фольклора сами выделяют их из мифологического повествования. Обычно выделяют две формы: пыныл и лымныл — у чукчей, хвенохо и хехо — у фон (Бенин), лилиу и кукванебу — у киривна в Меланезии и т. п. Эти две главные формы приблизительно соответствуют мифу и сказке. Различие между ними выражает оппозицию сакрального и профанного, профанное является часто результатом деритуализации и потери эзотерического характера. Структурная разница не была обязательной между этими двумя формами, она могла вовсе не существовать. Очень часто один и тот же или сходный текст мог трактоваться одним племенем как настоящий миф, а другим — как сказочное повествование, исключённое из ритуально-сакральной системы. Можно определить архаические сказки как нестрогие мифы, учитывая, что они включают мифологические представления. Ф. Боас замечает, что архаическую сказку от мифа индейцев Северной Америки отличает лишь то, что культурный герой добывает блага для себя, а не для коллектива. Нестрогая достоверность архаичной сказки влечёт за собой преобладание эстетической функции над информативной (цель архаической сказки — развлечение). Так экзотерический миф, рассказанный непосвящённым в целях общего развлечения, находится на пути превращения мифа в сказку.

героя, возникшие после разрушения матриархата, то есть после крушение прежних верований.

Примечания

Литература

Сказка о животных

• Костюхин Е. А. Типы и формы животного эпоса. Москва,1987 г.

Кумулятивная сказка

Волшебная сказка

• Е. М. Мелетинский. Миф и сказка.
• Структура волшебной сказки (сборник статей) / Под ред. Ю. С. Неклюдова. Москва, 2001 г. ISBN 5-7281-0373-1
• Владимир Пропп. Морфология «волшебной» сказки.
• Владимир Пропп. Исторические корни Волшебной Сказки
• Энциклопедия Мифы народов мира. Сказка и миф.
• С. Ю. Неклюдов. Авантекст в фольклоре.
• А. В. Коротич. Современная русская волшебная детская сказка.
• Проект «Восточные аудиосказки» на Индостан.ру

Бытовые сказки

• Юдин Ю. И. Дурак, шут, вор и чёрт (Исторические корни бытовой сказки). — Москва, 2006. ISBN 5-87604-148-3

Детская сказка

• Капица Ф. С. Русский детский фольклор: Учебное пособие для студентов вузов/ Капица Ф. С., Колядич Т. М. — Москва, 2002.

Указатели сюжетов сказок

• Сравнительный указатель сюжетов. Восточнославянская сказка. Онлайн.
• Kerbelytės B. Lietuvių pasakojamosios tautosakos katalogas. T.1-2. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 1999—2001. Онлайн.

См. также

	Сказка в Викисловаре?
	Сказка в Викицитатнике?
	Сказка на Викискладе?

• Энциклопедия Кругосвет. Сказка
• Русские сказки

Сказочные жанры
Главный герой (А. Аарне, С. Томпсон), по тематике	Сказки о животных, растениях, неживой природе и предметах  • Волшебные сказки  • Легендарные сказки  • Новеллистические (бытовые) сказки  • Сказки об одураченном чёрте  • Анекдоты  • Небылицы  • Кумулятивные сказки  • Докучные сказки
О животных (А. Аарне, С. Томпсон)	Дикие животные (Лиса, Другие дикие животные)  • Дикие и домашние животные  • Человек и дикие животные  • Домашние животные  • Птицы и рыбы  • Другие животные, предметы, растения и явления природы
О животных (В. Я. Пропп), структурно-семантическая	Кумулятивная сказка о животных  • Волшебная сказка о животных  • Басня (аполог)  • Сатирическая сказка
О животных (Е. А. Костюхин), по содержанию	Комическая (бытовая) сказка о животных  • Волшебная сказка о животных  • Кумулятивная сказка о животных  • Новеллистическая сказка о животных  • Аполог (басня)  • Анекдот  • Сатирическая сказка о животных  • Легенды, предания, бытовые рассказы о животных  • Небылицы
Целевая аудитории	Детские сказки (Сказки рассказанные для детей, Сказки рассказанные детьми) • Взрослые сказки
Кумулятивные (рекурсивные) сказки	С бесконечным повторением (Докучные-«Про белого бычка», Единица текста включается в другой текст-«У попа была собака») • С конечным повторением (нарастают единицы сюжета в цепь, пока цепь не оборвётся — «Репка»; расплетание цепи, пока цепь не оборвётся — «Петушок подавился», предыдущая единица текста отрицается в следующем эпизоде — «За скалочку уточку»)

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For a comparison of fairy tale with other kinds of stories, such as myths, legends and fable, see Traditional story.

A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies.^[1] Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described)^[2] and explicit moral tales, including beast fables.

In less technical contexts, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in «fairy-tale ending» (a happy ending)^[3] or «fairy-tale romance». Colloquially, the term «fairy tale» or «fairy story» can also mean any far-fetched story or tall tale; it is used especially of any story that not only is not true, but could not possibly be true. Legends are perceived as real within their culture; fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics, fairy tales usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and to actual places, people, and events; they take place «once upon a time» rather than in actual times.^[4]

Fairy tales occur both in oral and in literary form; the name «fairy tale» («conte de fées» in French) was first ascribed to them by Madame d’Aulnoy in the late 17th century. Many of today’s fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world.^[5]

The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because only the literary forms can survive. Still, according to researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon, such stories may date back thousands of years, some to the Bronze Age.^[6][7] Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written today.

The Jatakas are probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years old. It is certain that much (perhaps one~fifth) of the popular literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this large bulk which came west with the Crusades through the medium of Arabs and Jews.^[8]

Folklorists have classified fairy tales in various ways. The Aarne-Thompson classification system and the morphological analysis of Vladimir Propp are among the most notable. Other folklorists have interpreted the tales’ significance, but no school has been definitively established for the meaning of the tales.

Terminology[edit]

Some folklorists prefer to use the German term Märchen or «wonder tale»^[9] to refer to the genre rather than fairy tale, a practice given weight by the definition of Thompson in his 1977 [1946] edition of The Folktale: «a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvellous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses.»^[10] The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal: princesses and goose-girls; youngest sons and gallant princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magical helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; glass mountains; and prohibitions and breaking of prohibitions.^[11]

Definition[edit]

Although the fairy tale is a distinct genre within the larger category of folktale, the definition that marks a work as a fairy tale is a source of considerable dispute.^[12] The term itself comes from the translation of Madame D’Aulnoy’s Conte de fées, first used in her collection in 1697.^[13] Common parlance conflates fairy tales with beast fables and other folktales, and scholars differ on the degree to which the presence of fairies and/or similarly mythical beings (e.g., elves, goblins, trolls, giants, huge monsters, or mermaids) should be taken as a differentiator. Vladimir Propp, in his Morphology of the Folktale, criticized the common distinction between «fairy tales» and «animal tales» on the grounds that many tales contained both fantastic elements and animals.^[14] Nevertheless, to select works for his analysis, Propp used all Russian folktales classified as a folklore, Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index 300–749, – in a cataloguing system that made such a distinction – to gain a clear set of tales.^[15] His own analysis identified fairy tales by their plot elements, but that in itself has been criticized, as the analysis does not lend itself easily to tales that do not involve a quest, and furthermore, the same plot elements are found in non-fairy tale works.^[16]

Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale … of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful.

As Stith Thompson points out, talking animals and the presence of magic seem to be more common to the fairy tale than fairies themselves.^[17] However, the mere presence of animals that talk does not make a tale a fairy tale, especially when the animal is clearly a mask on a human face, as in fables.^[18]

In his essay «On Fairy-Stories», J. R. R. Tolkien agreed with the exclusion of «fairies» from the definition, defining fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in Faërie, the land of fairies, fairytale princes and princesses, dwarves, elves, and not only other magical species but many other marvels.^[19] However, the same essay excludes tales that are often considered fairy tales, citing as an example The Monkey’s Heart, which Andrew Lang included in The Lilac Fairy Book.^[18]

Steven Swann Jones identified the presence of magic as the feature by which fairy tales can be distinguished from other sorts of folktales.^[20] Davidson and Chaudri identify «transformation» as the key feature of the genre.^[9] From a psychological point of view, Jean Chiriac argued for the necessity of the fantastic in these narratives.^[21]

In terms of aesthetic values, Italo Calvino cited the fairy tale as a prime example of «quickness» in literature, because of the economy and concision of the tales.^[22]

History of the genre[edit]

Originally, stories that would contemporarily be considered fairy tales were not marked out as a separate genre. The German term «Märchen» stems from the old German word «Mär», which means news or tale.^[23] The word «Märchen» is the diminutive of the word «Mär», therefore it means a «little story». Together with the common beginning «once upon a time», this tells us that a fairy tale or a märchen was originally a little story from a long time ago when the world was still magic. (Indeed, one less regular German opening is «In the old times when wishing was still effective».)^{[citation needed]}

The English term «fairy tale» stems from the fact that the French contes often included fairies.^{[citation needed]}

Roots of the genre come from different oral stories passed down in European cultures. The genre was first marked out by writers of the Renaissance, such as Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile, and stabilized through the works of later collectors such as Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.^[24] In this evolution, the name was coined when the précieuses took up writing literary stories; Madame d’Aulnoy invented the term Conte de fée, or fairy tale, in the late 17th century.^[25]

Before the definition of the genre of fantasy, many works that would now be classified as fantasy were termed «fairy tales», including Tolkien’s The Hobbit, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.^[26] Indeed, Tolkien’s «On Fairy-Stories» includes discussions of world-building and is considered a vital part of fantasy criticism. Although fantasy, particularly the subgenre of fairytale fantasy, draws heavily on fairy tale motifs,^[27] the genres are now regarded as distinct.

Folk and literary[edit]

The fairy tale, told orally, is a sub-class of the folktale. Many writers have written in the form of the fairy tale. These are the literary fairy tales, or Kunstmärchen.^[13] The oldest forms, from Panchatantra to the Pentamerone, show considerable reworking from the oral form.^[28] The Grimm brothers were among the first to try to preserve the features of oral tales. Yet the stories printed under the Grimm name have been considerably reworked to fit the written form.^[29]

Literary fairy tales and oral fairy tales freely exchanged plots, motifs, and elements with one another and with the tales of foreign lands.^[30] The literary fairy tale came into fashion during the 17th century, developed by aristocratic women as a parlour game. This, in turn, helped to maintain the oral tradition. According to Jack Zipes, «The subject matter of the conversations consisted of literature, mores, taste, and etiquette, whereby the speakers all endeavoured to portray ideal situations in the most effective oratorical style that would gradually have a major effect on literary forms.»^[31] Many 18th-century folklorists attempted to recover the «pure» folktale, uncontaminated by literary versions. Yet while oral fairy tales likely existed for thousands of years before the literary forms, there is no pure folktale, and each literary fairy tale draws on folk traditions, if only in parody.^[32] This makes it impossible to trace forms of transmission of a fairy tale. Oral story-tellers have been known to read literary fairy tales to increase their own stock of stories and treatments.^[33]

History[edit]

The oral tradition of the fairy tale came long before the written page. Tales were told or enacted dramatically, rather than written down, and handed down from generation to generation. Because of this, the history of their development is necessarily obscure and blurred. Fairy tales appear, now and again, in written literature throughout literate cultures,^[a][b] as in The Golden Ass, which includes Cupid and Psyche (Roman, 100–200 AD),^[37] or the Panchatantra (India 3rd century BC),^[37] but it is unknown to what extent these reflect the actual folk tales even of their own time. The stylistic evidence indicates that these, and many later collections, reworked folk tales into literary forms.^[28] What they do show is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the Arabian Nights collection of magical tales (compiled circa 1500 AD),^[37] such as Vikram and the Vampire, and Bel and the Dragon. Besides such collections and individual tales, in China, Taoist philosophers such as Liezi and Zhuangzi recounted fairy tales in their philosophical works.^[38] In the broader definition of the genre, the first famous Western fairy tales are those of Aesop (6th century BC) in ancient Greece.

Scholarship points out that Medieval literature contains early versions or predecessors of later known tales and motifs, such as the grateful dead, The Bird Lover or the quest for the lost wife.^[39][c] Recognizable folktales have also been reworked as the plot of folk literature and oral epics.^[42]

Jack Zipes writes in When Dreams Came True, «There are fairy tale elements in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, and in many of William Shakespeare plays.»^[43] King Lear can be considered a literary variant of fairy tales such as Water and Salt and Cap O’ Rushes.^[44] The tale itself resurfaced in Western literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, with The Facetious Nights of Straparola by Giovanni Francesco Straparola (Italy, 1550 and 1553),^[37] which contains many fairy tales in its inset tales, and the Neapolitan tales of Giambattista Basile (Naples, 1634–36),^[37] which are all fairy tales.^[45] Carlo Gozzi made use of many fairy tale motifs among his Commedia dell’Arte scenarios,^[46] including among them one based on The Love For Three Oranges (1761).^[47] Simultaneously, Pu Songling, in China, included many fairy tales in his collection, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (published posthumously, 1766).^[38] The fairy tale itself became popular among the précieuses of upper-class France (1690–1710),^[37] and among the tales told in that time were the ones of La Fontaine and the Contes of Charles Perrault (1697), who fixed the forms of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.^[48] Although Straparola’s, Basile’s and Perrault’s collections contain the oldest known forms of various fairy tales, on the stylistic evidence, all the writers rewrote the tales for literary effect.^[49]

The Salon Era[edit]

In the mid-17th century, a vogue for magical tales emerged among the intellectuals who frequented the salons of Paris. These salons were regular gatherings hosted by prominent aristocratic women, where women and men could gather together to discuss the issues of the day.

In the 1630s, aristocratic women began to gather in their own living rooms, salons, to discuss the topics of their choice: arts and letters, politics, and social matters of immediate concern to the women of their class: marriage, love, financial and physical independence, and access to education. This was a time when women were barred from receiving a formal education. Some of the most gifted women writers of the period came out of these early salons (such as Madeleine de Scudéry and Madame de Lafayette), which encouraged women’s independence and pushed against the gender barriers that defined their lives. The salonnières argued particularly for love and intellectual compatibility between the sexes, opposing the system of arranged marriages.

Sometime in the middle of the 17th century, a passion for the conversational parlour game based on the plots of old folk tales swept through the salons. Each salonnière was called upon to retell an old tale or rework an old theme, spinning clever new stories that not only showcased verbal agility and imagination but also slyly commented on the conditions of aristocratic life. Great emphasis was placed on a mode of delivery that seemed natural and spontaneous. The decorative language of the fairy tales served an important function: disguising the rebellious subtext of the stories and sliding them past the court censors. Critiques of court life (and even of the king) were embedded in extravagant tales and in dark, sharply dystopian ones. Not surprisingly, the tales by women often featured young (but clever) aristocratic girls whose lives were controlled by the arbitrary whims of fathers, kings, and elderly wicked fairies, as well as tales in which groups of wise fairies (i.e., intelligent, independent women) stepped in and put all to rights.

The salon tales as they were originally written and published have been preserved in a monumental work called Le Cabinet des Fées, an enormous collection of stories from the 17th and 18th centuries.^[13]

Later works[edit]

The first collectors to attempt to preserve not only the plot and characters of the tale, but also the style in which they were told, was the Brothers Grimm, collecting German fairy tales; ironically, this meant although their first edition (1812 & 1815)^[37] remains a treasure for folklorists, they rewrote the tales in later editions to make them more acceptable, which ensured their sales and the later popularity of their work.^[50]

Such literary forms did not merely draw from the folktale, but also influenced folktales in turn. The Brothers Grimm rejected several tales for their collection, though told orally to them by Germans, because the tales derived from Perrault, and they concluded they were thereby French and not German tales; an oral version of Bluebeard was thus rejected, and the tale of Little Briar Rose, clearly related to Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty, was included only because Jacob Grimm convinced his brother that the figure of Brynhildr, from much earlier Norse mythology, proved that the sleeping princess was authentically Germanic folklore.^[51]

This consideration of whether to keep Sleeping Beauty reflected a belief common among folklorists of the 19th century: that the folk tradition preserved fairy tales in forms from pre-history except when «contaminated» by such literary forms, leading people to tell inauthentic tales.^[52] The rural, illiterate, and uneducated peasants, if suitably isolated, were the folk and would tell pure folk tales.^[53] Sometimes they regarded fairy tales as a form of fossil, the remnants of a once-perfect tale.^[54] However, further research has concluded that fairy tales never had a fixed form, and regardless of literary influence, the tellers constantly altered them for their own purposes.^[55]

The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe, in a spirit of romantic nationalism, that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian Alexander Afanasyev (first published in 1866),^[37] the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe (first published in 1845),^[37] the Romanian Petre Ispirescu (first published in 1874), the English Joseph Jacobs (first published in 1890),^[37] and Jeremiah Curtin, an American who collected Irish tales (first published in 1890).^[32] Ethnographers collected fairy tales throughout the world, finding similar tales in Africa, the Americas, and Australia; Andrew Lang was able to draw on not only the written tales of Europe and Asia, but those collected by ethnographers, to fill his «coloured» fairy books series.^[56] They also encouraged other collectors of fairy tales, as when Yei Theodora Ozaki created a collection, Japanese Fairy Tales (1908), after encouragement from Lang.^[57] Simultaneously, writers such as Hans Christian Andersen and George MacDonald continued the tradition of literary fairy tales. Andersen’s work sometimes drew on old folktales, but more often deployed fairytale motifs and plots in new tales.^[58] MacDonald incorporated fairytale motifs both in new literary fairy tales, such as The Light Princess, and in works of the genre that would become fantasy, as in The Princess and the Goblin or Lilith.^[59]

Cross-cultural transmission[edit]

Two theories of origins have attempted to explain the common elements in fairy tales found spread over continents. One is that a single point of origin generated any given tale, which then spread over the centuries; the other is that such fairy tales stem from common human experience and therefore can appear separately in many different origins.^[60]

Fairy tales with very similar plots, characters, and motifs are found spread across many different cultures. Many researchers hold this to be caused by the spread of such tales, as people repeat tales they have heard in foreign lands, although the oral nature makes it impossible to trace the route except by inference.^[61] Folklorists have attempted to determine the origin by internal evidence, which can not always be clear; Joseph Jacobs, comparing the Scottish tale The Ridere of Riddles with the version collected by the Brothers Grimm, The Riddle, noted that in The Ridere of Riddles one hero ends up polygamously married, which might point to an ancient custom, but in The Riddle, the simpler riddle might argue greater antiquity.^[62]

Folklorists of the «Finnish» (or historical-geographical) school attempted to place fairy tales to their origin, with inconclusive results.^[63] Sometimes influence, especially within a limited area and time, is clearer, as when considering the influence of Perrault’s tales on those collected by the Brothers Grimm. Little Briar-Rose appears to stem from Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty, as the Grimms’ tale appears to be the only independent German variant.^[64] Similarly, the close agreement between the opening of the Grimms’ version of Little Red Riding Hood and Perrault’s tale points to an influence, although the Grimms’ version adds a different ending (perhaps derived from The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids).^[65]

Fairy tales tend to take on the color of their location, through the choice of motifs, the style in which they are told, and the depiction of character and local color.^[66]

The Brothers Grimm believed that European fairy tales derived from the cultural history shared by all Indo-European peoples and were therefore ancient, far older than written records. This view is supported by research by the anthropologist Jamie Tehrani and the folklorist Sara Graca Da Silva using phylogenetic analysis, a technique developed by evolutionary biologists to trace the relatedness of living and fossil species. Among the tales analysed were Jack and the Beanstalk, traced to the time of splitting of Eastern and Western Indo-European, over 5000 years ago. Both Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin appear to have been created some 4000 years ago. The story of The Smith and the Devil (Deal with the Devil) appears to date from the Bronze Age, some 6000 years ago.^[67] Various other studies converge to suggest that some fairy tales, for example the swan maiden,^[68][69][70] could go back to the Upper Palaeolithic.

Association with children[edit]

Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children.^[71] Literary fairy tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the 19th and 20th centuries the fairy tale became associated with children’s literature.

The précieuses, including Madame d’Aulnoy, intended their works for adults, but regarded their source as the tales that servants, or other women of lower class, would tell to children.^[72] Indeed, a novel of that time, depicting a countess’s suitor offering to tell such a tale, has the countess exclaim that she loves fairy tales as if she were still a child.^[72] Among the late précieuses, Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont redacted a version of Beauty and the Beast for children, and it is her tale that is best known today.^[73] The Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children’s and Household Tales and rewrote their tales after complaints that they were not suitable for children.^[74]

In the modern era, fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children. The Brothers Grimm concentrated mostly on sexual references;^[75] Rapunzel, in the first edition, revealed the prince’s visits by asking why her clothing had grown tight, thus letting the witch deduce that she was pregnant, but in subsequent editions carelessly revealed that it was easier to pull up the prince than the witch.^[76] On the other hand, in many respects, violence‍—‌particularly when punishing villains‍—‌was increased.^[77] Other, later, revisions cut out violence; J. R. R. Tolkien noted that The Juniper Tree often had its cannibalistic stew cut out in a version intended for children.^[78] The moralizing strain in the Victorian era altered the classical tales to teach lessons, as when George Cruikshank rewrote Cinderella in 1854 to contain temperance themes. His acquaintance Charles Dickens protested, «In an utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected.»^[79][80]

Psychoanalysts such as Bruno Bettelheim, who regarded the cruelty of older fairy tales as indicative of psychological conflicts, strongly criticized this expurgation, because it weakened their usefulness to both children and adults as ways of symbolically resolving issues.^[81] Fairy tales do teach children how to deal with difficult times. To quote Rebecca Walters (2017, p. 56) «Fairytales and folktales are part of the cultural conserve that can be used to address children’s fears …. and give them some role training in an approach that honors the children’s window of tolerance». These fairy tales teach children how to deal with certain social situations and helps them to find their place in society.^[82] Fairy tales teach children other important lessons too. For example, Tsitsani et al. carried out a study on children to determine the benefits of fairy tales. Parents of the children who took part in the study found that fairy tales, especially the color in them, triggered their child’s imagination as they read them.^[83]Jungian Analyst and fairy tale scholar, Marie Louise Von Franz interprets fairy tales^[84] based on Jung’s view of fairy tales as a spontaneous and naive product of soul, which can only express what soul is.^[85] That means, she looks at fairy tales as images of different phases of experiencing the reality of the soul. They are the «purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes» and «they represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest and most concise form» because they are less overlaid with conscious material than myths and legends. «In this pure form, the archetypal images afford us the best clues to the understanding of the processes going on in the collective psyche». «The fairy tale itself is its own best explanation; that is, its meaning is contained in the totality of its motifs connected by the thread of the story. […] Every fairy tale is a relatively closed system compounding one essential psychological meaning which is expressed in a series of symbolical pictures and events and is discoverable in these». «I have come to the conclusion that all fairy tales endeavour to describe one and the same psychic fact, but a fact so complex and far-reaching and so difficult for us to realize in all its different aspects that hundreds of tales and thousands of repetitions with a musician’s variation are needed until this unknown fact is delivered into consciousness; and even then the theme is not exhausted. This unknown fact is what Jung calls the Self, which is the psychic reality of the collective unconscious. […] Every archetype is in its essence only one aspect of the collective unconscious as well as always representing also the whole collective unconscious.^[86]

Other famous people commented on the importance of fairy tales, especially for children. For example, Albert Einstein once showed how important he believed fairy tales were for children’s intelligence in the quote «If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales.»^[87]

The adaptation of fairy tales for children continues. Walt Disney’s influential Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was largely (although certainly not solely) intended for the children’s market.^[88] The anime Magical Princess Minky Momo draws on the fairy tale Momotarō.^[89] Jack Zipes has spent many years working to make the older traditional stories accessible to modern readers and their children.^[90]

Motherhood[edit]

Many fairy tales feature an absentee mother, as an example Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood and Donkeyskin, where the mother is deceased or absent and unable to help the heroines. Mothers are depicted as absent or wicked in the most popular contemporary versions of tales like Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, however,
some lesser known tales or variants such as those found in volumes edited by Angela Carter and Jane Yolen depict mothers in a more positive light.^[91]

Carter’s protagonist in The Bloody Chamber is an impoverished piano student married to a Marquis who was much older than herself to «banish the spectre of poverty». The story is a variant on Bluebeard, a tale about a wealthy man who murders numerous young women. Carter’s protagonist, who is unnamed, describes her mother as «eagle-featured» and «indomitable». Her mother is depicted as a woman who is prepared for violence, instead of hiding from it or sacrificing herself to it. The protagonist recalls how her mother kept an «antique service revolver» and once «shot a man-eating tiger with her own hand.»^[91]

Contemporary tales[edit]

Literary[edit]

In contemporary literature, many authors have used the form of fairy tales for various reasons, such as examining the human condition from the simple framework a fairytale provides.^[92] Some authors seek to recreate a sense of the fantastic in a contemporary discourse.^[93] Some writers use fairy tale forms for modern issues;^[94] this can include using the psychological dramas implicit in the story, as when Robin McKinley retold Donkeyskin as the novel Deerskin, with emphasis on the abusive treatment the father of the tale dealt to his daughter.^[95] Sometimes, especially in children’s literature, fairy tales are retold with a twist simply for comic effect, such as The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka and The ASBO Fairy Tales by Chris Pilbeam. A common comic motif is a world where all the fairy tales take place, and the characters are aware of their role in the story,^[96] such as in the film series Shrek.

Other authors may have specific motives, such as multicultural or feminist reevaluations of predominantly Eurocentric masculine-dominated fairy tales, implying critique of older narratives.^[97] The figure of the damsel in distress has been particularly attacked by many feminist critics. Examples of narrative reversal rejecting this figure include The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch, a picture book aimed at children in which a princess rescues a prince, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, which retells a number of fairy tales from a female point of view^[98] and Simon Hood’s contemporary interpretation of various popular classics.^[99]

There are also many contemporary erotic retellings of fairy tales, which explicitly draw upon the original spirit of the tales, and are specifically for adults. Modern retellings focus on exploring the tale through use of the erotic, explicit sexuality, dark and/or comic themes, female empowerment, fetish and BDSM, multicultural, and heterosexual characters. Cleis Press has released several fairy tale-themed erotic anthologies, including Fairy Tale Lust, Lustfully Ever After, and A Princess Bound.

It may be hard to lay down the rule between fairy tales and fantasies that use fairy tale motifs, or even whole plots, but the distinction is commonly made, even within the works of a single author: George MacDonald’s Lilith and Phantastes are regarded as fantasies, while his «The Light Princess», «The Golden Key», and «The Wise Woman» are commonly called fairy tales. The most notable distinction is that fairytale fantasies, like other fantasies, make use of novelistic writing conventions of prose, characterization, or setting.^[100]

Film[edit]

Fairy tales have been enacted dramatically; records exist of this in commedia dell’arte,^[101] and later in pantomime.^[102] Unlike oral and literacy form, fairy tales in film is considered one of the most effective way to convey the story to the audience. The advent of cinema has meant that such stories could be presented in a more plausible manner, with the use of special effects and animation. The Walt Disney Company has had a significant impact on the evolution of the fairy tale film. Some of the earliest short silent films from the Disney studio were based on fairy tales, and some fairy tales were adapted into shorts in the musical comedy series «Silly Symphony», such as Three Little Pigs. Walt Disney’s first feature-length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937, was a ground-breaking film for fairy tales and, indeed, fantasy in general.^[88] With the cost of over 400 percent of the budget and more than 300 artists, assistants and animators, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was arguably one of the highest work force demanded film at that time.^[103] The studio even hired Don Graham to open animation training programs for more than 700 staffs.^[104] As for the motion capture and personality expression, the studio used a dancer, Marjorie Celeste, from the beginning to the end for the best results.^[104] Disney and his creative successors have returned to traditional and literary fairy tales numerous times with films such as Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). Disney’s influence helped establish the fairy tale genre as a genre for children, and has been accused by some of bowdlerizing the gritty naturalism – and sometimes unhappy endings – of many folk fairy tales.^[95] However, others note that the softening of fairy tales occurred long before Disney, some of which was even done by the Grimm brothers themselves.^[105][106]

Many filmed fairy tales have been made primarily for children, from Disney’s later works to Aleksandr Rou’s retelling of Vasilissa the Beautiful, the first Soviet film to use Russian folk tales in a big-budget feature.^[107] Others have used the conventions of fairy tales to create new stories with sentiments more relevant to contemporary life, as in Labyrinth,^[108] My Neighbor Totoro, Happily N’Ever After, and the films of Michel Ocelot.^[109]

Other works have retold familiar fairy tales in a darker, more horrific or psychological variant aimed primarily at adults. Notable examples are Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast^[110] and The Company of Wolves, based on Angela Carter’s retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.^[111] Likewise, Princess Mononoke,^[112] Pan’s Labyrinth,^[113] Suspiria, and Spike^[114] create new stories in this genre from fairy tale and folklore motifs.

In comics and animated TV series, The Sandman, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Tutu, Fables and MÄR all make use of standard fairy tale elements to various extents but are more accurately categorised as fairytale fantasy due to the definite locations and characters which a longer narrative requires.

A more modern cinematic fairy tale would be Luchino Visconti’s Le Notti Bianche, starring Marcello Mastroianni before he became a superstar. It involves many of the romantic conventions of fairy tales, yet it takes place in post-World War II Italy, and it ends realistically.

In recent years, Disney has been dominating the fairy tale film industry by remaking their animated fairy tale films into live action. Examples include Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and so on.

Motifs[edit]

Any comparison of fairy tales quickly discovers that many fairy tales have features in common with each other. Two of the most influential classifications are those of Antti Aarne, as revised by Stith Thompson into the Aarne-Thompson classification system, and Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folk Tale.

Aarne-Thompson[edit]

This system groups fairy and folk tales according to their overall plot. Common, identifying features are picked out to decide which tales are grouped together. Much therefore depends on what features are regarded as decisive.

For instance, tales like Cinderella – in which a persecuted heroine, with the help of the fairy godmother or similar magical helper, attends an event (or three) in which she wins the love of a prince and is identified as his true bride‍—‌are classified as type 510, the persecuted heroine. Some such tales are The Wonderful Birch; Aschenputtel; Katie Woodencloak; The Story of Tam and Cam; Ye Xian; Cap O’ Rushes; Catskin; Fair, Brown and Trembling; Finette Cendron; Allerleirauh.

Further analysis of the tales shows that in Cinderella, The Wonderful Birch, The Story of Tam and Cam, Ye Xian, and Aschenputtel, the heroine is persecuted by her stepmother and refused permission to go to the ball or other event, and in Fair, Brown and Trembling and Finette Cendron by her sisters and other female figures, and these are grouped as 510A; while in Cap O’ Rushes, Catskin, and Allerleirauh, the heroine is driven from home by her father’s persecutions, and must take work in a kitchen elsewhere, and these are grouped as 510B. But in Katie Woodencloak, she is driven from home by her stepmother’s persecutions and must take service in a kitchen elsewhere, and in Tattercoats, she is refused permission to go to the ball by her grandfather. Given these features common with both types of 510, Katie Woodencloak is classified as 510A because the villain is the stepmother, and Tattercoats as 510B because the grandfather fills the father’s role.

This system has its weaknesses in the difficulty of having no way to classify subportions of a tale as motifs. Rapunzel is type 310 (The Maiden in the Tower), but it opens with a child being demanded in return for stolen food, as does Puddocky; but Puddocky is not a Maiden in the Tower tale, while The Canary Prince, which opens with a jealous stepmother, is.

It also lends itself to emphasis on the common elements, to the extent that the folklorist describes The Black Bull of Norroway as the same story as Beauty and the Beast. This can be useful as a shorthand but can also erase the coloring and details of a story.^[115]

Morphology[edit]

Vladimir Propp specifically studied a collection of Russian fairy tales, but his analysis has been found useful for the tales of other countries.^[116] Having criticized Aarne-Thompson type analysis for ignoring what motifs did in stories, and because the motifs used were not clearly distinct,^[117] he analyzed the tales for the function each character and action fulfilled and concluded that a tale was composed of thirty-one elements (‘functions’) and seven characters or ‘spheres of action’ (‘the princess and her father’ are a single sphere). While the elements were not all required for all tales, when they appeared they did so in an invariant order – except that each individual element might be negated twice, so that it would appear three times, as when, in Brother and Sister, the brother resists drinking from enchanted streams twice, so that it is the third that enchants him.^[118] Propp’s 31 functions also fall within six ‘stages’ (preparation, complication, transference, struggle, return, recognition), and a stage can also be repeated, which can affect the perceived order of elements.

One such element is the donor who gives the hero magical assistance, often after testing him.^[119] In The Golden Bird, the talking fox tests the hero by warning him against entering an inn and, after he succeeds, helps him find the object of his quest; in The Boy Who Drew Cats, the priest advised the hero to stay in small places at night, which protects him from an evil spirit; in Cinderella, the fairy godmother gives Cinderella the dresses she needs to attend the ball, as their mothers’ spirits do in Bawang Putih Bawang Merah and The Wonderful Birch; in The Fox Sister, a Buddhist monk gives the brothers magical bottles to protect against the fox spirit. The roles can be more complicated.^[120] In The Red Ettin, the role is split into the mother‍—‌who offers the hero the whole of a journey cake with her curse or half with her blessing‍—‌and when he takes the half, a fairy who gives him advice; in Mr Simigdáli, the sun, the moon, and the stars all give the heroine a magical gift. Characters who are not always the donor can act like the donor.^[121] In Kallo and the Goblins, the villain goblins also give the heroine gifts, because they are tricked; in Schippeitaro, the evil cats betray their secret to the hero, giving him the means to defeat them. Other fairy tales, such as The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, do not feature the donor.

Analogies have been drawn between this and the analysis of myths into the hero’s journey.^[122]

Interpretations[edit]

Many fairy tales have been interpreted for their (purported) significance. One mythological interpretation saw many fairy tales, including Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, and The Frog King, as solar myths; this mode of interpretation subsequently became rather less popular.^[123] Freudian, Jungian, and other psychological analyses have also explicated many tales, but no mode of interpretation has established itself definitively.^[124]

Specific analyses have often been criticized^{[by whom?]} for lending great importance to motifs that are not, in fact, integral to the tale; this has often stemmed from treating one instance of a fairy tale as the definitive text, where the tale has been told and retold in many variations.^[125] In variants of Bluebeard, the wife’s curiosity is betrayed by a blood-stained key, by an egg’s breaking, or by the singing of a rose she wore, without affecting the tale, but interpretations of specific variants have claimed that the precise object is integral to the tale.^[126]

Other folklorists have interpreted tales as historical documents. Many^[quantify] German folklorists, believing the tales to have preserved details from ancient times, have used the Grimms’ tales to explain ancient customs.^[127]

One approach sees the topography of European Märchen as echoing the period immediately following the last Ice Age.^[128]
Other folklorists have explained the figure of the wicked stepmother in a historical/sociological context: many women did die in childbirth, their husbands remarried, and the new stepmothers competed with the children of the first marriage for resources.^[129]

In a 2012 lecture, Jack Zipes reads fairy tales as examples of what he calls «childism». He suggests that there are terrible aspects to the tales, which (among other things) have conditioned children to accept mistreatment and even abuse.^[130]

Fairy tales in music[edit]

Fairy tales have inspired music, namely opera, such as the French Opéra féerie and the German Märchenoper. French examples include Gretry’s Zémire et Azor, and Auber’s Le cheval de bronze, German operas are Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Siegfried Wagner’s An allem ist Hütchen schuld!, which is based on many fairy tales, and Carl Orff’s Die Kluge.

Ballet, too, is fertile ground for bringing fairy tales to life. Igor Stravinsky’s first ballet, The Firebird uses elements from various classic Russian tales in that work.

Even contemporary fairy tales have been written for the purpose of inspiration in the music world. «Raven Girl» by Audrey Niffenegger was written to inspire a new dance for the Royal Ballet in London. The song «Singring and the Glass Guitar» by the American band Utopia, recorded for their album «Ra», is called «An Electrified Fairytale». Composed by the four members of the band, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and Todd Rundgren, it tells the story of the theft of the Glass Guitar by Evil Forces, which has to be recovered by the four heroes.

Compilations[edit]

Authors and works:

From many countries[edit]

• García Carcedo, Pilar (2020): Entre brujas y dragones. Travesía comparativa por los cuentos tradicionales del mundo. Madrid: ed. Verbum.Estudio comparativo y antología de cuentos tradicionales del mundo
• Andrew Lang’s Color Fairy Books (1890–1913)
• Wolfram Eberhard (1909–1989)
• Howard Pyle’s The Wonder Clock
• Ruth Manning-Sanders (Wales, 1886–1988)
• World Tales (United Kingdom, 1979) by Idries Shah
• Richard Dorson (1916–1981)
• The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (United States, 2002) by Maria Tatar

Italy[edit]

• Pentamerone (Italy, 1634–1636) by Giambattista Basile
• Giovanni Francesco Straparola (Italy, 16th century)
• Giuseppe Pitrè, Italian collector of folktales from his native Sicily (Italy, 1841–1916)
• Laura Gonzenbach, Swiss collector of Sicilian folk tales (Switzerland, 1842–1878)
• Domenico Comparetti, Italian scholar (Italy, 1835–1927)
• Thomas Frederick Crane, American lawyer (United States, 1844–1927)
• Luigi Capuana, Italian author of literary fiabe
• Italian Folktales (Italy, 1956) by Italo Calvino

France[edit]

• Charles Perrault (France, 1628–1703)
• Eustache Le Noble, French writer of literary fairy tales (France, 1646–1711)
• Madame d’Aulnoy (France, 1650–1705)
• Emmanuel Cosquin, French collector of Lorraine fairy tales and one of the earliest tale comparativists (France, 1841–1919)
• Paul Sébillot, collector of folktales from Brittany, France (France, 1843–1918)
• François-Marie Luzel, French collector of Brittany folktales (France, 1821–1895)
• Charles Deulin, French author and folklorist (France, 1827–1877)
• Édouard René de Laboulaye, French jurist, poet and publisher of folk tales and literary fairy tales
• Henri Pourrat, French collector of Auvergne folklore (1887–1959)
• Achille Millien, collector of Nivernais folklore (France, 1838–1927)
• Paul Delarue, establisher of the French folktale catalogue (France, 1889–1956)

Germany[edit]

• Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Germany, 1812–1857)
• Johann Karl August Musäus, German writer of Volksmärchen der Deutschen (5 volumes; 1782–1786)
• Wilhelm Hauff, German author and novelist
• Heinrich Pröhle, collector of Germanic language folktales
• Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (Germany, 1810–1886)
• Adalbert Kuhn, German philologist and folklorist (Germany, 1812–1881)
• Alfred Cammann (de) (1909–2008), 20th century collector of fairy tales

Belgium[edit]

• Charles Polydore de Mont (Pol de Mont) (Belgium, 1857–1931)

United Kingdom and Ireland[edit]

• Joseph Jacobs’s two books of Celtic Fairytales and two books of English Folktales (1854–1916)
• Alan Garner’s Book of British Fairy Tales (United Kingdom, 1984) by Alan Garner
• Old English fairy tales by Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (1895)
• Popular Tales of the West Highlands (Scotland, 1862) by John Francis Campbell
• Jeremiah Curtin, collector of Irish folktales and translator of Slavic fairy tales (Ireland, 1835–1906)
• Patrick Kennedy, Irish educator and folklorist (Ireland, ca. 1801–1873)
• Séamus Ó Duilearga, Irish folklorist (Ireland, 1899–1980)
• Kevin Danaher, Irish folklorist (Ireland, 1913-2002) Folktales from the Irish Countryside
• W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and publisher of Irish folktales
• Peter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy Tales (United Kingdom, 1958), by Ruth Manning-Sanders

Scandinavia[edit]

• Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of literary fairy tales (Denmark, 1805–1875)
• Helena Nyblom, Swedish author of literary fairy tales (Sweden, 1843–1926)
• Norwegian Folktales (Norway, 1845–1870) by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe
• Svenska folksagor och äfventyr (Sweden, 1844–1849) by Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius
• August Bondeson, collector of Swedish folktales (1854–1906)
• Jyske Folkeminder by Evald Tang Kristensen (Denmark, 1843–1929)
• Svend Grundtvig, Danish folktale collector (Denmark, 1824–1883)
• Benjamin Thorpe, English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature and translator of Nordic and Scandinavian folktales (1782–1870)
• Jón Árnason, collector of Icelandic folklore
• Adeline Rittershaus, German philologist and translator of Icelandic folktales

Estonia, Finland and Baltic Region[edit]

• Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita (Finland, 1852–1866) by Eero Salmelainen
• August Leskien, German linguist and collector of Baltic folklore (1840–1916)
• William Forsell Kirby, English translator of Finnish folklore and folktales (1844–1912)
• Jonas Basanavičius, collector of Lithuanian folklore (1851–1927)
• Mečislovas Davainis-Silvestraitis, collector of Lithuanian folklore (1849–1919)
• Pēteris Šmits (lv), Latvian ethnographer (1869–1938)

Slavic regions[edit]

• Narodnye russkie skazki (Russia, 1855–1863) by Alexander Afanasyev
• Louis Léger, French translator of Slavic fairy tales (France, 1843–1923)
• Oskar Kolberg, Polish ethnographer who compiled several Polish folk and fairy tales (Poland, 1814–1890)
• Zygmunt Gloger, Polish historian and ethnographer (1845-1910)
• Božena Němcová, writer and collector of Czech fairy tales (Czech Republic, 1820?–1862)
• Alfred Waldau [cs], editor and translator of Czech fairy tales
• Jan Karel Hraše [cs], writer and publisher of Czech fairy tales
• František Lazecký [cs], publisher of Silesian fairy tales (Slezské pohádky) (1975–1977)
• Pavol Dobšinský, collector of Slovak folktales (1828–1885)
• August Horislav Škultéty, Slovak writer (1819–1895)
• Albert Wratislaw, collector of Slavic folktales
• Karel Jaromír Erben, poet, folklorist and publisher of Czech folktales (1811–1870)
• Vuk Karadžić, Serbian philologist (Serbia, 1787–1864)
• Elodie Lawton, British writer and translator of Serbian folktales (1825–1908)
• Friedrich Salomon Krauss, collector of South Slavic folklore
• Gašper Križnik [sl] (1848–1904), collector of Slovenian folktales

Romania[edit]

• Legende sau basmele românilor (Romania, 1874) by Petre Ispirescu
• Lazăr Șăineanu, Romanian folklorist (1859–1934)
• Queen Elisabeth of Wied’s Romanian fairy tales, penned under nom de plume Carmen Sylva^[131]
• G. Dem. Teodorescu, Wallachian/Romanian folklorist (1849–1900)
• I. C. Fundescu [ro] (1836–1904)
• Ion Pop-Reteganul [ro], Romanian folklorist (1853–1905)
• Dumitru Stăncescu [ro], Romanian folklorist (1866-1899)

Balkan Area and Eastern Europe[edit]

• Johann Georg von Hahn, Austrian diplomat and collector of Albanian and Greek folklore (1811–1869)
• Auguste Dozon, French scholar and diplomat who studied Albanian folklore (1822–1890)
• Robert Elsie, Canadian-born German Albanologist (Canada, 1950–2017)
• Donat Kurti, Albanian franciscan friar, educator, scholar and folklorist (1903–1983)
• Anton Çetta, Albanian folklorist, academic and university professor from Yugoslavia (1920–1995)
• Lucy Garnett, British traveller and folklorist on Turkey and Balkanic folklore (1849–1934)
• Francis Hindes Groome, English scholar of Romani populations (England, 1851–1902)

Hungary[edit]

• Elek Benedek, Hungarian journalist and collector of Hungarian folktales
• János Erdélyi, poet, critic, author, philosopher who collected Hungarian folktales
• Gyula Pap, ethographer who contributed to the collection Folk-tales of the Magyars
• The Hungarian Fairy Book, by Nándor Pogány (1913).^[132]
• Old Hungarian Fairy Tales (1895), by Countess Emma Orczy and Montague Barstow.

Spain and Portugal[edit]

• Fernán Caballero (Cecilia Böhl de Faber) (Spain, 1796–1877)
• Francisco Maspons y Labrós (Spain, 1840–1901)
• Antoni Maria Alcover i Sureda, priest, writer and collector of folktales in Catalan from Mallorca (Majorca, 1862–1932)
• Julio Camarena [es], Spanish folklorist (1949–2004)
• Teófilo Braga, collector of Portuguese folktales (Portugal, 1843–1924)
• Zófimo Consiglieri Pedroso, Portuguese folklorist (Portugal, 1851–1910)
• Wentworth Webster, collector of Basque folklore
• Elsie Spicer Eells, researcher on Iberian folklore (Portuguese and Brazilian)

Armenia[edit]

• Karekin Servantsians (Garegin Sruandzteants’; Bishop Sirwantzdiants), ethnologue and clergyman; publisher of Hamov-Hotov (1884)
• Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian poet and writer who reworked folkloric material into literary fairy tales (1869-1923)

Middle East[edit]

• Antoine Galland, French translator of the Arabian Nights (France, 1646–1715)
• Gaston Maspero, French translator of Egyptian and Middle Eastern folktales (France, 1846–1916)
• Hasan M. El-Shamy, establisher of a catalogue classification of Arab and Middle Eastern folktales
• Amina Shah, British anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales (1918–2014)
• Raphael Patai, scholar of Jewish folklore (1910–1996)
• Howard Schwartz, collector and publisher of Jewish folktales (1945–)
• Heda Jason [de], Israeli folklorist
• Dov Noy [de], Israeli folklorist (1920–2013)

Turkey[edit]

• Pertev Naili Boratav, Turkish folklorist (1907–1998)
• Kaloghlan (Turkey, 1923) by Ziya Gökalp

South Asia, India and Sri Lanka[edit]

• Panchatantra (India, 3rd century BC)
• Kathasaritsagara, compilation of Indian folklore made by Somadeva in the 11th century CE
• Lal Behari Dey, reverend and recorder of Bengali folktales (India, 1824–1892)
• James Hinton Knowles, missionary and collector of Kashmiri folklore
• Maive Stokes, Indian-born British author (1866–1961)
• Joseph Jacobs’s book of Indian Fairy Tales (1854–1916)
• Natesa Sastri’s collection of Tamil folklore and translation of Madanakamaraja Katha
• Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, three volumes by H. Parker (1910)
• Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and British orientalist William Crooke
• Verrier Elwin, ethographer and collector of Indian folk tales (1902–1964)
• A. K. Ramanujan, poet and scholar of Indian literature (1929–1993)
• Santal Folk Tales, three volumes by Paul Olaf Bodding (1925–29)
• Shobhanasundari Mukhopadhyay (1877-1937), Indian author and collector of folktales

America[edit]

• Marius Barbeau, Canadian folklorist (Canada, 1883–1969)
• Geneviève Massignon, scholar and publisher of French Acadian folklore (1921–1966)
• Carmen Roy (fr), Canadian folklorist (1919–2006)
• Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus series of books
• Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, by Marie Campbell
• Ruth Ann Musick, scholar of West Virginian folklore (1897–1974)
• Vance Randolph, folklorist who studied the folklore of the Ozarks (1892–1980)
• Cuentos populares mexicanos (Mexico, 2014) by Fabio Morábito
• Rafael Rivero Oramas, collector of Venezuelan tales. Author of El mundo de Tío Conejo, collection of Tío Tigre and Tío Conejo tales.
• Américo Paredes, author specialized in folklore from Mexico and the Mexican-American border (1915–1999)
• Elsie Clews Parsons, American anthropologist and collector of folktales from Central American countries (New York City, 1875–1941)
• John Alden Mason, American linguist and collector of Porto Rican folklore (1885–1967)
• Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Sr., scholar of Spanish folklore (1880–1958)

Brazil[edit]

• Sílvio Romero, Brazilian lawyer and folktale collector (Brazil, 1851–1914)
• Luís da Câmara Cascudo, Brazilian anthropologist and ethnologist (Brazil, 1898–1986)
• Lindolfo Gomes (pt), Brazilian folklorist (1875–1953)
• Marco Haurélio, contemporary writer and folklorist, author of Contos e Fábulas do Brasil and Contos Folclóricos Brasileiros.

Africa[edit]

• Hans Stumme, scholar and collector of North African folklore (1864–1936)
• Goldberg, Christine (2010). «The Forgotten Bride». Marvels & Tales. 24 (2): 345–347. JSTOR 41388963. Gale A241862735 Project MUSE 402467 ProQuest 763256457.

Asia[edit]

• Kunio Yanagita (Japan, 1875–1962)
• Seki Keigo, Japanese folklorist
• Lafcadio Hearn
• Yei Theodora Ozaki, translator of Japanese folk tales (1870–1932)
• Dean Fansler, professor and scholar of Filipino folklore

Miscellaneous[edit]

• Mixed Up Fairy Tales
• Fairy Tales (United States, 1965) by E. E. Cummings
• Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To Which are Prefixed Two Dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies (England, 1831) by Joseph Ritson

See also[edit]

• Fairy tale parody

References[edit]

Notelist[edit]

Citations[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

• Once Upon a Time – How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives, by Jonathan Young, PhD
• Once Upon A Time: Historical and Illustrated Fairy Tales. Special Collections, University of Colorado Boulder

For a comparison of fairy tale with other kinds of stories, such as myths, legends and fable, see Traditional story.

A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies.^[1] Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described)^[2] and explicit moral tales, including beast fables.

In less technical contexts, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in «fairy-tale ending» (a happy ending)^[3] or «fairy-tale romance». Colloquially, the term «fairy tale» or «fairy story» can also mean any far-fetched story or tall tale; it is used especially of any story that not only is not true, but could not possibly be true. Legends are perceived as real within their culture; fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics, fairy tales usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and to actual places, people, and events; they take place «once upon a time» rather than in actual times.^[4]

Fairy tales occur both in oral and in literary form; the name «fairy tale» («conte de fées» in French) was first ascribed to them by Madame d’Aulnoy in the late 17th century. Many of today’s fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world.^[5]

The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because only the literary forms can survive. Still, according to researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon, such stories may date back thousands of years, some to the Bronze Age.^[6][7] Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written today.

The Jatakas are probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years old. It is certain that much (perhaps one~fifth) of the popular literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this large bulk which came west with the Crusades through the medium of Arabs and Jews.^[8]

Folklorists have classified fairy tales in various ways. The Aarne-Thompson classification system and the morphological analysis of Vladimir Propp are among the most notable. Other folklorists have interpreted the tales’ significance, but no school has been definitively established for the meaning of the tales.

Terminology[edit]

Some folklorists prefer to use the German term Märchen or «wonder tale»^[9] to refer to the genre rather than fairy tale, a practice given weight by the definition of Thompson in his 1977 [1946] edition of The Folktale: «a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvellous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses.»^[10] The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal: princesses and goose-girls; youngest sons and gallant princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magical helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; glass mountains; and prohibitions and breaking of prohibitions.^[11]

Definition[edit]

Although the fairy tale is a distinct genre within the larger category of folktale, the definition that marks a work as a fairy tale is a source of considerable dispute.^[12] The term itself comes from the translation of Madame D’Aulnoy’s Conte de fées, first used in her collection in 1697.^[13] Common parlance conflates fairy tales with beast fables and other folktales, and scholars differ on the degree to which the presence of fairies and/or similarly mythical beings (e.g., elves, goblins, trolls, giants, huge monsters, or mermaids) should be taken as a differentiator. Vladimir Propp, in his Morphology of the Folktale, criticized the common distinction between «fairy tales» and «animal tales» on the grounds that many tales contained both fantastic elements and animals.^[14] Nevertheless, to select works for his analysis, Propp used all Russian folktales classified as a folklore, Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index 300–749, – in a cataloguing system that made such a distinction – to gain a clear set of tales.^[15] His own analysis identified fairy tales by their plot elements, but that in itself has been criticized, as the analysis does not lend itself easily to tales that do not involve a quest, and furthermore, the same plot elements are found in non-fairy tale works.^[16]

Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale … of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful.

As Stith Thompson points out, talking animals and the presence of magic seem to be more common to the fairy tale than fairies themselves.^[17] However, the mere presence of animals that talk does not make a tale a fairy tale, especially when the animal is clearly a mask on a human face, as in fables.^[18]

In his essay «On Fairy-Stories», J. R. R. Tolkien agreed with the exclusion of «fairies» from the definition, defining fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in Faërie, the land of fairies, fairytale princes and princesses, dwarves, elves, and not only other magical species but many other marvels.^[19] However, the same essay excludes tales that are often considered fairy tales, citing as an example The Monkey’s Heart, which Andrew Lang included in The Lilac Fairy Book.^[18]

Steven Swann Jones identified the presence of magic as the feature by which fairy tales can be distinguished from other sorts of folktales.^[20] Davidson and Chaudri identify «transformation» as the key feature of the genre.^[9] From a psychological point of view, Jean Chiriac argued for the necessity of the fantastic in these narratives.^[21]

In terms of aesthetic values, Italo Calvino cited the fairy tale as a prime example of «quickness» in literature, because of the economy and concision of the tales.^[22]

History of the genre[edit]

Originally, stories that would contemporarily be considered fairy tales were not marked out as a separate genre. The German term «Märchen» stems from the old German word «Mär», which means news or tale.^[23] The word «Märchen» is the diminutive of the word «Mär», therefore it means a «little story». Together with the common beginning «once upon a time», this tells us that a fairy tale or a märchen was originally a little story from a long time ago when the world was still magic. (Indeed, one less regular German opening is «In the old times when wishing was still effective».)^{[citation needed]}

The English term «fairy tale» stems from the fact that the French contes often included fairies.^{[citation needed]}

Roots of the genre come from different oral stories passed down in European cultures. The genre was first marked out by writers of the Renaissance, such as Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile, and stabilized through the works of later collectors such as Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.^[24] In this evolution, the name was coined when the précieuses took up writing literary stories; Madame d’Aulnoy invented the term Conte de fée, or fairy tale, in the late 17th century.^[25]

Before the definition of the genre of fantasy, many works that would now be classified as fantasy were termed «fairy tales», including Tolkien’s The Hobbit, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.^[26] Indeed, Tolkien’s «On Fairy-Stories» includes discussions of world-building and is considered a vital part of fantasy criticism. Although fantasy, particularly the subgenre of fairytale fantasy, draws heavily on fairy tale motifs,^[27] the genres are now regarded as distinct.

Folk and literary[edit]

The fairy tale, told orally, is a sub-class of the folktale. Many writers have written in the form of the fairy tale. These are the literary fairy tales, or Kunstmärchen.^[13] The oldest forms, from Panchatantra to the Pentamerone, show considerable reworking from the oral form.^[28] The Grimm brothers were among the first to try to preserve the features of oral tales. Yet the stories printed under the Grimm name have been considerably reworked to fit the written form.^[29]

Literary fairy tales and oral fairy tales freely exchanged plots, motifs, and elements with one another and with the tales of foreign lands.^[30] The literary fairy tale came into fashion during the 17th century, developed by aristocratic women as a parlour game. This, in turn, helped to maintain the oral tradition. According to Jack Zipes, «The subject matter of the conversations consisted of literature, mores, taste, and etiquette, whereby the speakers all endeavoured to portray ideal situations in the most effective oratorical style that would gradually have a major effect on literary forms.»^[31] Many 18th-century folklorists attempted to recover the «pure» folktale, uncontaminated by literary versions. Yet while oral fairy tales likely existed for thousands of years before the literary forms, there is no pure folktale, and each literary fairy tale draws on folk traditions, if only in parody.^[32] This makes it impossible to trace forms of transmission of a fairy tale. Oral story-tellers have been known to read literary fairy tales to increase their own stock of stories and treatments.^[33]

History[edit]

The oral tradition of the fairy tale came long before the written page. Tales were told or enacted dramatically, rather than written down, and handed down from generation to generation. Because of this, the history of their development is necessarily obscure and blurred. Fairy tales appear, now and again, in written literature throughout literate cultures,^[a][b] as in The Golden Ass, which includes Cupid and Psyche (Roman, 100–200 AD),^[37] or the Panchatantra (India 3rd century BC),^[37] but it is unknown to what extent these reflect the actual folk tales even of their own time. The stylistic evidence indicates that these, and many later collections, reworked folk tales into literary forms.^[28] What they do show is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the Arabian Nights collection of magical tales (compiled circa 1500 AD),^[37] such as Vikram and the Vampire, and Bel and the Dragon. Besides such collections and individual tales, in China, Taoist philosophers such as Liezi and Zhuangzi recounted fairy tales in their philosophical works.^[38] In the broader definition of the genre, the first famous Western fairy tales are those of Aesop (6th century BC) in ancient Greece.

Scholarship points out that Medieval literature contains early versions or predecessors of later known tales and motifs, such as the grateful dead, The Bird Lover or the quest for the lost wife.^[39][c] Recognizable folktales have also been reworked as the plot of folk literature and oral epics.^[42]

Jack Zipes writes in When Dreams Came True, «There are fairy tale elements in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, and in many of William Shakespeare plays.»^[43] King Lear can be considered a literary variant of fairy tales such as Water and Salt and Cap O’ Rushes.^[44] The tale itself resurfaced in Western literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, with The Facetious Nights of Straparola by Giovanni Francesco Straparola (Italy, 1550 and 1553),^[37] which contains many fairy tales in its inset tales, and the Neapolitan tales of Giambattista Basile (Naples, 1634–36),^[37] which are all fairy tales.^[45] Carlo Gozzi made use of many fairy tale motifs among his Commedia dell’Arte scenarios,^[46] including among them one based on The Love For Three Oranges (1761).^[47] Simultaneously, Pu Songling, in China, included many fairy tales in his collection, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (published posthumously, 1766).^[38] The fairy tale itself became popular among the précieuses of upper-class France (1690–1710),^[37] and among the tales told in that time were the ones of La Fontaine and the Contes of Charles Perrault (1697), who fixed the forms of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.^[48] Although Straparola’s, Basile’s and Perrault’s collections contain the oldest known forms of various fairy tales, on the stylistic evidence, all the writers rewrote the tales for literary effect.^[49]

The Salon Era[edit]

In the mid-17th century, a vogue for magical tales emerged among the intellectuals who frequented the salons of Paris. These salons were regular gatherings hosted by prominent aristocratic women, where women and men could gather together to discuss the issues of the day.

In the 1630s, aristocratic women began to gather in their own living rooms, salons, to discuss the topics of their choice: arts and letters, politics, and social matters of immediate concern to the women of their class: marriage, love, financial and physical independence, and access to education. This was a time when women were barred from receiving a formal education. Some of the most gifted women writers of the period came out of these early salons (such as Madeleine de Scudéry and Madame de Lafayette), which encouraged women’s independence and pushed against the gender barriers that defined their lives. The salonnières argued particularly for love and intellectual compatibility between the sexes, opposing the system of arranged marriages.

Sometime in the middle of the 17th century, a passion for the conversational parlour game based on the plots of old folk tales swept through the salons. Each salonnière was called upon to retell an old tale or rework an old theme, spinning clever new stories that not only showcased verbal agility and imagination but also slyly commented on the conditions of aristocratic life. Great emphasis was placed on a mode of delivery that seemed natural and spontaneous. The decorative language of the fairy tales served an important function: disguising the rebellious subtext of the stories and sliding them past the court censors. Critiques of court life (and even of the king) were embedded in extravagant tales and in dark, sharply dystopian ones. Not surprisingly, the tales by women often featured young (but clever) aristocratic girls whose lives were controlled by the arbitrary whims of fathers, kings, and elderly wicked fairies, as well as tales in which groups of wise fairies (i.e., intelligent, independent women) stepped in and put all to rights.

The salon tales as they were originally written and published have been preserved in a monumental work called Le Cabinet des Fées, an enormous collection of stories from the 17th and 18th centuries.^[13]

Later works[edit]

The first collectors to attempt to preserve not only the plot and characters of the tale, but also the style in which they were told, was the Brothers Grimm, collecting German fairy tales; ironically, this meant although their first edition (1812 & 1815)^[37] remains a treasure for folklorists, they rewrote the tales in later editions to make them more acceptable, which ensured their sales and the later popularity of their work.^[50]

Such literary forms did not merely draw from the folktale, but also influenced folktales in turn. The Brothers Grimm rejected several tales for their collection, though told orally to them by Germans, because the tales derived from Perrault, and they concluded they were thereby French and not German tales; an oral version of Bluebeard was thus rejected, and the tale of Little Briar Rose, clearly related to Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty, was included only because Jacob Grimm convinced his brother that the figure of Brynhildr, from much earlier Norse mythology, proved that the sleeping princess was authentically Germanic folklore.^[51]

This consideration of whether to keep Sleeping Beauty reflected a belief common among folklorists of the 19th century: that the folk tradition preserved fairy tales in forms from pre-history except when «contaminated» by such literary forms, leading people to tell inauthentic tales.^[52] The rural, illiterate, and uneducated peasants, if suitably isolated, were the folk and would tell pure folk tales.^[53] Sometimes they regarded fairy tales as a form of fossil, the remnants of a once-perfect tale.^[54] However, further research has concluded that fairy tales never had a fixed form, and regardless of literary influence, the tellers constantly altered them for their own purposes.^[55]

The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe, in a spirit of romantic nationalism, that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian Alexander Afanasyev (first published in 1866),^[37] the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe (first published in 1845),^[37] the Romanian Petre Ispirescu (first published in 1874), the English Joseph Jacobs (first published in 1890),^[37] and Jeremiah Curtin, an American who collected Irish tales (first published in 1890).^[32] Ethnographers collected fairy tales throughout the world, finding similar tales in Africa, the Americas, and Australia; Andrew Lang was able to draw on not only the written tales of Europe and Asia, but those collected by ethnographers, to fill his «coloured» fairy books series.^[56] They also encouraged other collectors of fairy tales, as when Yei Theodora Ozaki created a collection, Japanese Fairy Tales (1908), after encouragement from Lang.^[57] Simultaneously, writers such as Hans Christian Andersen and George MacDonald continued the tradition of literary fairy tales. Andersen’s work sometimes drew on old folktales, but more often deployed fairytale motifs and plots in new tales.^[58] MacDonald incorporated fairytale motifs both in new literary fairy tales, such as The Light Princess, and in works of the genre that would become fantasy, as in The Princess and the Goblin or Lilith.^[59]

Cross-cultural transmission[edit]

Two theories of origins have attempted to explain the common elements in fairy tales found spread over continents. One is that a single point of origin generated any given tale, which then spread over the centuries; the other is that such fairy tales stem from common human experience and therefore can appear separately in many different origins.^[60]

Fairy tales with very similar plots, characters, and motifs are found spread across many different cultures. Many researchers hold this to be caused by the spread of such tales, as people repeat tales they have heard in foreign lands, although the oral nature makes it impossible to trace the route except by inference.^[61] Folklorists have attempted to determine the origin by internal evidence, which can not always be clear; Joseph Jacobs, comparing the Scottish tale The Ridere of Riddles with the version collected by the Brothers Grimm, The Riddle, noted that in The Ridere of Riddles one hero ends up polygamously married, which might point to an ancient custom, but in The Riddle, the simpler riddle might argue greater antiquity.^[62]

Folklorists of the «Finnish» (or historical-geographical) school attempted to place fairy tales to their origin, with inconclusive results.^[63] Sometimes influence, especially within a limited area and time, is clearer, as when considering the influence of Perrault’s tales on those collected by the Brothers Grimm. Little Briar-Rose appears to stem from Perrault’s The Sleeping Beauty, as the Grimms’ tale appears to be the only independent German variant.^[64] Similarly, the close agreement between the opening of the Grimms’ version of Little Red Riding Hood and Perrault’s tale points to an influence, although the Grimms’ version adds a different ending (perhaps derived from The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids).^[65]

Fairy tales tend to take on the color of their location, through the choice of motifs, the style in which they are told, and the depiction of character and local color.^[66]

The Brothers Grimm believed that European fairy tales derived from the cultural history shared by all Indo-European peoples and were therefore ancient, far older than written records. This view is supported by research by the anthropologist Jamie Tehrani and the folklorist Sara Graca Da Silva using phylogenetic analysis, a technique developed by evolutionary biologists to trace the relatedness of living and fossil species. Among the tales analysed were Jack and the Beanstalk, traced to the time of splitting of Eastern and Western Indo-European, over 5000 years ago. Both Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin appear to have been created some 4000 years ago. The story of The Smith and the Devil (Deal with the Devil) appears to date from the Bronze Age, some 6000 years ago.^[67] Various other studies converge to suggest that some fairy tales, for example the swan maiden,^[68][69][70] could go back to the Upper Palaeolithic.

Association with children[edit]

Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children.^[71] Literary fairy tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the 19th and 20th centuries the fairy tale became associated with children’s literature.

The précieuses, including Madame d’Aulnoy, intended their works for adults, but regarded their source as the tales that servants, or other women of lower class, would tell to children.^[72] Indeed, a novel of that time, depicting a countess’s suitor offering to tell such a tale, has the countess exclaim that she loves fairy tales as if she were still a child.^[72] Among the late précieuses, Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont redacted a version of Beauty and the Beast for children, and it is her tale that is best known today.^[73] The Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children’s and Household Tales and rewrote their tales after complaints that they were not suitable for children.^[74]

In the modern era, fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children. The Brothers Grimm concentrated mostly on sexual references;^[75] Rapunzel, in the first edition, revealed the prince’s visits by asking why her clothing had grown tight, thus letting the witch deduce that she was pregnant, but in subsequent editions carelessly revealed that it was easier to pull up the prince than the witch.^[76] On the other hand, in many respects, violence‍—‌particularly when punishing villains‍—‌was increased.^[77] Other, later, revisions cut out violence; J. R. R. Tolkien noted that The Juniper Tree often had its cannibalistic stew cut out in a version intended for children.^[78] The moralizing strain in the Victorian era altered the classical tales to teach lessons, as when George Cruikshank rewrote Cinderella in 1854 to contain temperance themes. His acquaintance Charles Dickens protested, «In an utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected.»^[79][80]

Psychoanalysts such as Bruno Bettelheim, who regarded the cruelty of older fairy tales as indicative of psychological conflicts, strongly criticized this expurgation, because it weakened their usefulness to both children and adults as ways of symbolically resolving issues.^[81] Fairy tales do teach children how to deal with difficult times. To quote Rebecca Walters (2017, p. 56) «Fairytales and folktales are part of the cultural conserve that can be used to address children’s fears …. and give them some role training in an approach that honors the children’s window of tolerance». These fairy tales teach children how to deal with certain social situations and helps them to find their place in society.^[82] Fairy tales teach children other important lessons too. For example, Tsitsani et al. carried out a study on children to determine the benefits of fairy tales. Parents of the children who took part in the study found that fairy tales, especially the color in them, triggered their child’s imagination as they read them.^[83]Jungian Analyst and fairy tale scholar, Marie Louise Von Franz interprets fairy tales^[84] based on Jung’s view of fairy tales as a spontaneous and naive product of soul, which can only express what soul is.^[85] That means, she looks at fairy tales as images of different phases of experiencing the reality of the soul. They are the «purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes» and «they represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest and most concise form» because they are less overlaid with conscious material than myths and legends. «In this pure form, the archetypal images afford us the best clues to the understanding of the processes going on in the collective psyche». «The fairy tale itself is its own best explanation; that is, its meaning is contained in the totality of its motifs connected by the thread of the story. […] Every fairy tale is a relatively closed system compounding one essential psychological meaning which is expressed in a series of symbolical pictures and events and is discoverable in these». «I have come to the conclusion that all fairy tales endeavour to describe one and the same psychic fact, but a fact so complex and far-reaching and so difficult for us to realize in all its different aspects that hundreds of tales and thousands of repetitions with a musician’s variation are needed until this unknown fact is delivered into consciousness; and even then the theme is not exhausted. This unknown fact is what Jung calls the Self, which is the psychic reality of the collective unconscious. […] Every archetype is in its essence only one aspect of the collective unconscious as well as always representing also the whole collective unconscious.^[86]

Other famous people commented on the importance of fairy tales, especially for children. For example, Albert Einstein once showed how important he believed fairy tales were for children’s intelligence in the quote «If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales.»^[87]

The adaptation of fairy tales for children continues. Walt Disney’s influential Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was largely (although certainly not solely) intended for the children’s market.^[88] The anime Magical Princess Minky Momo draws on the fairy tale Momotarō.^[89] Jack Zipes has spent many years working to make the older traditional stories accessible to modern readers and their children.^[90]

Motherhood[edit]

Many fairy tales feature an absentee mother, as an example Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood and Donkeyskin, where the mother is deceased or absent and unable to help the heroines. Mothers are depicted as absent or wicked in the most popular contemporary versions of tales like Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, however,
some lesser known tales or variants such as those found in volumes edited by Angela Carter and Jane Yolen depict mothers in a more positive light.^[91]

Carter’s protagonist in The Bloody Chamber is an impoverished piano student married to a Marquis who was much older than herself to «banish the spectre of poverty». The story is a variant on Bluebeard, a tale about a wealthy man who murders numerous young women. Carter’s protagonist, who is unnamed, describes her mother as «eagle-featured» and «indomitable». Her mother is depicted as a woman who is prepared for violence, instead of hiding from it or sacrificing herself to it. The protagonist recalls how her mother kept an «antique service revolver» and once «shot a man-eating tiger with her own hand.»^[91]

Contemporary tales[edit]

Literary[edit]

In contemporary literature, many authors have used the form of fairy tales for various reasons, such as examining the human condition from the simple framework a fairytale provides.^[92] Some authors seek to recreate a sense of the fantastic in a contemporary discourse.^[93] Some writers use fairy tale forms for modern issues;^[94] this can include using the psychological dramas implicit in the story, as when Robin McKinley retold Donkeyskin as the novel Deerskin, with emphasis on the abusive treatment the father of the tale dealt to his daughter.^[95] Sometimes, especially in children’s literature, fairy tales are retold with a twist simply for comic effect, such as The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka and The ASBO Fairy Tales by Chris Pilbeam. A common comic motif is a world where all the fairy tales take place, and the characters are aware of their role in the story,^[96] such as in the film series Shrek.

Other authors may have specific motives, such as multicultural or feminist reevaluations of predominantly Eurocentric masculine-dominated fairy tales, implying critique of older narratives.^[97] The figure of the damsel in distress has been particularly attacked by many feminist critics. Examples of narrative reversal rejecting this figure include The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch, a picture book aimed at children in which a princess rescues a prince, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, which retells a number of fairy tales from a female point of view^[98] and Simon Hood’s contemporary interpretation of various popular classics.^[99]

There are also many contemporary erotic retellings of fairy tales, which explicitly draw upon the original spirit of the tales, and are specifically for adults. Modern retellings focus on exploring the tale through use of the erotic, explicit sexuality, dark and/or comic themes, female empowerment, fetish and BDSM, multicultural, and heterosexual characters. Cleis Press has released several fairy tale-themed erotic anthologies, including Fairy Tale Lust, Lustfully Ever After, and A Princess Bound.

It may be hard to lay down the rule between fairy tales and fantasies that use fairy tale motifs, or even whole plots, but the distinction is commonly made, even within the works of a single author: George MacDonald’s Lilith and Phantastes are regarded as fantasies, while his «The Light Princess», «The Golden Key», and «The Wise Woman» are commonly called fairy tales. The most notable distinction is that fairytale fantasies, like other fantasies, make use of novelistic writing conventions of prose, characterization, or setting.^[100]

Film[edit]

Fairy tales have been enacted dramatically; records exist of this in commedia dell’arte,^[101] and later in pantomime.^[102] Unlike oral and literacy form, fairy tales in film is considered one of the most effective way to convey the story to the audience. The advent of cinema has meant that such stories could be presented in a more plausible manner, with the use of special effects and animation. The Walt Disney Company has had a significant impact on the evolution of the fairy tale film. Some of the earliest short silent films from the Disney studio were based on fairy tales, and some fairy tales were adapted into shorts in the musical comedy series «Silly Symphony», such as Three Little Pigs. Walt Disney’s first feature-length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937, was a ground-breaking film for fairy tales and, indeed, fantasy in general.^[88] With the cost of over 400 percent of the budget and more than 300 artists, assistants and animators, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was arguably one of the highest work force demanded film at that time.^[103] The studio even hired Don Graham to open animation training programs for more than 700 staffs.^[104] As for the motion capture and personality expression, the studio used a dancer, Marjorie Celeste, from the beginning to the end for the best results.^[104] Disney and his creative successors have returned to traditional and literary fairy tales numerous times with films such as Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). Disney’s influence helped establish the fairy tale genre as a genre for children, and has been accused by some of bowdlerizing the gritty naturalism – and sometimes unhappy endings – of many folk fairy tales.^[95] However, others note that the softening of fairy tales occurred long before Disney, some of which was even done by the Grimm brothers themselves.^[105][106]

Many filmed fairy tales have been made primarily for children, from Disney’s later works to Aleksandr Rou’s retelling of Vasilissa the Beautiful, the first Soviet film to use Russian folk tales in a big-budget feature.^[107] Others have used the conventions of fairy tales to create new stories with sentiments more relevant to contemporary life, as in Labyrinth,^[108] My Neighbor Totoro, Happily N’Ever After, and the films of Michel Ocelot.^[109]

Other works have retold familiar fairy tales in a darker, more horrific or psychological variant aimed primarily at adults. Notable examples are Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast^[110] and The Company of Wolves, based on Angela Carter’s retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.^[111] Likewise, Princess Mononoke,^[112] Pan’s Labyrinth,^[113] Suspiria, and Spike^[114] create new stories in this genre from fairy tale and folklore motifs.

In comics and animated TV series, The Sandman, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Tutu, Fables and MÄR all make use of standard fairy tale elements to various extents but are more accurately categorised as fairytale fantasy due to the definite locations and characters which a longer narrative requires.

A more modern cinematic fairy tale would be Luchino Visconti’s Le Notti Bianche, starring Marcello Mastroianni before he became a superstar. It involves many of the romantic conventions of fairy tales, yet it takes place in post-World War II Italy, and it ends realistically.

In recent years, Disney has been dominating the fairy tale film industry by remaking their animated fairy tale films into live action. Examples include Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and so on.

Motifs[edit]

Any comparison of fairy tales quickly discovers that many fairy tales have features in common with each other. Two of the most influential classifications are those of Antti Aarne, as revised by Stith Thompson into the Aarne-Thompson classification system, and Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folk Tale.

Aarne-Thompson[edit]

This system groups fairy and folk tales according to their overall plot. Common, identifying features are picked out to decide which tales are grouped together. Much therefore depends on what features are regarded as decisive.

For instance, tales like Cinderella – in which a persecuted heroine, with the help of the fairy godmother or similar magical helper, attends an event (or three) in which she wins the love of a prince and is identified as his true bride‍—‌are classified as type 510, the persecuted heroine. Some such tales are The Wonderful Birch; Aschenputtel; Katie Woodencloak; The Story of Tam and Cam; Ye Xian; Cap O’ Rushes; Catskin; Fair, Brown and Trembling; Finette Cendron; Allerleirauh.

Further analysis of the tales shows that in Cinderella, The Wonderful Birch, The Story of Tam and Cam, Ye Xian, and Aschenputtel, the heroine is persecuted by her stepmother and refused permission to go to the ball or other event, and in Fair, Brown and Trembling and Finette Cendron by her sisters and other female figures, and these are grouped as 510A; while in Cap O’ Rushes, Catskin, and Allerleirauh, the heroine is driven from home by her father’s persecutions, and must take work in a kitchen elsewhere, and these are grouped as 510B. But in Katie Woodencloak, she is driven from home by her stepmother’s persecutions and must take service in a kitchen elsewhere, and in Tattercoats, she is refused permission to go to the ball by her grandfather. Given these features common with both types of 510, Katie Woodencloak is classified as 510A because the villain is the stepmother, and Tattercoats as 510B because the grandfather fills the father’s role.

This system has its weaknesses in the difficulty of having no way to classify subportions of a tale as motifs. Rapunzel is type 310 (The Maiden in the Tower), but it opens with a child being demanded in return for stolen food, as does Puddocky; but Puddocky is not a Maiden in the Tower tale, while The Canary Prince, which opens with a jealous stepmother, is.

It also lends itself to emphasis on the common elements, to the extent that the folklorist describes The Black Bull of Norroway as the same story as Beauty and the Beast. This can be useful as a shorthand but can also erase the coloring and details of a story.^[115]

Morphology[edit]

Vladimir Propp specifically studied a collection of Russian fairy tales, but his analysis has been found useful for the tales of other countries.^[116] Having criticized Aarne-Thompson type analysis for ignoring what motifs did in stories, and because the motifs used were not clearly distinct,^[117] he analyzed the tales for the function each character and action fulfilled and concluded that a tale was composed of thirty-one elements (‘functions’) and seven characters or ‘spheres of action’ (‘the princess and her father’ are a single sphere). While the elements were not all required for all tales, when they appeared they did so in an invariant order – except that each individual element might be negated twice, so that it would appear three times, as when, in Brother and Sister, the brother resists drinking from enchanted streams twice, so that it is the third that enchants him.^[118] Propp’s 31 functions also fall within six ‘stages’ (preparation, complication, transference, struggle, return, recognition), and a stage can also be repeated, which can affect the perceived order of elements.

One such element is the donor who gives the hero magical assistance, often after testing him.^[119] In The Golden Bird, the talking fox tests the hero by warning him against entering an inn and, after he succeeds, helps him find the object of his quest; in The Boy Who Drew Cats, the priest advised the hero to stay in small places at night, which protects him from an evil spirit; in Cinderella, the fairy godmother gives Cinderella the dresses she needs to attend the ball, as their mothers’ spirits do in Bawang Putih Bawang Merah and The Wonderful Birch; in The Fox Sister, a Buddhist monk gives the brothers magical bottles to protect against the fox spirit. The roles can be more complicated.^[120] In The Red Ettin, the role is split into the mother‍—‌who offers the hero the whole of a journey cake with her curse or half with her blessing‍—‌and when he takes the half, a fairy who gives him advice; in Mr Simigdáli, the sun, the moon, and the stars all give the heroine a magical gift. Characters who are not always the donor can act like the donor.^[121] In Kallo and the Goblins, the villain goblins also give the heroine gifts, because they are tricked; in Schippeitaro, the evil cats betray their secret to the hero, giving him the means to defeat them. Other fairy tales, such as The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, do not feature the donor.

Analogies have been drawn between this and the analysis of myths into the hero’s journey.^[122]

Interpretations[edit]

Many fairy tales have been interpreted for their (purported) significance. One mythological interpretation saw many fairy tales, including Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, and The Frog King, as solar myths; this mode of interpretation subsequently became rather less popular.^[123] Freudian, Jungian, and other psychological analyses have also explicated many tales, but no mode of interpretation has established itself definitively.^[124]

Specific analyses have often been criticized^{[by whom?]} for lending great importance to motifs that are not, in fact, integral to the tale; this has often stemmed from treating one instance of a fairy tale as the definitive text, where the tale has been told and retold in many variations.^[125] In variants of Bluebeard, the wife’s curiosity is betrayed by a blood-stained key, by an egg’s breaking, or by the singing of a rose she wore, without affecting the tale, but interpretations of specific variants have claimed that the precise object is integral to the tale.^[126]

Other folklorists have interpreted tales as historical documents. Many^[quantify] German folklorists, believing the tales to have preserved details from ancient times, have used the Grimms’ tales to explain ancient customs.^[127]

One approach sees the topography of European Märchen as echoing the period immediately following the last Ice Age.^[128]
Other folklorists have explained the figure of the wicked stepmother in a historical/sociological context: many women did die in childbirth, their husbands remarried, and the new stepmothers competed with the children of the first marriage for resources.^[129]

In a 2012 lecture, Jack Zipes reads fairy tales as examples of what he calls «childism». He suggests that there are terrible aspects to the tales, which (among other things) have conditioned children to accept mistreatment and even abuse.^[130]

Fairy tales in music[edit]

Fairy tales have inspired music, namely opera, such as the French Opéra féerie and the German Märchenoper. French examples include Gretry’s Zémire et Azor, and Auber’s Le cheval de bronze, German operas are Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Siegfried Wagner’s An allem ist Hütchen schuld!, which is based on many fairy tales, and Carl Orff’s Die Kluge.

Ballet, too, is fertile ground for bringing fairy tales to life. Igor Stravinsky’s first ballet, The Firebird uses elements from various classic Russian tales in that work.

Even contemporary fairy tales have been written for the purpose of inspiration in the music world. «Raven Girl» by Audrey Niffenegger was written to inspire a new dance for the Royal Ballet in London. The song «Singring and the Glass Guitar» by the American band Utopia, recorded for their album «Ra», is called «An Electrified Fairytale». Composed by the four members of the band, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and Todd Rundgren, it tells the story of the theft of the Glass Guitar by Evil Forces, which has to be recovered by the four heroes.

Compilations[edit]

Authors and works:

From many countries[edit]

• García Carcedo, Pilar (2020): Entre brujas y dragones. Travesía comparativa por los cuentos tradicionales del mundo. Madrid: ed. Verbum.Estudio comparativo y antología de cuentos tradicionales del mundo
• Andrew Lang’s Color Fairy Books (1890–1913)
• Wolfram Eberhard (1909–1989)
• Howard Pyle’s The Wonder Clock
• Ruth Manning-Sanders (Wales, 1886–1988)
• World Tales (United Kingdom, 1979) by Idries Shah
• Richard Dorson (1916–1981)
• The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (United States, 2002) by Maria Tatar

Italy[edit]

• Pentamerone (Italy, 1634–1636) by Giambattista Basile
• Giovanni Francesco Straparola (Italy, 16th century)
• Giuseppe Pitrè, Italian collector of folktales from his native Sicily (Italy, 1841–1916)
• Laura Gonzenbach, Swiss collector of Sicilian folk tales (Switzerland, 1842–1878)
• Domenico Comparetti, Italian scholar (Italy, 1835–1927)
• Thomas Frederick Crane, American lawyer (United States, 1844–1927)
• Luigi Capuana, Italian author of literary fiabe
• Italian Folktales (Italy, 1956) by Italo Calvino

France[edit]

• Charles Perrault (France, 1628–1703)
• Eustache Le Noble, French writer of literary fairy tales (France, 1646–1711)
• Madame d’Aulnoy (France, 1650–1705)
• Emmanuel Cosquin, French collector of Lorraine fairy tales and one of the earliest tale comparativists (France, 1841–1919)
• Paul Sébillot, collector of folktales from Brittany, France (France, 1843–1918)
• François-Marie Luzel, French collector of Brittany folktales (France, 1821–1895)
• Charles Deulin, French author and folklorist (France, 1827–1877)
• Édouard René de Laboulaye, French jurist, poet and publisher of folk tales and literary fairy tales
• Henri Pourrat, French collector of Auvergne folklore (1887–1959)
• Achille Millien, collector of Nivernais folklore (France, 1838–1927)
• Paul Delarue, establisher of the French folktale catalogue (France, 1889–1956)

Germany[edit]

• Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Germany, 1812–1857)
• Johann Karl August Musäus, German writer of Volksmärchen der Deutschen (5 volumes; 1782–1786)
• Wilhelm Hauff, German author and novelist
• Heinrich Pröhle, collector of Germanic language folktales
• Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (Germany, 1810–1886)
• Adalbert Kuhn, German philologist and folklorist (Germany, 1812–1881)
• Alfred Cammann (de) (1909–2008), 20th century collector of fairy tales

Belgium[edit]

• Charles Polydore de Mont (Pol de Mont) (Belgium, 1857–1931)

United Kingdom and Ireland[edit]

• Joseph Jacobs’s two books of Celtic Fairytales and two books of English Folktales (1854–1916)
• Alan Garner’s Book of British Fairy Tales (United Kingdom, 1984) by Alan Garner
• Old English fairy tales by Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (1895)
• Popular Tales of the West Highlands (Scotland, 1862) by John Francis Campbell
• Jeremiah Curtin, collector of Irish folktales and translator of Slavic fairy tales (Ireland, 1835–1906)
• Patrick Kennedy, Irish educator and folklorist (Ireland, ca. 1801–1873)
• Séamus Ó Duilearga, Irish folklorist (Ireland, 1899–1980)
• Kevin Danaher, Irish folklorist (Ireland, 1913-2002) Folktales from the Irish Countryside
• W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and publisher of Irish folktales
• Peter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy Tales (United Kingdom, 1958), by Ruth Manning-Sanders

Scandinavia[edit]

• Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of literary fairy tales (Denmark, 1805–1875)
• Helena Nyblom, Swedish author of literary fairy tales (Sweden, 1843–1926)
• Norwegian Folktales (Norway, 1845–1870) by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe
• Svenska folksagor och äfventyr (Sweden, 1844–1849) by Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius
• August Bondeson, collector of Swedish folktales (1854–1906)
• Jyske Folkeminder by Evald Tang Kristensen (Denmark, 1843–1929)
• Svend Grundtvig, Danish folktale collector (Denmark, 1824–1883)
• Benjamin Thorpe, English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature and translator of Nordic and Scandinavian folktales (1782–1870)
• Jón Árnason, collector of Icelandic folklore
• Adeline Rittershaus, German philologist and translator of Icelandic folktales

Estonia, Finland and Baltic Region[edit]

• Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita (Finland, 1852–1866) by Eero Salmelainen
• August Leskien, German linguist and collector of Baltic folklore (1840–1916)
• William Forsell Kirby, English translator of Finnish folklore and folktales (1844–1912)
• Jonas Basanavičius, collector of Lithuanian folklore (1851–1927)
• Mečislovas Davainis-Silvestraitis, collector of Lithuanian folklore (1849–1919)
• Pēteris Šmits (lv), Latvian ethnographer (1869–1938)

Slavic regions[edit]

• Narodnye russkie skazki (Russia, 1855–1863) by Alexander Afanasyev
• Louis Léger, French translator of Slavic fairy tales (France, 1843–1923)
• Oskar Kolberg, Polish ethnographer who compiled several Polish folk and fairy tales (Poland, 1814–1890)
• Zygmunt Gloger, Polish historian and ethnographer (1845-1910)
• Božena Němcová, writer and collector of Czech fairy tales (Czech Republic, 1820?–1862)
• Alfred Waldau [cs], editor and translator of Czech fairy tales
• Jan Karel Hraše [cs], writer and publisher of Czech fairy tales
• František Lazecký [cs], publisher of Silesian fairy tales (Slezské pohádky) (1975–1977)
• Pavol Dobšinský, collector of Slovak folktales (1828–1885)
• August Horislav Škultéty, Slovak writer (1819–1895)
• Albert Wratislaw, collector of Slavic folktales
• Karel Jaromír Erben, poet, folklorist and publisher of Czech folktales (1811–1870)
• Vuk Karadžić, Serbian philologist (Serbia, 1787–1864)
• Elodie Lawton, British writer and translator of Serbian folktales (1825–1908)
• Friedrich Salomon Krauss, collector of South Slavic folklore
• Gašper Križnik [sl] (1848–1904), collector of Slovenian folktales

Romania[edit]

• Legende sau basmele românilor (Romania, 1874) by Petre Ispirescu
• Lazăr Șăineanu, Romanian folklorist (1859–1934)
• Queen Elisabeth of Wied’s Romanian fairy tales, penned under nom de plume Carmen Sylva^[131]
• G. Dem. Teodorescu, Wallachian/Romanian folklorist (1849–1900)
• I. C. Fundescu [ro] (1836–1904)
• Ion Pop-Reteganul [ro], Romanian folklorist (1853–1905)
• Dumitru Stăncescu [ro], Romanian folklorist (1866-1899)

Balkan Area and Eastern Europe[edit]

• Johann Georg von Hahn, Austrian diplomat and collector of Albanian and Greek folklore (1811–1869)
• Auguste Dozon, French scholar and diplomat who studied Albanian folklore (1822–1890)
• Robert Elsie, Canadian-born German Albanologist (Canada, 1950–2017)
• Donat Kurti, Albanian franciscan friar, educator, scholar and folklorist (1903–1983)
• Anton Çetta, Albanian folklorist, academic and university professor from Yugoslavia (1920–1995)
• Lucy Garnett, British traveller and folklorist on Turkey and Balkanic folklore (1849–1934)
• Francis Hindes Groome, English scholar of Romani populations (England, 1851–1902)

Hungary[edit]

• Elek Benedek, Hungarian journalist and collector of Hungarian folktales
• János Erdélyi, poet, critic, author, philosopher who collected Hungarian folktales
• Gyula Pap, ethographer who contributed to the collection Folk-tales of the Magyars
• The Hungarian Fairy Book, by Nándor Pogány (1913).^[132]
• Old Hungarian Fairy Tales (1895), by Countess Emma Orczy and Montague Barstow.

Spain and Portugal[edit]

• Fernán Caballero (Cecilia Böhl de Faber) (Spain, 1796–1877)
• Francisco Maspons y Labrós (Spain, 1840–1901)
• Antoni Maria Alcover i Sureda, priest, writer and collector of folktales in Catalan from Mallorca (Majorca, 1862–1932)
• Julio Camarena [es], Spanish folklorist (1949–2004)
• Teófilo Braga, collector of Portuguese folktales (Portugal, 1843–1924)
• Zófimo Consiglieri Pedroso, Portuguese folklorist (Portugal, 1851–1910)
• Wentworth Webster, collector of Basque folklore
• Elsie Spicer Eells, researcher on Iberian folklore (Portuguese and Brazilian)

Armenia[edit]

• Karekin Servantsians (Garegin Sruandzteants’; Bishop Sirwantzdiants), ethnologue and clergyman; publisher of Hamov-Hotov (1884)
• Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian poet and writer who reworked folkloric material into literary fairy tales (1869-1923)

Middle East[edit]

• Antoine Galland, French translator of the Arabian Nights (France, 1646–1715)
• Gaston Maspero, French translator of Egyptian and Middle Eastern folktales (France, 1846–1916)
• Hasan M. El-Shamy, establisher of a catalogue classification of Arab and Middle Eastern folktales
• Amina Shah, British anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales (1918–2014)
• Raphael Patai, scholar of Jewish folklore (1910–1996)
• Howard Schwartz, collector and publisher of Jewish folktales (1945–)
• Heda Jason [de], Israeli folklorist
• Dov Noy [de], Israeli folklorist (1920–2013)

Turkey[edit]

• Pertev Naili Boratav, Turkish folklorist (1907–1998)
• Kaloghlan (Turkey, 1923) by Ziya Gökalp

South Asia, India and Sri Lanka[edit]

• Panchatantra (India, 3rd century BC)
• Kathasaritsagara, compilation of Indian folklore made by Somadeva in the 11th century CE
• Lal Behari Dey, reverend and recorder of Bengali folktales (India, 1824–1892)
• James Hinton Knowles, missionary and collector of Kashmiri folklore
• Maive Stokes, Indian-born British author (1866–1961)
• Joseph Jacobs’s book of Indian Fairy Tales (1854–1916)
• Natesa Sastri’s collection of Tamil folklore and translation of Madanakamaraja Katha
• Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, three volumes by H. Parker (1910)
• Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and British orientalist William Crooke
• Verrier Elwin, ethographer and collector of Indian folk tales (1902–1964)
• A. K. Ramanujan, poet and scholar of Indian literature (1929–1993)
• Santal Folk Tales, three volumes by Paul Olaf Bodding (1925–29)
• Shobhanasundari Mukhopadhyay (1877-1937), Indian author and collector of folktales

America[edit]

• Marius Barbeau, Canadian folklorist (Canada, 1883–1969)
• Geneviève Massignon, scholar and publisher of French Acadian folklore (1921–1966)
• Carmen Roy (fr), Canadian folklorist (1919–2006)
• Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus series of books
• Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, by Marie Campbell
• Ruth Ann Musick, scholar of West Virginian folklore (1897–1974)
• Vance Randolph, folklorist who studied the folklore of the Ozarks (1892–1980)
• Cuentos populares mexicanos (Mexico, 2014) by Fabio Morábito
• Rafael Rivero Oramas, collector of Venezuelan tales. Author of El mundo de Tío Conejo, collection of Tío Tigre and Tío Conejo tales.
• Américo Paredes, author specialized in folklore from Mexico and the Mexican-American border (1915–1999)
• Elsie Clews Parsons, American anthropologist and collector of folktales from Central American countries (New York City, 1875–1941)
• John Alden Mason, American linguist and collector of Porto Rican folklore (1885–1967)
• Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Sr., scholar of Spanish folklore (1880–1958)

Brazil[edit]

• Sílvio Romero, Brazilian lawyer and folktale collector (Brazil, 1851–1914)
• Luís da Câmara Cascudo, Brazilian anthropologist and ethnologist (Brazil, 1898–1986)
• Lindolfo Gomes (pt), Brazilian folklorist (1875–1953)
• Marco Haurélio, contemporary writer and folklorist, author of Contos e Fábulas do Brasil and Contos Folclóricos Brasileiros.

Africa[edit]

• Hans Stumme, scholar and collector of North African folklore (1864–1936)
• Goldberg, Christine (2010). «The Forgotten Bride». Marvels & Tales. 24 (2): 345–347. JSTOR 41388963. Gale A241862735 Project MUSE 402467 ProQuest 763256457.

Asia[edit]

• Kunio Yanagita (Japan, 1875–1962)
• Seki Keigo, Japanese folklorist
• Lafcadio Hearn
• Yei Theodora Ozaki, translator of Japanese folk tales (1870–1932)
• Dean Fansler, professor and scholar of Filipino folklore

Miscellaneous[edit]

• Mixed Up Fairy Tales
• Fairy Tales (United States, 1965) by E. E. Cummings
• Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To Which are Prefixed Two Dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies (England, 1831) by Joseph Ritson

See also[edit]

• Fairy tale parody

References[edit]

Notelist[edit]

Citations[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

• Once Upon a Time – How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives, by Jonathan Young, PhD
• Once Upon A Time: Historical and Illustrated Fairy Tales. Special Collections, University of Colorado Boulder

I.

Сказка
— один из основных видов устного народного
творчества. Художественное повествование
фантастического, приключенческого или
бытового характера.

Сказка
— произведение, в котором главной чертой
является «установка на раскрытие
жизненной правды с помощью возвышающего
или снижающего реальность условно-поэтического
вымысла».

Сказка
— абстрагированная форма местного
предания, представленная в более сжатой
и кристаллизованной форме: Изначальной
формой фольклорных сказок являются
местные предания, парапсихологические
истории и рассказы о чудесах, которые
возникают в виде обычных галлюцинаций
вследствие вторжения архетипических
содержаний из коллективного
бессознательного.

Авторы
почти всех трактовок определяют сказку
как вид устного повествования с
фантастическим вымыслом. Связь с мифом
и легендами, на которую указывает М.-Л.
Фон Франц, выводит сказку за пределы
простого фантастического рассказа.
Сказка — не только поэтический вымысел
или игра фантазии; через содержание,
язык, сюжеты и образы в ней отражаются
культурные ценности ее создателя.

Издавна
сказки были близки и понятны простому
народу. Фантастика переплеталась в них
с реальностью. Живя в нужде, люди мечтали
о коврах-самолетах, о дворцах, о
скатерти-самобранке. И всегда в русских
сказках торжествовала справедливость,
а добро побеждало зло. Не случайно А. С.
Пушкин писал: «Что за прелесть эти
сказки! Каждая есть поэма!»

Композиция
сказки:

1.
Зачин. (“В некотором царстве, в некотором
государстве жили-были…”).

2.
Основная часть.

3.
Концовка. (“Стали они жить – поживать
и добра наживать” или “Устроили они
пир на весь мир…”).

Любая
сказка ориентирована на социально-педагогический
эффект: она обучает, побуждает к
деятельности и даже лечит. Иначе говоря,
потенциал сказки гораздо богаче ее
идейно-художественной значимости.

От
других прозаических жанров сказка
отличается более развитой эстетической
стороной. Эстетическое начало проявляется
в идеализации положительных героев, и
в ярком изображении «сказочного
мира», и романтической окраске событий.

Мудрость
и ценность сказки в том, что она отражает,
открывает и позволяет пережить смысл
важнейших общечеловеческих ценностей
и жизненного смысла в целом. С точки
зрения житейского смысла сказка наивна,
с точки зрения жизненного смысла –
глубока и неисчерпаема.

Важнейшие
идеи, основная проблематика, сюжетные
стержни и – главное – расстановка сил,
осуществляющих добро и зло, по сути,
едины в сказках разных народов. В этом
смысле любая сказка не знает границ,
она для всего человечества.

На
этой основе возникает классификация
видов сказок, хотя и не вполне единообразная.
Так, при проблемно-тематическом подходе
выделяются сказки, посвященные животным,
сказки о необычных и сверхъестественных
событиях, приключенческие сказки,
социально-бытовые, сказки-анекдоты,
сказки-перевертыши и другие.

На
сегодняшний день принята следующая
классификация русских народных сказок:

1.
Сказки о животных;

2.
Волшебные сказки;

3.
Бытовые сказки.

Сказки
о животных

В
сказках о животных действуют рыбы,
звери, птицы, они разговаривают друг с
другом, объявляют друг другу войну,
мирятся. В основе таких сказок лежит
тотемизм (вера в тотемного зверя,
покровителя рода), вылившийся в культ
животного. Например, медведь, ставший
героем сказок, по представлениям древних
славян, мог предсказывать будущее.
Нередко он мыслился как зверь страшный,
мстительный, не прощающий обиды (сказка
«Медведь»). Чем дальше уходит вера
в то тем, чем более уверенным в своих
силах становится человек, тем возможнее
его власть над животным, «победа»
над ним. Так происходит, например, в
сказках «Мужик и медведь», «Медведь,
собака и кошка». Сказки существенно
отличаются от поверий о животных — в
последних, большую роль играет вымысел,
связанный с язычеством. Волк в повериях
мудр и хитёр, медведь страшен. Сказка
же теряет зависимость от язычества,
становится насмешкой над животными.
Мифология в ней переходит в искусство.
Сказка преображается в своеобразную
художественную шутку — критику тех
существ, которые подразумеваются под
животными. Отсюда — близость подобных
сказок к басням («Лиса и журавль»,
«Звери в яме»).

Волшебные
сказки

Сказки
волшебного типа включают в себя волшебные,
приключенческие, героические. В основе
таких сказок лежит чудесный мир. Чудесный
мир – это предметный, фантастический,
неограниченный мир. Благодаря
неограниченной фантастике и чудесному
принципу организации материала в сказках
с чудесным миром возможного «превращения»,
поражающие своей скоростью (дети растут
не по дням, а по часам, с каждым днем все
сильнее или краше становятся). Не только
скорость процесса ирреальна, но и сам
его характер (из сказки «Снегурочка».
«Глядь, у Снегурочки губы порозовели,
глаза открылись. Потом стряхнула с себя
снег и вышла из сугроба живая девочка».
«Обращение» в сказках чудесного
типа, как правило, происходят с помощью
волшебных существ или предметов.

Бытовые
сказки

Характерной
приметой бытовых сказок становится
воспроизведение в них обыденной жизни.
Конфликт бытовой сказки часто состоит
в том, что порядочность, честность,
благородство под маской простоватости
и наивности противостоит тем качествам
личности, которые всегда вызывали у
народа резкое неприятие (жадность,
злоба, зависть).

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