View source for Fairy tale

{{short description|Fictional story typically featuring folkloric fantasy characters and magic}}
{{other uses}}
{{use dmy dates |date=September 2021}}
[[File:Carl_Larsson_-_Little_Red_Riding_Hood_1881.jpg|alt=|thumb|270x270px|The European fairy tale [[Little Red Riding Hood]] and the [[Big Bad Wolf|Wolf]] in a painting by [[Carl Larsson]] in 1881.]]
A '''fairy tale''' (alternative names include '''fairytale''', '''fairy story''', '''household tale''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales) |url=https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtales.html |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=sites.pitt.edu}}</ref> '''magic tale''', or '''wonder tale''') is a [[short story]] that belongs to the [[Folklore|folklore genre]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Jorgensen|first=Jeana|author-link=|date=2022|title=Fairy Tales 101: An Accessible Introduction to Fairy Tales|url=|location=|publisher=Fox Folk Press|pages=372 pages|isbn=979-8985159233|quote=|no-pp=yes}}</ref> Such stories typically feature [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]], [[Incantation|enchantments]], and [[Myth|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.{{Sfn|Bettelheim|1989|p=[https://archive.org/details/usesofenchantmen00brun/page/25 25]}} Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as [[legend]]s (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described)<ref>{{Cite dictionary |last=Thompson |first=Stith |dictionary=Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology & Legend |editor1-first=Maria |editor1-last=Leach |editor2-first=Jerome |editor2-last=Fried |date=1972 |title=Fairy Tale |publisher=[[Funk & Wagnalls]] |isbn=978-0-308-40090-0}}</ref> and explicit moral tales, including beast [[fable]]s. Prevalent elements include [[dragons]], [[Dwarf (Germanic mythology)|dwarfs]], [[Elf|elves]], [[Fairy|fairies]], [[giant]]s, [[Gnome|gnomes]], [[Goblin|goblins]], [[griffins]], [[merfolk]], [[Monster|monsters]], [[monarchy]], [[Pixie|pixies]], [[talking animal]]s, [[Troll|trolls]], [[Unicorn|unicorns]], [[Witchcraft|witches]], [[Magician (fantasy)|wizards]], [[Wild man|woodwoses]], magic, and enchantments.

In less technical contexts, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy-tale ending" (a [[happy ending]])<ref>{{cite web|last1=Martin|first1=Gary|title='Fairy-tale ending' – the meaning and origin of this phrase|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fairy-tale-ending.html|website=Phrasefinder|access-date=21 August 2020|archive-date=19 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919231733/https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fairy-tale-ending.html|url-status=live}}</ref> or "fairy-tale [[Romance (love)|romance]]". Colloquially, the term "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any far-fetched story or [[tall tale]]; it is used especially to describe any story that not only is not true, but also 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 [[Epic poems|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.{{Sfn|Orenstein|2002|p=9}}

Fairy tales occur both in oral and in literary form ([[literary fairy tale]]); the name "fairy tale" ("{{lang|fr|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.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gray|first=Richard|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6142964/Fairy-tales-have-ancient-origin.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908150605/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6142964/Fairy-tales-have-ancient-origin.html|archive-date=2009-09-08|title=Fairy tales have ancient origin|work=The Telegraph|date=5 September 2009}}</ref>

The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because often only the literary forms survive. Still, according to researchers at universities in [[Durham University|Durham]] and [[Universidade Nova de Lisboa|Lisbon]], such stories may date back thousands of years, some to the [[Bronze Age]].<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|title=Fairy tale origins thousands of years old, researchers say|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35358487|website= BBC News|access-date=20 January 2016|date=20 January 2016|archive-date=3 January 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180103054943/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35358487|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Fairy Tales Could Be Older Than You Ever Imagined|first=Erin|last=Blakemore|website=Smithsonion Magazine|date=20 January 2016|access-date=4 March 2019|language=en|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/fairy-tales-could-be-older-ever-imagined-180957882/|archive-date=27 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227202417/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/fairy-tales-could-be-older-ever-imagined-180957882/|url-status=live}}</ref> Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written today.

Folklorists have classified fairy tales in various ways. The [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index]] 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==
[[File:James Sant - The Fairy Tale - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Fairy Tale'', a painting by [[James Sant]] in 1845]]
Some [[folkloristics|folklorists]] prefer to use the [[Germany|German]] term {{lang|de|Märchen}} or "wonder tale"<ref name=companion/> 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'':
{{quote|"...a tale of some length involving a succession of [[motif (literature)|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 [[hero]]es kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses."{{Sfn|Thompson|1977|p=8}}}}

The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal: [[Princess|princesses]] and [[Goose Girl|goose-girls]]; [[youngest son]]s and gallant [[Prince|princes]]; [[ogre]]s, [[giant]]s, [[dragon]]s, and [[troll]]s; [[wicked stepmother]]s and [[false hero]]es; [[fairy godmother]]s and other [[donor (fairy tale)|magical helpers]], often [[talking animal|talking horses, or foxes, or birds]]; glass mountains; and prohibitions and breaking of prohibitions.{{Sfn|Byatt|2004|p=xviii}}

==Definition==
[[File:Däumling.jpg|alt=A painting from the fairy tale "The Facetious Nights of Straparola", showing people observing as a person jumps inside a building.|thumb|[[Hop-o'-My-Thumb]] and the [[ogre]] in an 1865 illustration]]
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.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Heidi Anne |last=Heiner |url=https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/what-is-a-fairy-tale.html |title=What Is a Fairy Tale? |work=Sur La Lune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815073414/https://surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/what-is-a-fairy-tale.html |archive-date=15 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> The term itself comes from the translation of Madame D'Aulnoy's ''Conte de fées'', first used in her collection in 1697.<ref name=Windling1>{{cite journal | first=Terri |last=Windling | url = http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forconte.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140328002739/http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forconte.html | archive-date = 2014-03-28 | title = Les Contes de Fées: The Literary Fairy Tales of France | journal = Realms of Fantasy | url-status = usurped | year = 2000 }}</ref> Common parlance conflates fairy tales with [[beast fable]]s and other folktales, and scholars differ on the degree to which the presence of fairies and/or similarly mythical beings (e.g., [[Elf|elves]], [[goblin]]s, [[troll]]s, 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 [[fantasy|fantastic]] elements and animals.{{sfn|Propp|1968|p=5}} Nevertheless, to select works for his analysis, Propp used all [[Russian folklore|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.{{sfn|Propp|1968|p=19}} 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.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=15}}

{{Blockquote|text=Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read [[Undine (novella)|Undine]]: that is a fairytale{{nbsp}}... of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful.|author=[[George MacDonald]], ''The Fantastic Imagination''}}

As [[Stith Thompson]] points out, talking animals and the presence of [[magic (fantasy)|magic]] seem to be more common to the fairy tale than [[Fairy|fairies]] themselves.{{Sfn|Thompson|1977|p=55}} 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 [[fable]]s.{{Sfn|Tolkien|1966|p=15}}

In his essay "[[On Fairy-Stories]]", [[J. R. R. Tolkien|J.{{nbsp}}R.{{nbsp}}R.{{nbsp}}Tolkien]] agreed with the exclusion of "fairies" from the definition, defining fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in ''[[Fairyland|Faërie]]'', the land of fairies, fairytale princes and princesses, [[dwarf (mythology)|dwarves]], elves, and not only other magical species but many other marvels.{{Sfn|Tolkien|1966|pp=10–11}} However, the same essay excludes tales that are often considered fairy tales, citing as an example ''[[The Heart of a Monkey|The Monkey's Heart]]'', which [[Andrew Lang]] included in ''[[The Lilac Fairy Book]]''.{{Sfn|Tolkien|1966|p=15}}

Steven Swann Jones identified the presence of magic as the feature by which fairy tales can be distinguished from other sorts of folktales.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=8}} Davidson and Chaudri identify "transformation" as the key feature of the genre.<ref name=companion>{{Cite book |title=A companion to the fairy tale |author1-first=Hilda Ellis |author1-last=Davidson |author2-first=Anna |author2-last=Chaudhri |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |date=2006 |page=39 |isbn=978-0-85991-784-1}}</ref> From a psychological point of view, Jean Chiriac argued for the necessity of the [[Fantastique|fantastic]] in these narratives.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jones |first=J. |url=http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/fairy_tales.html |title=Psychoanalysis and Fairy-Tales |website=Freud File |publisher=The Romanian Association for Psychoanalysis Promotion |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-date=10 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110060409/http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/fairy_tales.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calvino |first=Italo |author-link=Italo Calvino |date=1988 |title=Six Memos for the Next Millennium |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=36–37 |isbn=0-674-81040-6}}</ref>

===History of the genre===
[[File:Perrault1.jpg|left|thumb|alt=A picture by Gustave Doré showing Mother Goose, an old woman, reading written (literary) fairy tales to children|A picture by [[Gustave Doré]] of [[Mother Goose]] reading written (literary) fairy tales]]
Originally, stories that would contemporarily be considered fairy tales were not marked out as a separate genre. The German term "{{lang|de|Märchen}}" stems from the old German word "{{lang|de|Mär}}", which means news or tale.<ref>{{cite OED|Märchen|id=113957|access-date=22 September 2022}}</ref> The word "{{lang|de|Märchen}}" is the [[diminutive]] of the word "{{lang|de|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 [[once upon a time|opening]] is "In the old times when wishing was still effective".)<ref>{{Cite news|last=Healy|first=Marti|date=2019-01-19|title=Marti Healy: Begin anywhere|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/lifestyle/marti-healy-begin-anywhere/article_63f41df0-cd07-5efe-8460-6b979334269c.html|access-date=2023-01-30|work=[[Aiken Standard]]|language=en|archive-date=30 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130144821/https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/lifestyle/marti-healy-begin-anywhere/article_63f41df0-cd07-5efe-8460-6b979334269c.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The French writers and adaptors of the ''conte'' ''de fées'' genre often included fairies in their stories; the genre name became "fairy tale" in English translation and "gradually eclipsed the more general term ''folk'' tale that covered a wide variety of oral tales".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Zipes|first=Jack|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/185/monograph/book/3591|title=Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales|date=2002b|publisher=The University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-7030-5|location=Lexington|pages=28}}</ref> [[Jack Zipes]] also attributes this shift to changing sociopolitical conditions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that led to the trivialization of these stories by the upper classes.<ref name=":1" />

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 literature|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]].{{Sfn|Zipes|2001|pp=xi–xii}} 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.{{Sfn|Zipes|2001|p=858}}

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]]''.{{Sfn|Attebery|1980|p=83}} 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,{{Sfn|Martin|2002|pp=38–42}} the genres are now regarded as distinct.

===Folk and literary===
The fairy tale, told orally, is a sub-class of the [[folklore|folktale]]. Many writers have written in the form of the fairy tale. These are the literary fairy tales, or {{lang|de|Kunstmärchen}}.<ref name="Windling1"/> The oldest forms, from ''[[Panchatantra]]'' to the ''[[Pentamerone]]'', show considerable reworking from the oral form.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=35}} The [[Brothers Grimm|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.{{Sfn|Attebery|1980|p=5}}

Literary fairy tales and oral fairy tales freely exchanged plots, motifs, and elements with one another and with the tales of foreign lands.{{Sfn|Zipes|2001|p=xii}} 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."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale|last=Zipes|first=Jack|publisher=University of Kentucky Press|year=2013|pages=20–21|isbn=978-0-8131-0834-6}}</ref> 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.{{Sfn|Zipes|2001|p=846}} 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.{{Sfn|Degh|1988|p=73}}

==History==
[[File:WUL-he21 02799 剪燈新話 2.pdf|thumb|page=12|Pages from a printed edition of the 14th-century Chinese "wonder tales" collection ''[[Jiandeng Xinhua]]'' by [[Qu You]]; the collection is considered to be one of the most influential East Asian works of fiction.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://ilab.org/assets/catalogues/catalogs_files_Kagerou%20Bunko%202018%20China%20in%20Print%20Catalogue.pdf | title = Kagerou Bunko | work = International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) | quote = ... many writers in those countries were inspired to regard ''Jiandeng Xinhua'' as the supreme model for composing fiction.}}</ref>]]

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,{{efn|Scholars John Th. Honti and Gédeon Huet asserted the existence of fairy tales in ancient and medieval literature, as well as in classical mythology.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Honti |first1=John Th. |title=Celtic Studies and European Folk-Tale Research |journal=Béaloideas |date=1936 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=33–39 |doi=10.2307/20521905 |jstor=20521905 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krappe |first1=Alexander Haggerty |title=Review of Les contes popularies. |journal=Modern Language Notes |date=1925 |volume=40 |issue=7 |pages=429–431 |doi=10.2307/2914006 |jstor=2914006 }}</ref>}}{{efn|Even further back, according to professor Berlanga Fernández, elements of international "Märchen" show "exact parallels and themes (...) that seem to be common with Greek folklore and later tradition".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berlanga Fernández |first1=Inmaculada |title=Temática folclórica en la Literatura asiática (Oriente Extremo). Relación con los mitos griegos |trans-title=Folk themes in Asian Literature (Far East). Relationship to Greek myths |language=es |journal=Aldaba |date=4 December 2017 |issue=31 |pages=239–252 |doi=10.5944/aldaba.31.2001.20465 |doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 |doi-access=free }}</ref>}} as in ''[[The Golden Ass]]'', which includes ''[[Cupid and Psyche]]'' ([[Ancient Rome|Roman]], 100–200 AD),<ref name="timeline">{{Cite web |first=Heidi Anne |last=Heiner |url=https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/fairy-tale-timeline.html |title=Fairy Tale Timeline |work=Sur La Lune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815081558/https://surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/fairy-tale-timeline.html |archive-date=15 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> or the ''[[Panchatantra]]'' ([[Folklore of India|India]] 3rd century BC),<ref name="timeline"/> 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.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=35}} What they do show is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|Arabian Nights]]'' collection of magical tales (compiled ''circa'' 1500 AD),<ref name="timeline"/> such as ''[[Baital Pachisi|Vikram and the Vampire]]'', and ''[[Bel and the Dragon]]''. Besides such collections and individual tales, in [[Chinese folklore|China]] [[Taoism|Taoist]] philosophers such as [[Liezi]] and [[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]] recounted fairy tales in their philosophical works.<ref name=Roberts>{{cite book |editor-first=Moss |editor-last=Roberts |date=1979 |chapter=Introduction |page=xviii |title=Chinese Fairy Tales & Fantasies |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=0-394-73994-9}}</ref> 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 [[Grateful dead (folklore)|the grateful dead]], [[The Bird Lover]] or the quest for the lost wife.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Szoverffy |first1=Joseph |title=Some Notes on Medieval Studies and Folklore |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=July 1960 |volume=73 |issue=289 |pages=239–244 |doi=10.2307/537977 |jstor=537977 }}</ref>{{efn|Folklorist [[Alexander Haggerty Krappe]] argued that most of historical variants of tale types are traceable to the Middle Ages, and some are attested in literary works of [[classical antiquity]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Krappe |first=Alexander Haggerty |title=The Science of Folklore |location=New York: Barnes & Noble |date=1962 |pages=14–15 |oclc=492920}}</ref> Likewise, Francis Lee Utley showed that medieval [[Celtic literature]] and [[Arthurian mythos]] contain recognizable motifs of tale types described in the international index.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Utley |first1=Francis Lee |title=Arthurian Romance and International Folktale Method |journal=Romance Philology |date=1964 |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=596–607 |jstor=44939518 }}</ref>}} Recognizable folktales have also been reworked as the plot of folk literature and oral epics.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bošković-Stulli |first1=Maja |title=Sižei narodnih bajki u Hrvatskosrpskim epskim pjesmama |trans-title=Subjects of folk tales in Croato-Serbian epics |journal=Narodna umjetnost: Hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku |date=1962 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=15–36 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/34044 |language=hr |access-date=20 April 2021 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420222326/https://hrcak.srce.hr/34044 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jack Zipes writes in ''When Dreams Came True'', "There are fairy tale elements in [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', [[Edmund Spenser]]'s ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', and&nbsp;in many of [[William Shakespeare]] plays."{{Sfn|Zipes|2007|p=12}} ''[[King Lear]]'' can be considered a literary variant of fairy tales such as ''[[Water and Salt]]'' and ''[[Cap O' Rushes]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Soula |last1=Mitakidou |first2=Anthony L. |last2=Manna |first3=Melpomene |last3=Kanatsouli |title=Folktales from Greece: A Treasury of Delights |page=100 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |location=Greenwood Village, Colorado |date=2002 |isbn=1-56308-908-4}}</ref> 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),<ref name="timeline"/> which contains many fairy tales in its inset tales, and the [[Naples|Neapolitan]] tales of [[Giambattista Basile]] (Naples, 1634–36),<ref name="timeline"/> which are all fairy tales.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=38}} [[Carlo Gozzi]] made use of many fairy tale motifs among his [[Commedia dell'Arte]] scenarios,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Windling |first1=Terri |title=White as Ricotta, Red as Wine: The Magical Lore of Italy |url=https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/articleslist/white-as-ricotta-red-as-wine-the-magical-lore-of-italy-by-terri-windling.html |work=Journal of Mythic Arts |access-date=19 August 2022 |archive-date=3 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003235121/https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/articleslist/white-as-ricotta-red-as-wine-the-magical-lore-of-italy-by-terri-windling.html |url-status=live }}</ref> including among them one based on ''[[The Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale)|The Love For Three Oranges]]'' (1761).{{Sfn|Calvino|1980|p=738}} Simultaneously, [[Pu Songling]], in China, included many fairy tales in his collection, ''[[Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio]]'' (published posthumously, 1766),<ref name=Roberts /> which has been described by Yuken Fujita of [[Keio University]] as having "a reputation as the most outstanding short story collection."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fujita |first=Yuken |url=https://koara.lib.keio.ac.jp/xoonips/modules/xoonips/detail.php?koara_id=AN00072643-00030001-0049 |title=聊齋志異研究序説 : 特に蒲松齡の執筆態度に就いて |trans-title=Introduction to the study of "liao chai chih i" (Ryosai shii) : with special reference to the author's attitude |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205233648/https://koara.lib.keio.ac.jp/xoonips/modules/xoonips/detail.php?koara_id=AN00072643-00030001-0049 |archive-date=5 December 2022 |journal=藝文研究 [Geibun kenkyū] |issue=3 |date=1954 |pages=49–61 |issn=0435-1630 |lang=ja}} CRID [https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282813926397312 1050282813926397312]</ref> The fairy tale itself became popular among the ''[[précieuses]]'' of upper-class [[Early Modern France|France]] (1690–1710),<ref name="timeline"/> 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]]''.{{Sfn|Zipes|2007|pp=38–42}} 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.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|pp=38–39}}

===The Salon Era===
In the mid-17th century, a vogue for magical tales emerged among the intellectuals who frequented the [[salon (gathering)|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 [[Folklore|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 [[dystopia]]n 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 (gathering)|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.<ref name=Windling1 />

===Later works===
[[File:Redsun.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Illustration of the Russian fairy tale about Vasilisa the Beautiful, showing a rider on a horse in a forest|[[Ivan Bilibin]] (1876–1942)'s illustration of the [[Russian fairy tale]] about [[Vasilisa the Beautiful]].]]
[[File:The violet fairy book (1906) (14751020284).jpg|thumb|[[Lang's Fairy Books#The Violet Fairy Book (1901)|The Violet Fairy Book]] (1906)|alt=]]
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)<ref name="timeline"/> 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.{{Sfn|Swann Jones|1995|p=40}}

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 folklore|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 "[[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 mythology|Germanic]] folklore.<ref>{{Cite book|first=G. Ronald|last=Murphy|date=2000|title=The Owl, The Raven, and the Dove: The Religious Meaning of the Grimms' Magic Fairy Tales|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-515169-0}}</ref>

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.{{Sfn|Zipes|2007|p=77}} The rural, illiterate, and uneducated peasants, if suitably isolated, were the ''folk'' and would tell pure ''folk'' tales.{{Sfn|Degh|1988|pp=66–67}} Sometimes they regarded fairy tales as a form of fossil, the remnants of a once-perfect tale.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Opie|first1=Iona|last2=Opie|first2=Peter|author1-link=Iona Opie|author2-link=Peter Opie|date=1974|title=The Classic Fairy Tales|page=17|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-211559-1}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yolen|first=Jane|author-link=Jane Yolen|date=2000|page=22|title=Touch Magic|publisher=August House|location=Little Rock, Arkansas|isbn=0-87483-591-7}}</ref>

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),<ref name="timeline"/> the Norwegians [[Peter Christen Asbjørnsen]] and [[Jørgen Moe]] (first published in 1845),<ref name="timeline"/> the Romanian [[Petre Ispirescu]] (first published in 1874), the English [[Joseph Jacobs]] (first published in 1890),<ref name="timeline"/> and [[Jeremiah Curtin]], an American who collected Irish tales (first published in 1890).{{Sfn|Zipes|2001|p=846}} 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 [[Andrew Lang's Fairy Books|"coloured" fairy books series]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Andrew|last=Lang|date=1904|title=The Brown Fairy Book|chapter-url=http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/brown.htm|chapter=Preface|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304094615/http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/brown.htm|archive-date=4 March 2007}}</ref> They also encouraged other collectors of fairy tales, as when [[Yei Theodora Ozaki]] created a collection, ''Japanese Fairy Tales'' (1908), after encouragement from Lang.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Yei Theodora|last=Ozaki|title=Japanese Fairy Tales|chapter-url=https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/books/japan/ozaki/preface.html|chapter=Preface|via=Sur La Lune}}</ref> 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.{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="Hans Christian Andersen"|pp=26–27}} 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 (novel)|Lilith]]''.{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="George MacDonald"|p=604}}

==Cross-cultural transmission==
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.{{Sfn|Orenstein|2002|pp=77–78}}

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.{{Sfn|Zipes|2001|p=845}} Folklorists have attempted to determine the origin by internal evidence, which can not always be clear; [[Joseph Jacobs]], comparing the [[Scottish people|Scottish]] tale ''[[The Ridere of Riddles]]'' with the version collected by the Brothers Grimm, ''[[The Riddle (fairy tale)|The Riddle]]'', noted that in ''[[The Ridere of Riddles]]'' one hero ends up [[polygamy|polygamously]] married, which might point to an ancient custom, but in ''The Riddle'', the simpler riddle might argue greater antiquity.<ref>{{Cite wikisource |last=Jacobs |first=Joseph |date=1895 |title=More Celtic Fairy Tales |chapter=Notes and References}}</ref>

Folklorists of the "Finnish" (or historical-geographical) school attempted to place fairy tales to their origin, with inconclusive results.{{Sfn|Calvino|1980|p=xx}} 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.{{Sfn|Velten|2001|p=962}} 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]]'').{{Sfn|Velten|2001|pp=966-967}}

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.{{Sfn|Calvino|1980|p=xxi}}

The Brothers Grimm believed that European fairy tales derived from the cultural history shared by all [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|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 [[cladistics|phylogenetic analysis]], a technique developed by [[evolutionary biology|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.<ref name="bbc"/> Various other studies converge to suggest that some fairy tales, for example the [[swan maiden]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hatt |first1=Gudmund |title=Asiatic influences in American folklore |date=1949 |location=København |publisher=I kommission hos ejnar Munksgaard |pages=94–96, 107 |oclc=21629218 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=Yuri |last1=Berezkin |year=2010 |title=Sky-maiden and world mythology |journal=Iris |volume=31 |issue=31 |pages=27–39 |doi=10.35562/iris.2020 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=d'Huy |first1=Julien |title=Le motif de la femme-oiseau (T111.2.) et ses origines paléolithiques |journal=Mythologie française |date=2016 |issue=265 |pages=4 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02280063 |access-date=21 August 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607131810/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02280063 |url-status=live }}</ref> could go back to the Upper Palaeolithic.

==Association with children==
[[File:Cutlery for children detail.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Spoons for children;engraved on them are fairy tale scenes from "Snow White", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "Hansel and Gretel".|Cutlery for children. Detail showing fairy-tale scenes: [[Snow White]], [[Little Red Riding Hood]], [[Hansel and Gretel]].]]

Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children.{{Sfn|Zipes|2007|p=1}} 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.<ref name=Seifert1996Chap3>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511470387.005 |chapter=The marvelous in context: The place of the ''contes de fées'' in late seventeenth-century France |title=Fairy Tales, Sexuality, and Gender in France, 1690–1715 |year=1996 |pages=59–98 |isbn=978-0-521-55005-5 |first1=Lewis C. |last1=Seifert |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> 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.<ref name=Seifert1996Chap3/> Among the late ''précieuses'', [[Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont]] redacted a version of ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' for children, and it is her tale that is best known today.{{Sfn|Zipes|2007|p=47}} The Brothers Grimm titled their collection ''[[Children's and Household Tales]]'' and rewrote their tales after complaints that they were not suitable for children.{{Sfn|Tatar|1987|p=19}}

In the modern era, fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children. The Brothers Grimm concentrated mostly on sexual references;{{Sfn|Tatar|1987|p=20}} [[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.{{Sfn|Tatar|1987|p=32}} On the other hand, in many respects, violence{{nsmdns}}particularly when punishing villains{{nsmdns}}was increased.{{Sfn|Byatt|2004|pp=xlii–xliv}} Other, later, revisions cut out violence; J.{{nbsp}}R.{{nbsp}}R.{{nbsp}}Tolkien noted that ''[[The Juniper Tree (fairy tale)|The Juniper Tree]]'' often had its [[Human cannibalism|cannibalistic]] stew cut out in a version intended for children.{{Sfn|Tolkien|1966|p=31}} 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 movement|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."{{Sfn|Briggs|1967|pp=181–182}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/pva/pva239.html |title=Charles Dickens's "Frauds on the Fairies" (1 October 1853) |website=The Victorian Web |date=23 January 2006 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-date=23 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723022732/http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/pva/pva239.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Psychoanalysis|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.{{Sfn|Zipes|2002a|p=48}} 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{{nbsp}}…. 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walters |first1=Rebecca |title=Fairytales, psychodrama and action methods: ways of helping traumatized children to heal |journal=Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie |date=April 2017 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=53–60 |doi=10.1007/s11620-017-0381-1 |s2cid=151699614 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tsitsani |first1=P. |last2=Psyllidou |first2=S. |last3=Batzios |first3=S. P. |last4=Livas |first4=S. |last5=Ouranos |first5=M. |last6=Cassimos |first6=D. |title=Fairy tales: a compass for children's healthy development – a qualitative study in a Greek island: Fairy tales: a timeless value |journal=Child: Care, Health and Development |date=March 2012 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=266–272 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01216.x |pmid=21375565 }}</ref> [[Jungian]] Analyst and fairy tale scholar [[Marie Louise Von Franz]] interprets fairy tales{{Efn|For a comprehensive introduction into fairy tale interpretation, and main terms of Jungian Psychology (Anima, Animus, Shadow) see {{harvnb|Franz|1970}}.}} based on Jung's view of fairy tales as a spontaneous and naive product of soul, which can only express what soul is.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jung |first1=C. G. |chapter=The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales |pages=83–132 |title=Four Archetypes |year=1969 |publisher=Princeton University Press |jstor=j.ctt7sw9v.7 |isbn=978-1-4008-3915-5 }}</ref> 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.{{Sfn|Franz|1970|pp=1–2}}

Other famous people commented on the importance of fairy tales, especially for children. For example, [[G. K. Chesterton]] argued that ''"Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."''<ref>* {{Cite book |last=Chesterton|first=G. K.|author-link=G. K. Chesterton|date=1909|title=Tremendous Trifles |publisher=London: Methuen & Co.|page=2nd paragraph in XVII}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|1427525203}} |last1=Henley |first1=Jon |title=Philip Pullman: 'Loosening the chains of the imagination' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/23/philip-pullman-dark-materials-children |work=The Guardian |date=23 August 2013 |access-date=21 August 2020 |archive-date=29 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829114556/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/23/philip-pullman-dark-materials-children |url-status=live }}</ref>

The adaptation of fairy tales for children continues. [[Walt Disney]]'s influential ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' was largely (although certainly not solely) intended for the children's market.{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="Cinema"|p=196}} The [[anime]] ''[[Magical Princess Minky Momo]]'' draws on the fairy tale ''[[Momotarō]]''.{{Sfn|Drazen|2003|pp=43–44}} Jack Zipes has spent many years working to make the older [[traditional stories]] accessible to modern readers and their children.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wolf |first=Eric James |date=2008-06-29 |work=The Art of Storytelling Show |url=http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/2008/06/29/jack-zipes-fairy-tales/ |title=Jack Zipes&nbsp;– Are Fairy tales still useful to Children? |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107145754/http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/2008/06/29/jack-zipes-fairy-tales/ |archive-date=7 January 2010 }}</ref>

==Motherhood==
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.<ref name=schanoes>{{cite book|last1=Schanoes|first1=Veronica L.|title=Fairy Tales, Myth, and Psychoanalytic Theory: Feminism and Retelling the Tale|date=2014|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-1-4724-0138-0 }}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}</ref>

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."<ref name=schanoes/>

==Contemporary tales==
===Literary===
[[File:John Bauer 1915.jpg|thumb|alt=Illustration of three trolls surrounding a princess in a dark area, as adapted from a collection of Swedish fairy tales|[[John Bauer (illustrator)|John Bauer]]'s illustration of trolls and a princess from a collection of Swedish fairy tales]]

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.{{Sfn|Zipes|2007|pp=24–25}} Some authors seek to recreate a sense of the fantastic in a contemporary discourse.{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="Fairytale"|p=333}} Some writers use fairy tale forms for modern issues;{{Sfn|Martin|2002|p=41}} this can include using the psychological dramas implicit in the story, as when [[Robin McKinley]] retold ''[[Donkeyskin]]'' as the novel ''[[Deerskin (novel)|Deerskin]]'', with emphasis on the abusive treatment the father of the tale dealt to his daughter.<ref name=Pilinovsky>{{cite web |last1=Pilinovsky |first1=Helen |title=Donkeyskin, Deerskin, Allerleirauh, The Reality of the Fairy Tale |url=https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/articleslist/donkeyskin-deerskin-allerleirauh-the-reality-of-the-fairy-tale-by-helen-pilinovsky.html |website=Journal of Mythic Arts |access-date=19 August 2022 |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809103955/https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/articleslist/donkeyskin-deerskin-allerleirauh-the-reality-of-the-fairy-tale-by-helen-pilinovsky.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Sometimes, especially in children's literature, fairy tales are retold with a twist simply for comic effect, such as ''[[The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales|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,{{Sfn|Briggs|1967|p=195}} such as in the film series ''[[Shrek (film series)|Shrek]]''.

Other authors may have specific motives, such as multicultural or [[feminism|feminist]] reevaluations of predominantly [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] masculine-dominated fairy tales, implying critique of older narratives.{{Sfn|Zipes|2002a|pp=251–252}} 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 and Simon Hood's contemporary interpretation of various popular classics.{{cn|date=January 2023}}

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, [[Fetishism|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 [[fairytale fantasy|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 (novel)|Lilith]]'' and ''[[Phantastes]]'' are regarded as fantasies, while his "[[The Light Princess]]", "[[The Golden Key (MacDonald book)|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.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Diana |last=Waggoner |date=1978 |title=The Hills of Faraway: A Guide to Fantasy |pages=22–23 |publisher=Atheneum |isbn=0-689-10846-X}}</ref>

===Film===
Fairy tales have been enacted dramatically; records exist of this in [[commedia dell'arte]],{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="Commedia Dell'Arte"|p=219}} and later in [[pantomime]].{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="Pantomime"|p=745}} 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 (film)|Three Little Pigs]]''. [[Walt Disney]]'s first feature-length film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'', released in 1937, was a ground-breaking film for fairy tales and, indeed, fantasy in general.{{Sfn|Clute|Grant|1997|loc="Cinema"|p=196}} With the cost of over 400 percent of the budget and more than 300 artists, assistants and animators, ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''  was arguably one of the highest work force demanded film at that time.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Walt Disney Company is founded|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/walt-disney-company-founded|access-date=2021-12-12|website=History|language=en|archive-date=12 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212064329/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/walt-disney-company-founded|url-status=live}}</ref> The studio even hired [[Donald W. Graham|Don Graham]] to open animation training programs for more than 700 staff.<ref name="Furniss">{{cite book |last1=Furniss |first1=Maureen |chapter=Classical-Era Disney Studio |pages=107–132 |jstor=j.ctt2005zgm.9 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt2005zgm.9 |title=Art in Motion, Revised Edition: Animation Aesthetics |date=2014 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-86196-945-6 }}</ref> As for the motion capture and personality expression, the studio used a dancer, [[Marge Champion|Marjorie Celeste]], from the beginning to the end for the best results.<ref name="Furniss" /> Disney and his creative successors have returned to traditional and literary fairy tales numerous times with films such as ''[[Cinderella (1950 film)|Cinderella]]'' (1950), ''[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' (1959), ''[[The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|The Little Mermaid]]'' (1989) and ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|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&nbsp;– and sometimes unhappy endings&nbsp;– of many folk fairy tales.<ref name=Pilinovsky /> However, others note that the softening of fairy tales occurred long before Disney, some of which was even done by the Grimm brothers themselves.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stone |first1=Kay |title=Marchen to Fairy Tale: An Unmagical Transformation |journal=Western Folklore |date=July 1981 |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=232–244 |doi=10.2307/1499694 |jstor=1499694 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Tatar|1987|p=24}}

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 [[Cinema of the Soviet Union|Soviet film]] to use Russian folk tales in a big-budget feature.<ref>{{cite web | first = James |last=Graham | url = https://endicottstudio.typepad.com/artslist/baba-yaga-in-film-by-james-graham.html | title = Baba Yaga in Film |website=Journal of Mythic Arts | year = 2006 }}</ref> Others have used the conventions of fairy tales to create new stories with sentiments more relevant to contemporary life, as in ''[[Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |first=Richard |last=Scheib |url=http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/labyrinth-1986.htm |title=Labyrinth (1986) |website=Moria |date=9 July 2004 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208071306/http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/labyrinth-1986.htm |archive-date=8 December 2015 }}</ref> ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'', ''[[Happily N'Ever After]]'', and the films of [[Michel Ocelot]].{{Sfn|Drazen|2003|p=264}}

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 (1946 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]''<ref>{{cite web | first = Terri |last=Windling | url = http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forbewty.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131115234313/http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forbewty.html | archive-date = 15 November 2013 | title = Beauty and the Beast | url-status = usurped | year = 1995 }}</ref> and ''[[The Company of Wolves]]'', based on [[Angela Carter]]'s retelling of ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]''.<ref>{{cite web | first = Terri |last=Windling | url = http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrPathNeedles.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130920005533/http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrPathNeedles.html | archive-date = 20 September 2013 | title = The Path of Needles or Pins: Little Red Riding Hood | url-status = usurped | year = 2004 }}</ref> Likewise, ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'',{{Sfn|Drazen|2003|p=38}} ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'',<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw14471.html|title=Guillermo del Toro and Ivana Baquero escape from a civil war into the fairytale land of ''Pan's Labyrinth'' |access-date=14 July 2007|date=25 December 2006 |publisher=[[Science Fiction Weekly]]|last=Spelling|first=Ian| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070707173614/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw14471.html| archive-date = 7 July 2007}}</ref> ''[[Suspiria]]'', and ''[[Spike (2008 film)|Spike]]''<ref>{{cite news | url = https://variety.com/2008/film/news/festival-highlights-1117987482/ | title = Festival Highlights: 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival | work = [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] | date = 13 June 2008 | access-date = 28 April 2010 | archive-date = 7 March 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140307123431/http://variety.com/2008/film/news/festival-highlights-1117987482/ | url-status = live }}</ref> create new stories in this genre from fairy tale and folklore motifs.

In comics and animated TV series, ''[[The Sandman (Vertigo)|The Sandman]]'', ''[[Hellboy]]'', ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'', ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', ''[[Fables (Vertigo)|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 (film)|Maleficent]]'' (2014), ''[[Cinderella (2015 Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' (2015), ''[[Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'' (2017) and so on.

==Motifs==
[[File:Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis - FAIRY TALE (FAIRY TALE OF KINGS) - 1909.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A 1909 illustration of kings in a dark forest|''Kings' Fairy Tale'', 1909, by [[Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis]]]]

[[File:Warwick Goble Beauty and Beast.jpg|thumb|alt=Illustration of the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast". The princess is standing alongside the "beast", who is lying on the ground.|[[Beauty and the Beast]], illustration by [[Warwick Goble]]]]

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===
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]]''{{nsmdns}}in which a persecuted heroine, with the help of the [[fairy godmother]] or similar [[donor (fairy tale)|magical helper]], attends an event (or three) in which she wins the love of a prince and is identified as his true bride{{nsmdns}}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.{{Sfn|Tolkien|1966|p=18}}

===Morphology===
[[File:1932. Билибин. Морозко.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Father Frost, a fairy tale character made of ice, acts as a donor in the Russian fairy tale "Father Frost". He tests the heroine, a veiled young girl sitting in the snow, before bestowing riches upon her.|Father Frost acts as a donor in the Russian fairy tale ''[[Father Frost (fairy tale)|Father Frost]]'', testing the heroine before bestowing riches upon her]]

[[Vladimir Propp]] specifically studied a collection of [[Russian fairy tale]]s, but his analysis has been found useful for the tales of other countries.{{sfn|Propp|1968}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}} Having criticized Aarne-Thompson type analysis for ignoring what motifs ''did'' in stories, and because the motifs used were not clearly distinct,{{sfn|Propp|1968|pp=8–9}} 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&nbsp;– except that each individual element might be negated twice, so that it would appear [[rule of three (writing)|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.{{sfn|Propp|1968|p=74}} 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 (fairy tale)|donor]]'' who gives the hero magical assistance, often after testing him.{{sfn|Propp|1968|p=39}} 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 [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monk gives the brothers magical bottles to protect against the [[Huli jing|fox spirit]]. The roles can be more complicated.{{Sfn|Propp|1968|pp=81–82}} In ''[[The Red Ettin]]'', the role is split into the mother{{nsmdns}}who offers the hero the whole of a journey cake with her curse or half with her blessing{{nsmdns}}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.{{sfn|Propp|1968|pp=80–81}} 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 [[Monomyth|hero's journey]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Christopher |last=Vogler |date=1998 |title=The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers |edition=2nd |page=30 |publisher=M. Wiese Productions |isbn=0-941188-70-1}}</ref>

==Interpretations==
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 Prince (story)|The Frog King]]'', as [[solar myths]]; this mode of interpretation subsequently became rather less popular.{{Sfn|Tatar|1987|p=52}} [[psychoanalysis|Freudian]], [[analytical psychology|Jungian]], and other [[psychology|psychological]] analyses have also explicated many tales, but no mode of interpretation has established itself definitively.{{Sfn|Bettelheim|1989}}{{Page needed|date=July 2023}}

Specific analyses have often been criticized{{by whom|date=May 2016}} 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dundes |first=Alan |date=1988 |chapter=Interpreting Little Red Riding Hood Psychoanalytically |editor-first=James M. |editor-last=McGlathery |title=The Brothers Grimm and Folktale |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=0-252-01549-5}}</ref> In variants of ''[[Bluebeard]]'', the wife's curiosity is betrayed by [[Bluebeard|a blood-stained key]], by [[Fitcher's Bird|an egg's breaking]], or by [[How the Devil Married Three Sisters|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.{{Sfn|Tatar|1987|p=46}}

Other folklorists have interpreted tales as historical documents. Many{{quantify|date=May 2016}} German folklorists, believing the tales to have preserved details from ancient times, have used the Grimms' tales to explain ancient customs.{{Sfn|Zipes|2002a|p=48}}

One approach sees the topography of European Märchen as echoing the period immediately following the [[Last glacial period|last Ice Age]].<ref>
{{cite book
| last1             = Maitland
| first1            = Sara
| author-link1      = Sara Maitland
| chapter           = Once upon a time: the lost forest and us
| editor1-last      = Kelly
| editor1-first     = Andrew
| title             = The Importance of Ideas: 16 thoughts to get you thinking
| chapter-url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=7pabBAAAQBAJ
| series            = Guardian Shorts
| volume            = 10
| publisher         = Guardian Books
| date      = 2014
| isbn              = 978-1-78356-074-5
| access-date        = 22 May 2016
| quote             = As the glaciers of the last ice age retreated (from c. 10,000 BC) forests, of various types, quickly colonised the land and came to cover most of Europe. [...] These forests formed the topography out of which the fairy stories (or as they are better called in German – the ''märchen''), which are one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, evolved.
}}
</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warner |first=Marina |date=1995 |author-link=Marina Warner |title=From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |page=213 |isbn=0-374-15901-7}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ias.umn.edu/2012/11/15/zipes-jack/ |last=Fischlowitz |first=Sharon |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212173344/http://ias.umn.edu/2012/11/15/zipes-jack/ |archive-date=2012-12-12 |title=Fairy Tales, Child Abuse, and "Childism": Presentation by Jack Zipes |date=2012-11-15 |publisher=University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Study}}</ref>

== Fairy tales in music ==
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 (opera)|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==
{{See also|:Category:Collections of fairy tales|l1=Collections of fairy tales}}
'''Authors and works:'''

===From many countries===
* García Carcedo, Pilar (2020): ''Entre brujas y dragones. Travesía comparativa por los cuentos tradicionales del mundo''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=u70OEAAAQBAJ Estudio comparativo y antología de cuentos tradicionales del mundo]</ref>
* [[Andrew Lang]]'s [[Lang's Fairy Books|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===
* ''[[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)
* [[Emma Perodi]], Italian writer, author of the [[Casentino|Casentinian]] folk tales (Italy, 1850–1918)
* [[Luigi Capuana]], Italian author of literary ''fiabe''
* ''[[Italian Folktales]]'' (Italy, 1956) by [[Italo Calvino]]

===France===
* [[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===
* ''[[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)
* {{ill|Alfred Cammann|de}} (1909–2008), 20th century collector of fairy tales

===Belgium===
* [[Charles Polydore de Mont]] (Pol de Mont) ([[Belgium]], 1857–1931)

===United Kingdom and Ireland===
* [[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 (folklorist)|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]]
* [[Enys Tregarthen]], [[gutenberg:37245|''The Piskey-Purse: Legends and Tales of North Cornwall'']] (1905)
* [[Enys Tregarthen]], ''[[iarchive:northcornwallfai00treg|Legends and Tales of North Cornwall]]'' (1906)

===Scandinavia===
* [[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 (author)|Jón Árnason]], collector of Icelandic folklore
* [[Adeline Rittershaus]], German philologist and translator of Icelandic folktales

===Estonia, Finland and Baltic Region===
* ''Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita'' ([[Finland]], 1852–1866) by {{interlanguage link|Eero Salmelainen|sv|Erik Rudbeck}}
* [[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)
* {{ill|Pēteris Šmits|lv}}, Latvian ethnographer (1869–1938)

===Russia===
{{See also|Russian Fairy Tales (disambiguation)}}
* ''[[Narodnye russkie skazki]]'' (Russia, 1855–1863) by [[Alexander Afanasyev]]

===Czech Republic and Slovakia===
* [[Božena Němcová]], writer and collector of Czech fairy tales (1820–1862)
* {{ill|Alfred Waldau|cs|Alfred Waldau}}, editor and translator of Czech fairy tales
* {{ill|Jan Karel Hraše|cs|Jan Karel Hraše}}, writer and publisher of Czech fairy tales
* {{ill|František Lazecký|cs|František Lazecký}}, publisher of [[Silesia]]n fairy tales (''Slezské pohádky'') (1975–1977)
* [[Karel Jaromír Erben]], poet, folklorist and publisher of Czech folktales (1811–1870)
* [[August Horislav Škultéty]], Slovak writer (1819–1895)
* [[Pavol Dobšinský]], collector of [[Slovakia|Slovak]] folktales (1828–1885)
* [[Albert Wratislaw]], collector of Slavic folktales

===Ukraine===
* [[Ivan Franko]], Ukrainian poet, novelist, playwright, creator of many Ukrainian folk and fairy tales (1856–1916) 
* [[Yevhen Hrebinka]], Ukrainian romantic prose writer and philanthropist, collector of numerous Ukrainian folktales and proverbs (1812–1848)
* [[Mykhailo Maksymovych]], Ukrainian professor, encyclopedist, folklorist and ethnographer (1804–1873)
* [[Levko Borovykovsky]], Ukrainian romantic poet, folklorist and ethnographer, recorder of Ukrainian legends and fairy tales (1806–1889)
* {{ill|Petro Hulak-Artemovsky|uk|Гулак-Артемовський Петро Петрович}}, Ukrainian poet and fable writer, including fable-tales (1790–1865)
* [[Osip Bodyansky|Osyp Bodyanskyi]], Ukrainian philologist and folklorist, collector of Ukrainian fairy tales (1808-1877)

===Poland===
* [[Oskar Kolberg]], Polish ethnographer and composer who compiled several Polish folk and fairy tales (1814–1890)
* [[Zygmunt Gloger]], Polish historian and ethnographer (1845–1910)
* [[Bolesław Leśmian]], Polish poet (1877–1937)
* [[Kornel Makuszyński]], Polish writer of children's literature and tales (1884–1953) 

===Romania===
{{See also|List of Romanian fairy tales}}
* ''[[Legende sau basmele românilor]]'' ([[Romania]], 1874) by [[Petre Ispirescu]]
* Queen [[Elisabeth of Wied]]'s Romanian fairy tales, penned under nom de plume ''Carmen Sylva''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sylva |first=Carmen |title=Legends from river & mountain |location=London |publisher=George Allen |date=1896 |pages=1–148 |chapter=Tales nr. 1-10}}</ref>
* [[Arthur Carl Victor Schott|Arthur]] (1814-1875) and Albert Schott (1809-1847), German folklorists and collectors of Romanian fairy tales
* {{interlanguage link|I. C. Fundescu|ro}} (1836–1904)
* [[Ion Creangă]], Moldavian/Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher (1837-1889) 
* [[Ioan Slavici]], Romanian writer and journalist (1848–1925)
* [[G. Dem. Teodorescu]], Wallachian/Romanian folklorist (1849–1900)
* {{interlanguage link|Ion Pop-Reteganul|ro}}, Romanian folklorist (1853–1905)
* [[Lazăr Șăineanu]], Romanian folklorist (1859–1934)
* {{interlanguage link|Dumitru Stăncescu|ro}}, Romanian folklorist (1866–1899)

===Balkan Area and Eastern Europe===
* [[Louis Léger]], French translator of Slavic fairy tales (France, 1843–1923)
* [[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)
* [[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
* {{ill|Gašper Križnik|sl|Gašper Križnik}} (1848–1904), collector of Slovenian folktales

===Hungary===
* [[Elek Benedek]], Hungarian journalist and collector of Hungarian folktales
* [[János Erdélyi]], poet, critic, author, philosopher who collected Hungarian folktales
* [[Gyula Pap (ethnographer)|Gyula Pap]], ethographer who contributed to the collection ''Folk-tales of the Magyars''
* ''The Hungarian Fairy Book'', by Nándor Pogány (1913).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pogány |first1=Nándor |first2=Willy |last2=Pogány |title=The Hungarian Fairy Book |location=New York |publisher=F. A. Stokes Co. |date=1913}}</ref>
* ''[[Old Hungarian Fairy Tales]]'' (1895), by Countess [[Emma Orczy]] and Montague Barstow.

===Spain and Portugal===
* [[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 language|Catalan]] from [[Mallorca]] (1862–1932)
* {{ill|Julio Camarena|es|Julio Camarena Laucirica}}, 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===
* [[Garegin Srvandztiants|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===
* [[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–)
* {{ill|Heda Jason|de|Heda Jason}}, Israeli folklorist
* [[Dov Noy]], Israeli folklorist (1920–2013)

===Turkey===
* ''{{ill|Billur Köşk|tr|Billur Köşk Masalları}}'', compilation of Turkish Anatolian stories
* [[Ignác Kúnos]], Hungarian Turkologist and folklorist (1860-1845)
* [[Pertev Naili Boratav]], Turkish folklorist (1907–1998)
* ''[[Kaloghlan]]'' ([[Turkey]], 1923) by [[Ziya Gökalp]]

===Iran===
* [[Arthur Christensen]], German Iranist and publisher of Iranian folktales (1875–1945)
* [[Fazl'ollah Mohtadi Sobhi]], Iranian author and publisher of folktales (1897–1962)

===Indian Subcontinent===
* ''[[Panchatantra]]'' (India, 3rd century BC)
* ''[[Kathasaritsagara]]'', compilation of Indian folklore made by [[Somadeva]] in the 11th century CE
* ''[[Madanakamaraja Katha]]'', collection of South Indian folktales
* ''[[Burhi Aair Sadhu]]'', collection of Assamese folktales
* ''[[Thakurmar Jhuli]]'', collection of Bengali folktales
* [[Lal Behari Dey]], reverend and recorder of Bengali folktales (India, 1824–1892)
* [[James Hinton Knowles]], missionary and collector of [[Kashmir]]i 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 (India) and translation of ''Madanakamaraja Katha''
* ''Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon'', three volumes by [[Henry Parker (author)|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===
* [[Marius Barbeau]], Canadian folklorist (Canada, 1883–1969)
* [[Geneviève Massignon]], scholar and publisher of French Acadian folklore (1921–1966)
* [[Carmen Roy]], 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===
* [[Monteiro Lobato]], Brazilian writer (Brazil, 1882 - 1948)
* [[Sílvio Romero]], Brazilian lawyer and folktale collector (Brazil, 1851–1914)
* [[Luís da Câmara Cascudo]], Brazilian anthropologist and ethnologist (Brazil, 1898–1986)
* {{interlanguage link|Lindolfo Gomes|pt}}, Brazilian folklorist (1875–1953)
* [[Marco Haurélio]], contemporary writer and folklorist, author of [[Contos e Fábulas do Brasil]] and [[Contos Folclóricos Brasileiros]].

===South Korea===
* [[Baek Hee-na]], author of "The Cloud Bread" (South Korea, 1971–)
* [[Hwang Seon-mi]], author of "Hen out of the yard" (South Korea, 1963–)

===Africa===
* [[Hans Stumme]], scholar and collector of North African folklore (1864–1936)
* [[Sigrid Schmidt]], folklorist; known for her voluminous ''Afrika erzählt'' ("Africa Narrates") series. The ten volumes are tales (with extensive commentary) collected by the author during 1959-1962 and  1972-1997 (volumes 1 to 7 in German, volumes 8 to 10 in English), mostly  in [[Namibia]].<ref>[https://www.koeppe.de/reihe_afrika-erzaehlt Afrika erzählt]</ref>

===Asia===
* [[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===
* ''[[Mixed Up Fairy Tales]]''
* ''[[Fairy Tales (Cummings)|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==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* ''[[Cuento]]'' (Spanish-language fairy tale)
* [[Duende]]
* [[Baba Yaga]]
* [[Chupacabra]]
* [[Wendigo]]
* [[Skinwalker]]
* [[Mothman]]
* [[Fairy tale parody]]
* [[Fairytale Forest]]
* [[List of Disney animated films based on fairy tales]]
* [[List of fairy tales]]
* [[Nursery rhyme]]
* [[Incantation]]
* [[Folklore, legends and myths in Dombey and Son]]{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|22em}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Attebery |first=Brian |date=1980 |title=The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-35665-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bettelheim |first=Bruno |year=1989 |title=The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, wonder tale, magic tale |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |isbn=0-679-72393-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Katharine Mary |author-link=Katharine Mary Briggs |title=The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1967 |oclc=2843854}}
* {{Cite book |last=Byatt |first=A. S. |author-link=A. S. Byatt |date=2004 |chapter=Introduction |editor-first=Maria |editor-last=Tatar |title=The Annotated Brothers Grimm |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=0-393-05848-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Calvino |first=Italo |author-link=Italo Calvino |date=1980 |title=Italian Folktales |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn=0-15-645489-0}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Clute |first1=John |author1-link=John Clute |last2=Grant |first2=John |author2-link=John Grant (author) |title=[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]] |location=New York |publisher=St Martin's Press |date=1997 |isbn=0-312-15897-1}}
* {{Cite book|last=Degh |first=Linda |date=1988 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9UNnjHtSZnkC&pg=PA66 |chapter=What Did the Grimm Brothers Give To and Take From the Folk? |editor-first=James M. |editor-last=McGlathery |title=The Brothers Grimm and Folktale |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=0-252-01549-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Drazen |first=Patrick |date=2003 |title=Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=1-880656-72-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Franz |first=Marie-Louise von |title=An Introduction to the Psychology of Fairytales" |publisher=Spring Publications |location=Zurich |date=1970 |oclc=940275302}}
* {{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Philip |date=2002 |title=The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest |publisher=Writer Books |isbn=978-0-87116-195-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Orenstein |first=Catherine |date=2002 |title=Little Red Riding Hood Undressed |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=0-465-04125-6}}
* {{cite book |last1=Propp |first1=Vladimir |author-link=Vladimir Propp |editor-first1=Louis A. |editor-last1=Wagner |title=Morphology of the Folktale |date=1968 |publisher=University of Texas Press |doi=10.7560/783911 |isbn=978-0-292-78391-1 |oclc=609066584 |jstor=10.7560/783911 }}
* {{Cite book |first=Steven |last=Swann Jones |title=The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of the Imagination |publisher=Twayne |location=New York |date=1995 |isbn=0-8057-0950-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tatar |first=Maria |date=1987 |title=The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-06722-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Stith |author-link=Stith Thompson |title=The Folktale |publisher=University of California Press |date=1977 |isbn=0-520-03537-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |chapter=[[On Fairy-Stories]] |title=[[The Tolkien Reader]] |date=1966 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0-345-25585-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Velten |first=Harry |date=2001 |title=The Influences of Charles Perrault's ''Contes de ma Mère L'oie'' on German Folklore}} In {{harvnb|Zipes|2001}}.
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Zipes |editor-first=Jack |editor-link=Jack Zipes |date=2001 |title=The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=0-393-97636-X}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zipes |first=Jack |date=2002a |title=The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=0-312-29380-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zipes |first=Jack |date=2007 |title=When Dreams Came True: Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-98006-7}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite web |title=Kidnapped by Fairies / The Hitch Hiker |url=https://shakespir.com/ebook/kidnapped-by-fairies-the-hitch-hiker-324103 |website=Shakespir |access-date=21 August 2020 |archive-date=8 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908222610/https://shakespir.com/ebook/kidnapped-by-fairies-the-hitch-hiker-324103 |url-status=dead }}
* Heidi Anne Heiner, [https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/earliest-fairy-tales.html "The Quest for the Earliest Fairy Tales: Searching for the Earliest Versions of European Fairy Tales with Commentary on English Translations"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814080519/https://surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/earliest-fairy-tales.html |date=14 August 2020 }}
* Heidi Anne Heiner, [https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/fairy-tale-timeline.html "Fairy Tale Timeline"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815081558/https://surlalunefairytales.com/intro-pages/fairy-tale-timeline.html |date=15 August 2020 }}
* Vito Carrassi, "Il fairy tale nella tradizione narrativa irlandese: Un itinerario storico e culturale", Adda, Bari 2008; English edition, "The Irish Fairy Tale: A Narrative Tradition from the Middle Ages to Yeats and Stephens", John Cabot University Press/University of Delaware Press, Roma-Lanham 2012.
* Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson: ''The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography'' (Helsinki, 1961)
* Tatar, Maria. ''The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales.'' W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. {{ISBN|0-393-05163-3}}
* Benedek Katalin. "[http://kjnt.ro/szovegtar/tanulmany/2017_JAZs-VA_szerk_Aranyhid_72_BenedekK Mese és fordítás idegen nyelvről magyarra és magyarról idegenre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817233054/http://kjnt.ro/szovegtar/tanulmany/2017_JAZs-VA_szerk_Aranyhid_72_BenedekK |date=17 August 2021 }}". In: ''Aranyhíd. Tanulmányok Keszeg Vilmos tiszteletére''. BBTE Magyar Néprajz és Antropológia Intézet; Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület; Kriza János Néprajzi Társaság. 2017. pp.&nbsp;1001–1013. {{ISBN|978-973-8439-92-4}}. (In Hungarian) [for collections of Hungarian folktales].
* {{cite journal |last1=Le Marchand |first1=Bérénice Virginie |title=Refraining the Early French Fairy Tale: A Selected Bibliography |journal=Marvels & Tales |date=2005 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=86–122 |doi=10.1353/mat.2005.0013 |jstor=41388737 |s2cid=201788183 }}

'''On origin and migration of folktales:'''
* {{cite journal |last1=Bortolini |first1=Eugenio |last2=Pagani |first2=Luca |last3=Crema |first3=Enrico R. |last4=Sarno |first4=Stefania |last5=Barbieri |first5=Chiara |last6=Boattini |first6=Alessio |last7=Sazzini |first7=Marco |last8=da Silva |first8=Sara Graça |last9=Martini |first9=Gessica |last10=Metspalu |first10=Mait |last11=Pettener |first11=Davide |last12=Luiselli |first12=Donata |last13=Tehrani |first13=Jamshid J. |title=Inferring patterns of folktale diffusion using genomic data |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=22 August 2017 |volume=114 |issue=34 |pages=9140–9145 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1614395114 |pmid=28784786 |pmc=5576778 |jstor=26487305 |bibcode=2017PNAS..114.9140B |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=d'Huy |first1=Julien |title=Folk-Tale Networks: A Statistical Approach to Combinations of Tale Types |journal=Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |date=1 June 2019 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=29–49 |doi=10.2478/jef-2019-0003 |s2cid=198317250 |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Goldberg |first1=Christine |title=Strength in Numbers: The Uses of Comparative Folktale Research |journal=Western Folklore |date=2010 |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=19–34 |jstor=25735282 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Jason |first1=Heda |last2=Kempinski |first2=Aharon |title=How Old Are Folktales? |journal=[[Fabula (journal)|Fabula]] |volume=22 |date=1981 |issue=Jahresband |pages=1–27 |doi=10.1515/fabl.1981.22.1.1|s2cid=162398733 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=hÓgáin |first1=Dáithí Ó |title=The Importance of Folklore within the European Heritage: Some Remarks |journal=Béaloideas |date=2000 |volume=68 |pages=67–98 |doi=10.2307/20522558 |jstor=20522558 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Nakawake |first1=Y. |last2=Sato |first2=K. |title=Systematic quantitative analyses reveal the folk-zoological knowledge embedded in folktales |journal=Palgrave Communications |volume=5 |issue=161 |date=2019 |article-number=161 |doi=10.1057/s41599-019-0375-x|doi-access=free |arxiv=1907.03969 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Newell |first1=W. W. |title=Theories of Diffusion of Folk-Tales |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=January 1895 |volume=8 |issue=28 |pages=7–18 |doi=10.2307/533078 |jstor=533078 }}
* Nouyrigat, Vicent. "Contes de fées: leur origine révélée par la génétique". Excelsior publications (2017) in ''[[La Science et la Vie]]'' (Paris), édition 1194 (03/2017), pp.&nbsp;74–80.
* {{cite journal |last1=Ross |first1=Robert M. |last2=Atkinson |first2=Quentin D. |title=Folktale transmission in the Arctic provides evidence for high bandwidth social learning among hunter–gatherer groups |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |date=January 2016 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=47–53 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.08.001 |bibcode=2016EHumB..37...47R }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Swart |first1=P. D. |title=The Diffusion of the Folktale: With Special Notes on Africa |journal=Midwest Folklore |date=1957 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=69–84 |jstor=4317635 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Utley |first1=Francis Lee |last2=Austerlitz |first2=Robert |last3=Bauman |first3=Richard |last4=Bolton |first4=Ralph |last5=Count |first5=Earl W. |last6=Dundes |first6=Alan |last7=Erickson |first7=Vincent |last8=Farmer |first8=Malcolm F. |last9=Fischer |first9=J. L. |last10=Hultkrantz |first10=Åke |last11=Kelley |first11=David H. |last12=Peek |first12=Philip M. |last13=Pretty |first13=Graeme |last14=Rachlin |first14=C. K. |last15=Tepper |first15=J. |title=The Migration of Folktales: Four Channels to the Americas [and Comments and Reply] |journal=Current Anthropology |date=1974 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=5–27 |doi=10.1086/201428 |jstor=2740874 |s2cid=144105176 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Zaitsev |first1=A. I. |title=On the Origin of the Wondertale |journal=Soviet Anthropology and Archeology |date=July 1987 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=30–40 |doi=10.2753/AAE1061-1959260130 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=fairy tale}}
<!--======================== {{No more links}} ============================
    | PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS IN ADDING MORE LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE. Wikipedia  |
    | is not a collection of links nor should it be used for advertising. |
    |                                                                     |
    |           Excessive or inappropriate links WILL BE DELETED.         |
    | See [[Wikipedia:External links]] & [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details.  |
    |                                                                     |
    | If there are already plentiful links, please propose additions or   |
    | replacements on this article's discussion page, or submit your link |
    | to the relevant category at the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org)   |
    | and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template.         |
    ======================== {{No more links}} ============================-->
* [http://www.folkstory.com/articles/onceupon.html Once Upon a Time – How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives] by Jonathan Young, PhD., from ''Inside Journal Magazine'', Fall 1997
* [https://doi.org/10.25810/7pvg-ma55 Historical and Illustrated Fairy Tales Collection] {{--}} Special Collections, [[University of Colorado Boulder]]
:Covering a three hundred year time frame, the print collection encompasses European, American, and Asian tales, including several rare editions by authors like the Brothers Grimm.


{{Subject bar |commons=y |commons-search=Category:Fairy tales |wikt=y |wikt-search=Fairy tale |q=y |q-search=Fairy tale |s=y |s-search=Category:Fairy tales |d=y |d-search=Q699 |portal1=Books |portal2=Children's literature}}
{{Folklore genres}}
{{Fiction writing}}
{{Fantasy fiction}}
{{Fairies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fairy tales| ]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Narrative techniques]]
[[Category:Fantasy genres]]
[[Category:Traditional stories]]