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Friday 16 January 2015

Fairy Tale

The term ‘fairy tale’ or ‘conte de fée’ was coined by French writer Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy with her Les Contes des Fées (Fairy Tales) in 1697.

The opening words ‘Once upon a time’ has been dated back to Chaucer in the 14th century. Later, it was used in George Peele's 1595 play The Old Wives' Tale, when the Old Woman begins a story she is telling with: "Once upon a time there was a king, or a Lord, or a Duke…".

In 1697 A Frenchman, Charles Perrault published a collection of eight traditional fairy tales entitled Histoires ou contes du temps passé. His book also included Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard and Puss in Boots.

Illustration of "Puss in Boots" from handwritten 1695 edition of Histoires ou contes du temps passé

Not until Perrault's publication did Cinderella wear glass slippers, or "pantouffles en verre." Perrault mistranslated this phrase and thought it was equivalent to "pantouffles en vair," which actually means slippers made from white squirrel fur.

Charles Perrault, also helped design part of the Louvre.

In 1729 an English translation of Perrault's collection appeared Robert Samber's Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose, introduced the fairy tales to English-speaking audiences.

Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins (The Young American and Marine Tales). The purpose of the story was originally a critique of the forced marriages between 13-15 yr old girls to adult men common at the time. Later versions shifted the emphasis to help young girls accept arranged marriages.

The first public appearance of the Mother Goose stories in the New World was in Worcester, Massachusetts, where printer Isaiah Thomas reprinted Samber's volume under the same title, in 1786.

Grimm's Fairy Tales is a collection of German fairy tales first published on December 20, 1812 by the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm. Among the traditional stories they recorded were Snow White, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel.

Title page of first volume of Grimms' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819) 2nd Ed.

Grimm's Fairy Tales were considered by the brothers to be folk tales for adults rather than children's stories. The first volumes were much criticized because of the adult content. The Grimm brothers removed a number of sex scenes but increased the violence particularly when punishing villains.

In the original Rapunzel story, Mother Gothel throws Rapunzel's prince from the tower and he is blinded from landing in a thorn bush.

In 1825 the brothers published their Kleine Ausgabe or "small edition", a selection of 50 tales designed for child readers.

In the Grimm brothers version of Snow White, Snow White’s mother is forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she drops dead.

There was no fairy godmother in the Grimm's version of Cinderella. Instead her ballgown is supplied by small hazel tree watered with Cinderella’s tears.

The story of Goldilocks And The Three Bears was written in 1837 by Robert Southey who was the English Poet Laureate at the time. In Southey’s original story, the visitor to the bears’ house was an ugly old woman. Goldilocks only entered the tale in later versions.

Three Little Pigs is a fairy tale featuring anthropomorphic animals. The tale was originally passed on by word of mouth before being recorded by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps in 1842. He was a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The story in its arguably best-known form appeared in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, first published in 1890.

Instead of "Once upon a time," many Korean folktales begin with "Back when tigers used to smoke..."

The classic fairytale ending, "And they lived happily ever after", differs slightly from country to country. In Russia, the ending is, "They lived long and happily, and died together on the same day."  German fairytales end with “if they haven’t died, then they are still living today.”

Here is a list of songs with lyrics based on nursery rhymes or fairytales.

Source Daily Express

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