The Bear is a fairy tale collected by Andrew Lang in The Grey Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson classification system type 510B, unnatural love. Others of this type include Cap O' Rushes, Catskin, Little Cat Skin, Allerleirauh, The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter, The She-Bear, Tattercoats, Mossycoat, The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress, and Donkeyskin, or the legend of Saint Dymphna.…
The Master Maid is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. Master indicates 'superior, skilled'. Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in Seljord on a short visit in the autumn of 1842. Andrew Lang translated the tale to English and included it in his The Blue Fairy Book (1889). A later translation was made by George Dasent, in his Popular Tales from the North. It is Aarne-Thompson type 313. Others of this type include "The Two Kings' Children", "The Water Nixie", "Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter", "Nix Nought Nothing", and "Foundling-Bird".…
The Nixie of the Mill Pond is a German fairy tale that tells the story of a man captured by a nixie (water spirit) and his wife's efforts to save him. The Brothers Grimm collected the tale in their Grimm's Fairy Tales (1857) as tale number 181. A note in the volume indicated that it was current in Upper Lusatia when the story was collected. Andrew Lang included a version in The Yellow Fairy Book, citing his source Hermann Kletke and titling it The Nixy. It is classified as Aarne-Thompson Type 316, "The Nixie of the Mill Pond". This fairy tale type that falls under the larger category of "Supernatural Adversaries" and is characterized by a hero's parents being promised wealth or gifts in exchange for their child. This tale type is most common in Northern Europe and some variants have been recorded in Scotland.…
The Story of Pretty Goldilocks or The Beauty with Golden Hair is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 531. This type is generally called "The Clever Horse," but is known in French as La Belle aux cheveux d'or, after this tale. Other tales of this type include Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful, The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa, Corvetto, King Fortunatus's Golden Wig, and The Mermaid and the Boy.…
An English variant of The Robber Bridegroom, a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, that was included in English Fairy Tale by Joseph Jacobs.…
The Robber Bridegroom is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 40. Joseph Jacobs included a variant, Mr. Fox, in English Fairy Tales, but the original provenance is much older; Shakespeare (circa 1599) alludes to the Mr. Fox variant in Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1:Like the old tale, my lord: "it is not so, nor 't was not so; but, indeed, God forbid it should be so."It is Aarne-Thompson type 955, the robber bridegroom. This type is closely related to tales of type 312, such as Bluebeard, and type 311, such as How the Devil Married Three Sisters and Fitcher's Bird.…
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816 by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. The story was originally published in Berlin in German as part of the collection Kinder-Mährchen, Children's Stories, by In der Realschulbuchhandlung. In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers, Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned Alexandre Dumas' adaptation of the story into the ballet, The Nutcracker.…
Donkey Skin is a French literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Andrew Lang included it, somewhat euphemized, in The Grey Fairy Book. It is classed among folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 510B, unnatural love.…
Little Red Riding Hood is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to the 10th century to several European folk tales, including one from Italy called The False Grandmother. The best known version was written by Charles Perrault.The story has been changed considerably in various retellings and subjected to numerous modern adaptations and readings. Other names for the story are: "Little Red Ridinghood", "Little Red Cap" or simply "Red Riding Hood". It is number 333 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales.…
Little Brother and Little Sister is a European fairy tale which was, among others, written down by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 11). It is a tale of Aarne-Thompson Type 450. In Russia the story was more commonly known as Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka, and collected by Alexander Afanasyev in his Narodnye russkie skazki.…
Hansel and Gretel (also known as Hansel and Grettel, Hansel and Grethel, or Little Brother and Little Sister) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimm's Fairy Tales (KHM 15).Hansel and Gretel, older brother and younger sister, are young children abandoned or lost in the forest, where they fall into the hands of a cannibalistic witch living in a house made of gingerbread, cake, confection, sweets, and many other treats and pastries. The witch intends to fatten the children before eventually eating them, but the girl outwits the villain and kills her. The two children then escape with their lives and return home with the witch's treasure.Hansel and Gretel is a tale of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 327A. It also includes an episode of type 1121 ('Burning the Witch in Her Own Oven'). The tale has been adapted to various media, most notably the opera Hänsel und Gretel (1893) by Engelbert Humperdinck.…
The Little Match Girl is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media, including animated and live-action films, television musicals, and video games.…
"Snow White" is a 19th-century German fairy tale which is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen) and numbered as Tale 53. The name Sneewittchen was Low German and in the first version it was translated with Schneeweißchen. The Grimm Brotherss completed their final revision of the story in 1854.The fairy tale features such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the characters of the evil queen and the Seven Dwarfs. The seven dwarfs were first given individual names in the 1912 Broadway play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then given different names in Walt Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Grimm story, which is commonly referred to as "Snow White", should not be confused with the story of "Snow-White and Rose-Red" (in German "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot"), another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.In the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification, tales of this kind are grouped together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this kind include "Bella Venezia", "Myrsina", "Nourie Hadig", "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree", "The Young Slave" and "La petite Toute-Belle".…
Andrew Lang's version has the questing princes vanish and it is revealed they have been enchanted and trapped in the underground world. The hero of Lang's version is a cowherd named Michael, who marries the youngest princess, Lina, not the eldest. Her sisters each marry one of the contestants once they are freed from the enchantment.…
The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that has multiple versions with various origins. It is classified as type 402, the animal bride, in the Aarne-Thompson index. Another tale of this type is Doll i' the Grass.Russian variants of this dairy tale include the Frog Princess or Tsarevna Frog and also Vasilisa the Wise. Alexander Afanasyev collected variants in his Narodnye russkie skazki. Andrew Lang included an Italian variant titled The Frog in The Violet Fairy Book. Italo Calvino included another Italian variant from Piedmont, The Prince Who Married a Frog, in Italian Folktales, where he noted that the tale was common throughout Europe. Georgios A. Megas included a Greek variant, The Enchanted Lake, in Folktales of Greece.…
Fitcher's Bird is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 46.It is Aarne-Thompson type 311, the heroine rescues herself and her sisters. Another tale of this type is How the Devil Married Three Sisters. The Brothers Grimm noted its close similarity to the Norwegian The Old Dame and her Hen, also grouped in this tale type.The tale also features the motifs of the "Forbidden chamber" and a bloodied item that betrays the bride peeking in that chamber against strict orders, and as such bears resemblance to the Bluebeard type tales (which are type AT 312).…
Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale that was popularly associated with Germany, where he is also known as Rumpelstilzchen. The tale was one collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. According to researchers at Durham University and the NOVA University Lisbon, the story originated around 4,000 years ago However, many biases lead to take the results of this study with caution.…
Tam Lin is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also known as the Glasgow Reel. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies. The motif of capturing a person by holding him through all forms of transformation is found throughout Europe in folktales.The story has been adapted into numerous stories, songs and films.…
The True Bride or The True Sweetheart is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales as tale 186It combines two Aarne-Thompson types: 510, the persecuted heroine, and 884, the forsaken fiancée. Others of the first type include Cinderella, The Sharp Grey Sheep, The Golden Slipper, The Story of Tam and Cam, Rushen Coatie, The Wonderful Birch, Fair, Brown and Trembling and Katie Woodencloak. Other of the second type include The Twelve Huntsmen, The Two Kings' Children, and Sweetheart Roland.…
Kate Crackernuts (or Katie Crackernuts) is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Andrew Lang in the Orkney Islands and published in LONGMAN'S MAGAZINE in 1889. Joseph Jacobs edited and republished the tale in his English Fairy Tales (1890). The tale is about a princess who rescues her beautiful sister from an evil enchantment and a prince from a wasting sickness caused by dancing nightly with the fairies. The tale has been adapted to a children's novel and a stage play.…