The ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice concerns the fateful love of Orpheus of Thrace, son of Apollo and the muse Calliope, for the beautiful Eurydice. It may be a late addition to the Orpheus myths, as the latter cult-title suggests those attached to Persephone. It may have been derived from a legend in which Orpheus travels to Tartarus and charms the goddess Hecate.…
The image of a beast hiding deep within an enchanted forest in an enchanted castle, waiting to be transformed through love, is generally associated with, well, male beasts. The beasts also typically have a frightening appearance: they are often bears, or lions, or something too terrifying to describe.But sometimes, that enchanted beast is a girl, as in Madame d'Aulnoy's novelette, "The White Cat."…
Finette Cendron (meaning in English, Cunning Cinders) is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame D'AulnoyIt is Aarne-Thompson type 510 and other tales of this type include Cinderella, Fair, Brown and Trembling The Golden Slipper, Katie Woodencloak, Rushen Coatie, The Sharp Grey Sheep, The Story of Tam and Cam, and The Wonderful Birch.…
The Steadfast Tin Soldier is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a tin soldier's love for a paper ballerina. The tale was first published in Copenhagen by C.A. Reitzel on 2 October 1838 in the first booklet of Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. The booklet consists of Andersen's "The Daisy" and "The Wild Swans". The tale was Andersen's first not based upon a folk tale or a literary model. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" has been adapted to various media including ballet and animated film.…
The Snow Queen is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It is first published on December 21, 1844 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection. 1845. The story centres on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai.The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed stories. It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for children.…
The Young Slave is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone. It is Aarne-Thompson type 410, Sleeping Beauty; other variants include The Glass Coffin and Sun, Moon, and Talia.…
"The Tinderbox" (Danish: Fyrtøjet) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a soldier who acquires a magic tinderbox capable of summoning three powerful dogs to do his bidding. When the soldier has one of the dogs transport a sleeping princess to his room, he is sentenced to death but cunningly summons the dogs to save his life.In the Aarne-Thompson tale index, The Tinderbox is type 562: The Spirit in the Blue Light.[1] Other tales of this type include The Three Dogs and The Blue Light.[2]The tale has its source in a Scandinavian folk tale Andersen learned in his childhood, but similarities with "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" and other tales have been noted. The story was one of Andersen's first fairy tales, and was published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark on 8 May 1835 in an inexpensive booklet with three other tales by Andersen. The four tales were not favorably received by Danish critics who disliked their informal, chatty style and lack of morals. In 1946, "The Tinderbox" was the source material for Denmark's first animated film, and, in 2007, a ballet with costumes and scenery designed by Queen Margrethe II.…
Petrosinella is a Neapolitan literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his collection of fairy tales in 1634, Lo cunto de li cunti (The Story of Stories), or Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 310 The Maiden in the Tower, of which the best known variant is Rapunzel, and it is the earliest recorded variant of this tale known to exist.…
Little Daylight is a fairy tale written by George MacDonald and included as a story within a story in At the Back of the North Wind, published in 1871. It has subsequently been published as an independent tale, and in collections of his other fairy tales.…
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (竹取物語Taketori Monogatari) is a 10th-century Japanese monogatari (fictional prose narrative) containing Japanese folklore. It is considered the oldest extant Japanese prose narrative[1][2] although the oldest manuscript dates to 1592.[3]The tale is also known as The Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari), after its protagonist.[4] It primarily details the life of a mysterious girl called Kaguya, who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant.…
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (or "The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes" or "The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces") (German: Die Zwölf Tanzenden Prinzessinnen in German) is a German fairy tale originally published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 in Kinder- und Hausmärchen as tale number 133. Its closest analogue is the Scottish Kate Crackernuts, where it is a prince who is obliged to dance every night.Charles Deulin collected another, French version in his Contes du Roi Cambrinus (1874), which he credited to the Grimm version.[1]Alexander Afanasyev collected two Russian variants, entitled "The Night Dances", in his Narodnye russkie skazki.…
One of the most popular versions of Cinderella was written in French by Charles Perrault in 1697, under the name Cendrillon. The popularity of his tale was due to his additions to the story, including the pumpkin, the fairy-godmother and the introduction of "glass" slippers.…
Another well-known version was recorded by the German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century. The tale is called Aschenputtel [The Little Ash Girl] or Cinderella in English translations. This version is much more violent than that of Charles Perrault and Disney, in that Cinderella's father has not died and the two stepsisters mutilate their feet to fit in the golden slipper. There is no fairy godmother in this version of the Brothers Grimm, but rather help comes from a wishing tree that the heroine planted on her deceased mother's grave when she recites a certain chant. In the second edition of their collection (1819), the Brothers Grimm supplemented the original 1812 version with a coda in which the two stepsisters suffer a bloody and terrible punishment by the princess Cinderella, who can become very dangerous when she is angry, for their cruelty.…
"Snow-White and Rose-Red" (German: Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot) is a German fairy tale. The best-known version is the one collected by the Brothers Grimm as tale number 161.[1] An older, somewhat shorter version, The Ungrateful Dwarf, was written by Caroline Stahl (1776-1837); this in fact appears to be the oldest variant of the tale, as there are no known previous oral versions, although several have been collected since its publication.[2] The oral variants of this tale are very limited in area.[3]It is not to be confused with the Grimm fairy tale Snow White (which is written Schneewittchen in German, rather than Schneeweißchen) that provided the basis for the Walt Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This is a completely different version of Snow White and she has nothing in common with the other one other than the fact that she shares her name in English and has an encounter with a dwarf.…
Beauty and the Beast (French: La Belle et la Bête) is a 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).[1] Her lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and published first by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 in Magasin des enfants[2] (Children's Collection) and by Andrew Lang in the Blue Fairy Book of his Fairy Book series in 1889, to produce the version(s) most commonly retold.[1] It was influenced by some earlier stories, such as "Cupid and Psyche", The Golden Ass written by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis in the 2nd century AD, and "The Pig King", an Italian fairytale published by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola.[3]Variants of the tale are known across Europe.[4] In France, for example, Zémire and Azor is an operatic version of the story, written by Marmontel and composed by Grétry in 1771, which had enormous success well into the 19th century;[5] it is based on the second version of the tale. Amour pour amour (Love for love), by Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, is a 1742 play based on de Villeneuve's version. According to researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon, the story originated around 4,000 years ago.…
"Allerleirauh" (English: "All-Kinds-of-Fur", sometimes translated as "Thousandfurs") is a fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 65.[1] Andrew Lang included it in The Green Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510B, unnatural love. Others of this type include "Cap O' Rushes", "Donkeyskin", "Catskin", "Little Cat Skin", "The King who Wished to Marry His Daughter", "The She-Bear", "Mossycoat", "Tattercoats", "The Princess That Wore A Rabbit-Skin Dress", "Katie Woodencloak", and "The Bear".[3] Indeed, some English translators of "Allerleirauh" titled that story "Catskin" despite the differences between the German and English tales.…
"The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (German: Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich, literally "The Frog King; or, The Iron Heinrich") is a fairy tale, best known through the Brothers Grimm's written version; traditionally it is the first story in their collection.…
Biancabella and the Snake is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola.[1]Italo Calvino included a Piedmontese variant The Snake, with some elements from a Tuscan version,[2] while noting the vast alternations between the style of Straparola's story beside the simplicity of the folktale.[3]It is Aarne-Thompson type 706, the girl without hands. Other variants of this tale include The Girl Without Hands, Penta of the Chopped-off Hands, The Armless Maiden, and The One-Handed Girl.[4]…
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands or The Girl With the Maimed Hands is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.[1]It is Aarne-Thompson type 706B, "The Girl without Hands." [2] The Brothers Grimm cited it as an analog to The Girl Without Hands.[3]Other variants of this tale include The One-Handed Girl, The Armless Maiden, and Biancabella and the Snake.[4]…
"The Girl Without Hands" or "The Handless Maiden" or "The Girl With Silver Hands" or "The Armless Maiden" (German: Das Mädchen ohne Hände) is a German fairy talecollected by the Brothers Grimm.[1] It is tale number 31 and was first published in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales.[2]The story was revised by the Grimm brothers over the years, and the final version was published in the 7th edition of Children's and Household Tales in 1857. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.…