Questions 3: Fairy Tails From Around the World

Posted on February 26, 2025 by Charles Yallowitz

Shrek

I’m going to admit that I don’t know many fairy tales beyond the ones American children get while growing up.  Those tend to be Disney-associated.  So, this is a topic I’m curious about, but have no knowledge on.  I did look to see if all cultures had fairy tales and it seems that way.  Judaism has things like ‘The Palace of Eagles’ and ‘The Fairy Frog’, which I had never heard of.  Only ones I could think of are Bible stories and ‘The Golem’.  Funny thing is that some of the Jewish fairy tales didn’t originate within their homeland, but simply in their cultural centers.  For example, a story called ‘A Golden Tree’ is a Jewish tale that came out of India.  So . . .

  1. What do you think constitutes a fairy tale regardless of culture?
  2. Do you know of any non-mainstream fairy tales from other cultures?
  3. Why do you think all cultures have fairy tales?
Unknown's avatar

About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
This entry was posted in Questions 3 and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to Questions 3: Fairy Tails From Around the World

  1. noelleg44's avatar noelleg44 says:
    February 26, 2025 at 10:05 am

    I think fairy tales are how a culture teaches its values, and that’s why all the cultures I’ve run into have them.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Grant at Tame Your Book's avatar Grant at Tame Your Book says:
    February 26, 2025 at 10:29 am

    For three of my novellas, I studied trolls. Central Texas is home to many Norwegians, so I started with those tales, but like a loose thread, one pull led to another. I found the research informative and entertaining, especially how the fairy tales changed from one country to another. For a detailed essay by J. R. R. Tolkien, consider Tolkien On Fairy-stories edited by Verlyn Flieger & Douglas A. Anderson.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatar Chris The Story Reading Ape says:
    February 26, 2025 at 11:01 am
    1. Fairy Tales, like parables, are morality tales and were not restricted only to children, adults listened and learned from them too.
    2. In my childhood I read English translations of fairy and non-fairy tales from Russia, Germany, Poland and Ireland as well as those common to England, Scotland and Wales. (Once my Mom taught me how to read, I devoured books from the local library as well as any given to me by my Grandfather who encouraged me to – mainly to keep me quiet I suspect 😂
    3. I guess storytelling is what sets us apart from other animals, plus, we learn from them.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  4. L. Marie's avatar L. Marie says:
    February 26, 2025 at 11:08 am
    1. Fairy tales seem to be fantasy stories that include fairies, magic, and other tropes. Some people think fairy tales have to include fairies. But many fairy tales don’t mention fairies at all.
    2. I’ve read hundreds of stories that have never been retold in modern books nor adapted by Disney or other production companies. Since I love fairy tales, I have read many story collections from around the world, like from Wales (the Mabinogion), Ireland, countries in African, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Scotland, and others. People have heard of some of the stories collected by the Grimm Brothers. But the complete collection has hundreds of stories. Hans Christian Andersen’s complete collection has about 150 stories. We’ve only seen a fraction of those adapted. There also is a collection of color fairy tale books (like The Pink Fairy Book) by Andrew Lang that feature fairy tales from around the world. For example, The Pink Fairy Book has “The Cat’s Elopement,” “How the Dragon was Tricked,” “The Goblin and the Grocer,” “Uraschimataro and the Turtle,” and many others.
    3. Every culture has a mythology. Fairy tales are part of that. But fairy tales are fictional stories.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. John W. Howell's avatar John W. Howell says:
    February 26, 2025 at 3:02 pm

    I think a fairy tale needs some kind of lesson about life demonstrated in a way a child can understand..

    I don’t know any non mainstream fairy tales.

    Fairy tales are designed to teach the young lessons in life. As such every culture want to teach those lessons

    Like

    Reply
  6. coldhandboyack's avatar coldhandboyack says:
    February 27, 2025 at 8:12 am

    I did a post years ago about fairy tale structure. It involves a lot of numbers and symbolism. Interestingly enough, some more mainstream tales follow that structure. It stuck with me all these years, that The Godfather follows that structure with the number of brothers and the youngest rising to the top. There were a bunch of other notes, but those have faded in my brain.

    Like

    Reply
  7. Jennie's avatar Jennie says:
    March 1, 2025 at 3:59 pm

    I echo John’s comment.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Charles Yallowitz Cancel reply