Fairy tales are whimsical stories that focus on fictional realms, enchantment, mythology, and magical characters or events in order to create vivid stories. They are a favorite among millions of children, regardless of age groups, because they allow children to explore the greatest depths of their imagination in addition to entertaining them with the endless fantasies through the heavy use of entities such as unicorns, monsters, witches, mermaids, talking animals, dragons, and much more. Their popularity has remained consistent through the test of time because there have been many revisions of classic fairy tales as well as the ability to view them in the form of movies or films. Fairy tales have existed for thousands upon thousands of years, and the first fairy tale to ever be recorded by historians was found in Ancient Egypt around 1300 B.C. With this information, we know that the style of fairy tales have had an expansive amount of time to vary based on certain factors like geographic location, time period, language, and religion. Apart from just Egypt, many instances of fairy tales and folklore have been found in parts of eastern/northeastern Europe. These tales that come from around the world have already been translated in order for people in different regions to enjoy them as well.
Although fairy tales provide a great amount of entertainment and enchantment for young readers, they have been mainly been used by adults to teach children from varying time periods about the consequences of poor life choices, or to prevent them from making mistakes that could harm them. These stories have used fear or paranoia to strongly and effectively manipulate the minds of young children.
The Little Red Riding Hood, for example, is a very popular story known by many. It originally came from Europe in the 10th century, and focuses on the main character which is a young girl wearing a red, hooded piece of clothing that is tasked with delivering food to her grandmother that lives deep in the woods. Upon her voyage, she encounters an unknown wolf who asks where she is going, to which she obliges and reveals the location of her grandmother's house. The Wolf then arrives to the grandmother's house before the girl, eats the grandmother alive, and disguises himself as her grandma laying in bed before her granddaughter arrives. She realizes her grandmother looks very different, and upon questioning her, the Wolf also eats her alive and falls asleep. The commotion is heard by a nearby woodcutter, where he enters the home and finds the wolf asleep. He proceeds to cut him open, remove both victims from his stomach unharmed, and fills his stomach with heavy stones before closing him back up. Once awoken, the Wolf tries to escape from the woodcutter but he is weighed down by the rocks, collapses, and dies.
As you quickly realize, the original fairy tales created thousands of years ago were extremely graphic and very unsuitable for children had they been published today. The original story exemplifies the amount of fear inflicted upon children in order to teach them valuable lessons. The main purpose was to warn children of the dangers of talking to stranger, in which the tale was successful. Even though there are many example of fear being used within old folklore to influence children, entertainment is the second most popular use of fairy tales. Cinderella, for example, is the perfect instance of true love and romance that particularly targets young girls. It emphasizes the troubles or obstacles that an individual encounters while trying to find true love, but finishes with a happy ending.
Fairy tales are regularly changed in order to better relate to their audience; making every story unique with varying elements. Up until recently, the majority of fairy tales have mostly been used to advise children against making mistakes all while promoting good morals. These types of stores tend to have a unhappy ending, but authors can always make variations to them. The adaptability that fairy tales have make them a popular choice for children and adults alike because they provide variety regardless of the genre or theme.
Although fairy tales have always been a vital part of many childhoods, they were not always meant for children. Strangely enough, historians have found fairy tales dating back to around the 15th century that were actually intended for adults due to their inclined literature. It wasn’t until approximately the 17th- 18th century in which children transitioned to the primary audience of many authors.
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