Since Friday the 26th of Feb is tell a Fairy tale day. I thought it’d be a great time to have a more in-depth look at them.
I have always wanted to do a study into Fairytales, there are actual degrees and certificates for them. However, I don’t think I could ever justify the cost of studying them more, and what do you do afterwards? One day, when I win the lottery.
What are some elements to a Fairy Tale?
- There is usually a good or bad magic element.
- They usually take place “A long time ago” or, a “long time in the future”. They very rarely take place in the present.
- There is usually a universal lesson.
- There is more likely to be some sort of problem, curse or not
- And they are usually a story where someone’s a hero or heroine, and a villian.
Fairy tales, like any good generation to generation story. Tends to change to suit that current generation, and that current era. Which means a lot of our current Fairy tale, normally made into movies by Disney, have strained away from the original tales. In my opinion, not all that bad really. If you take Hans Christen Anderson or the Brothers Grimm, their fairy tales are literally that … Grimm.
Their characters tend to go through horrible things, just to mostly die or have their heart broken in some horrible way. They are definitely not the family loving, good and love always wins of the Disney movies today! There are definitely Grimm Brother fairy tales, that would have been considered the “I.t.” by Stephen King standard, of yesteryear. The original Grimm Brothers fairytales would probably make for some fantastic horror films! So fairy tales are not just for the kiddies!
There are theories out there, that some fairy tales are based on real people and/or real life events.
Snow White:
Based on the life of Margarete von Waldeck, a 16th century Bavarian noblewoman. Margarete grew up in Bad Wildungen, where her brother used small children to work his copper mine. Severely deformed because of the physical labor mining required, they were despairingly referred to as dwarfs. The poison apple is also rooted in fact; an old man would offer tainted fruits to the workers, and other children he believed stole from him.
Margarete’s stepmother, despising her, sent the beauty, to the Brussels court to get rid of her. There Prince Philip II of Spain became her steamy lover. His father, the king of Spain, opposing the romance, dispatched Spanish agents to murder Margarete. They surreptitiously poisoned her.
Beauty and the Beast:
In 1537 there was a young boy named Petrus Gonsalvus who was regularly called a beast. Reportedly, this was most likely because he had a case of hypertrichosis, a condition that causes a person to grow hair all over their body, referred to as “werewolf syndrome.” Gonsalvus was 10 years old when he was taken from Spain, and sent to the King of France to operate as a type of court jester.
Eventually, King Henry’s wife, Catherine de’Medici (who took over after the king died), found Gonsalvus a wife — also called Catherine. Though it took some getting used to, the beauty fell in love with “the beast.” They were married for 40 years and had seven kids together, four of which also had hypertrichosis.
The Pied Piper:
In 1264, a pied piper had offered to get rid of the numerous rats in the Germanic village of Hamelin, as long as the town elders gave him a considerable amount of money upon the completion of this task. After he disposed of the rats, the elders reneged on their promise. Furious, the piper enticed the children of the village to follow him. They never returned.
Lolsys Library 