History Main / FairyTale

* ''VideoGame/{{Glass}}'' -- for "Literature/{{Cinderella}}"

* "Literature/Roverandom"

* Lietrature/TheFlyingTrunk

* Literature/TheNutcrackerAndTheMouseKing -- A literary fairy tale known mostly for providing the basis for the ballet by Music/{{Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky}}.

"Fairy tale" is the English name for a specific type of fantastic folktale. The term "fairy" in this case is not a reference to the creatures now called fairies, but to the word's original meaning, the "faery"; the "place of the fae" (cf "nunnery", "rookery"). Originally meant to refer to the otherworlds where fairy beings like the elves and the sidhe live, it eventually took on a more generic meaning as "land of magic". Very few fairy tales actually feature [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fairies]]; even those European countries with a developed [[TheFairFolk fairy folklore]] preferred to use {{Talking Animal}}s instead. The name of the genre can be traced to Madame d'Aulnoy's ''Les Contes de Fées'', which appeared only after literary fairy tales became all the rage.

* ''VideoGame/{{MysteryLegends}}: Beauty and the Beast'' - a Main/HiddenObjectGame that acts as a sort of sequel to the fairy tale.

"Fairy tale" is the English name for a very specific type of fantasy story. The term "fairy" in this case is not a reference to the creatures now called fairies, but to the word's original meaning, the "faery"; the "place of the fae" (cf "nunnery", "rookery"). Originally meant to refer to the otherworlds where fairy beings like the elves and the sidhe live, it eventually took on a more generic meaning as "land of magic".

Folklorists prefer to describe these stories using the German word ''märchen'', which is usually translated to English as "fairy tale" or "fairy story", but a better translation might be "wonder story." Fairy tales ''may'' include creatures from folklore such as [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]], [[WickedWitch witches]], and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]], but they don't have to. Likewise, they ''may'' include magic, but they don't have to. "Literature/{{Bluebeard}}", for example, has no supernatural elements at all.

Fairy tales usually take place "{{once upon a time}}", with few (if any) references to real people, places or events. They are typically told in an extremely spare and laconic style. Even the [[PimpedOutDress fancy dresses]] the heroine [[SheCleansUpNicely wears to a ball]] are discussed briefly; "[[RuleOfThree three dresses]], one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as the stars" and the story goes on. Likewise, characters are defined by their actions. Even when motives are provided (which is only for human characters), they are short and simple: the heroine is out to find her fortune; the hero wants to marry the princess; the WickedStepmother is {{greed}}y and doesn't want her stepchild to have an inheritance, or [[GreenEyedMonster envious]] of her beauty, or if she has a stepson, destroy his wife; the [[FakeUltimateHero false hero]] wants to marry the princess; the king falls in love with the strange woman he meets in the woods because of her beauty. And motives may not be; in [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm the Grimms']] "Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses", we never find out why the princesses are going to the nightly dances, and indeed never discover whether they are doing so voluntarily or not.

"Fairy tale" is often used in modern times to depict an idealized romance or ending, but this is largely a result of {{Disneyfication}}. Many classic fairy tales are quite dark, and a few are outright horrific in their original forms. Heroes may be the victims of [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence such violence]] as having hands chopped off or eyes gouged out; at the end of the story, villains may be [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath disposed of]] by such methods as having them [[Literature/SnowWhite wear red-hot shoes and dance until they die]] or [[Literature/TheGooseGirl putting them in a barrel lined with nails and having a horse drag it until they die]]. The spare style helps minimize the impact, as it can deal with the violence briefly and without gory detail, but even so many fairy tales have produced NightmareFuel. In some cases, this is intentional, to ScareEmStraight.

Very few fairy tales actually feature [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fairies]]; even those European countries with a developed [[TheFairFolk fairy folklore]] preferred to use {{Talking Animal}}s instead. The name of the genre can be traced to Madame d'Aulnoy's ''Les Contes de Fées'', which appeared only after literary fairy tales became all the rage. Folklorists have made valiant attempts to give the category more accurate names, such as "wonder tale", or the Grimms' original term "household tale" or ''Märchen'', but the name sticks. "Folk tales" include them, but also other tales.

Several extremely popular tales such as [[Creator/CharlesPerrault Perrault]]'s "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty" did feature fairies, helping give weight to the name, while others like "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}" and "Literature/KateCrackernuts" alluded to [[OurFairiesAreDifferent a more sinister kind]] of [[TheFairFolk folkloric fairies]]. On the other hand, Perrault's "Cinderella" is an odd-ball; normally the Cinderella figure is helped by [[OurGhostsAreDifferent her dead mother]], and "Sleeping Beauty" is as likely to be a victim of prophecy as a {{curse}}). Many, such as "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}", "Literature/PussInBoots", "Literature/HanselAndGretel", and "Literature/SnowWhite", contain no such figures. Some, like "Literature/TheEmperorsNewClothes" contain no magic of any kind.

A story which depicts a fantastic sequence of events. Often, fairy tales include creatures from folklore such as [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]], [[WickedWitch witches]], and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]]. Fairy tales usually take place "{{once upon a time}}", with few (if any) references to real people, places or events. The term "fairy" in this case is not a reference to the creatures now called fairies, but to the word's original meaning, the "faery"; the "place of the fae" (cf "nunnery", "rookery"). Originally meant to refer to the otherworlds where fairy beings like the elves and the sidhe live, it eventually took on a more generic meaning as "land of magic".

Orally told fairy tales are told in extremely spare and laconic style. Even the [[PimpedOutDress fancy dresses]] the heroine [[SheCleansUpNicely wears to a ball]] are discussed briefly; "[[RuleOfThree three dresses]], one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as the stars" and the story goes on. Likewise, characters are defined by their actions. Even when motives are provided (which is only for human characters), they are short and simple: the heroine is out to find her fortune; the hero wants to marry the princess; the WickedStepmother is {{greed}}y and doesn't want her stepchild to have an inheritance, or [[GreenEyedMonster envious]] of her beauty, or if she has a stepson, destroy his wife; the [[FakeUltimateHero false hero]] wants to marry the princess; the king falls in love with the strange woman he meets in the woods because of her beauty. And motives may not be; in [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm the Grimms']] "Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses", we never find out why the princesses are going to the nightly dances, and indeed never discover whether they are doing so voluntarily or not.

"Fairy tale" is often used in modern times to depict an idealized romance or ending, although many classic fairy tales are much darker than many people realize. Heroes may be the victims of [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence such violence]] as having hands chopped off or eyes gouged out; at the end of the story, villains may be [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath disposed of]] by such methods as having them [[Literature/SnowWhite wear red-hot shoes and dance until they die]] or [[Literature/TheGooseGirl putting them in a barrel lined with nails and having a horse drag it until they die]]. The spare style helps minimize the impact, as it can deal with the violence briefly and without gory detail, but even so many fairy tales have produced NightmareFuel. In some cases, this is intentional, to ScareEmStraight.

* ''Animation/TheFrogPrincess'' - Soviet adaptation of Russian fairy tale ''The Frog Princess''.

* ''Animation/{{HungarianFolkTales}}'' (Magyar népmesék) - Hungarian animated series that adapts Hungarian folktales

* ''Literature/LunarChronicles'' -- a sci-fi dystopian novel series featuring Cinderella as a snarky cyborg WrenchWench, Little Red Riding Hood as a [[spoiler: [[HalfHumanHybrid part alien]]]] gunslinging farm girl, Rapunzel as a brilliant but naive {{Hackette}} and Snow White as a CloudCuckoolander space princess.