Myths,

Folk Tales,
Fables, and
Fairy Tales

What is a myth?
A myth is a story that usually
explains something about the
world and involves gods and
other superhuman beings.

Examples of Myths
Baucis and Philemon
Medusas Head
Quetzalcoatl

Daedalus and Icarus

What is a Folk Tale?

A folk tale is a story
with no known
author. Folk tales are
passed down from
one generation to
another by word of
mouth.

Examples of Folk Tales

The Nightingale
The Seventh Sister
How the Snake Got
Poison
Ali Baba and the
Forty Thieves
He Lion, Bruh Bear,
and Bruh Rabbit

What is a fable?
A fable is a very brief
story in prose or in
verse that teaches a
moral or a practical
lesson about how to
succeed in life.

Examples of Fables
The Crow and the Jar
The Wolf and the
House Dog
The Fox and the Crow
The Country Mouse
and the City Mouse
The Maid and the
Milk pail

What is a fairy tale?

A fairy tale is a type
of imaginative writing
that carries the reader
into an invented
world where the laws
of nature, as we know
them, do not operate.

Examples of Fairy Tales

Cinderella
Snow White and the
Seven Dwarves
Ella Enchanted
Cinder Edna

Photo from:
http://www.jlmatrix.co.uk/joanna/images/enchanted1.jpg

 Which genre teaches

a moral at the end?
What are two
examples of myths?
What is a story with
no known author?
What are three
examples of folk
tales?
What kind of story is
The Country Mouse
and the City Mouse?

Quiz Time!

Fairy Tale History

Oral Tradition
Folk tales
Why do we tell children these stories?

Ancient World
Books are expensive
Poetry, plays, or academic
Paper, ink, and printing
(done by scribners)
is exorbitantly pricey.
Scrolls

Medieval Books
Written and
Illustrated by monks
Mostly religious and
some academic texts
Extremely expensive to
Produce
Written on velum

Guttenbergs Press
Gutenberg invents the printing press with
movable type
Allows for quick and cheap reproduction of
typed work and carved pictures

Woodcut illustration

The Collectors

Charles Perault mid elate 1600s early 1700s

French
Follects Western European
stories.
Most famous for his version
of Cinderella
(the French version)

The Brothers Grimm

German, 1830s and 40s
Central European and Russian stories

Hansel and Gretel,

Snow White,
Sleeping Beauty
Many of their stories
are, aptly, grim

Andrew Lange
English 1890s through 1910s
Collects stories from Grimm brothers,
Perault, Includes New World, African, and
Asian stories as well

 Known for his color story books. The

Gray Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book,
etc.
Stories remain popular for
their illustrations

Entertainment
Late 1800s ballets incorporate fairy tales
Swan Lake, Capellia, Sleeping Beauty,
Cinderella

Operas
Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Mozarts
The Magic Flute

New Stories
Hans Christian Anderson: Little Mermaid
and more
Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit
Mother Goose Collections of
Nursery Rhymes

Other New Stories

A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Lewis Carol. Alice in Wonderland
James Barry, Peter Pan

The Movies
Can you name the first big fairy tale movie?
Walt Disney brings fairy tales into the 20th
century
More standardized and less violent.

Snow White 1939

The

st
21

Century

Post-modern era

Deconstructs the fairy tale

Plays with the notion of archetype
Creates fractured fairy tales
Adjusts to meet changing
social norms

Changing Times

Fractured Fairy Tales

Authors take the lesser known characters
and write from their point of view
Some even change genre as Anne Rice does
The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf
The Stinky Cheese Man
Beautys Story Anne Rice

Works Cited
Kim Denney, Lake Murray Elementary,
Lexington School District One