Future scholar maybe?
History of Fairy Tales
Origin of the word 'fairy', is the Latin fatum 'to Enchant' as given by Thomas Keightley in his Fairy Mythology and later in the Appendix of his Tales and Popular Fictions.In English, the word 'fairy' can be represented in four ways; an illusion or enchantment, abode of the Faes, inhabitants collectively and individual in Fairyland, the fairy Knight or Elf.
Fairy tales however, don't have fairies in them. They just have magic, for instance, talking animals.
So, how do we define fairy tales?
Well, there exists no fully satisfactory definition.
Some defined fairy tales as a simple narrative dealing with supernatural beings such as fairies, magicians, ogres, or dragons that is typically of folk origin and written or told for the amusement of children while some defined fairy tales as a more sophisticated narrative containing supernatural or obviously improbable events, scenes and personages and often having a whimsical, satirical or moralistic character.
An article from The Telegraph states that according to biologists, fairy tales are more ancient than previously thought.
Dr Jamie Tehrani (Gray, 2009), after having studied 35 versions of Little Red Riding Hood from around the world, said that over time these folk tales have been subtly changed and have evolved just like an biological organism. Because many of them were not written down until much later, they have been misremembered or reinvented through hundreds of generations. His research found that the variants tale shared a common ancestor dating back more than 2,600 years.
The origin of fairy tales is still a mystery but has been resolved into four different categories. One that says fairy tales are detritus of myth, surviving echoes of gods and heroes; another, fairy tales are myths of Sun, Dawn, Thunder, Rain, etc. (Sun-Myth Theory/Aryan Theory); other, fairy tales all arose in India, part of the common Aryan heritage and are to be traced by the remains of their language; and lastly, fairy tales owe their origin to the identity of early fancy.
There may not be an agreement among scholars but the four theories of the origin of fairy tales may be correct and that fairy tales owe their origin not to any one cause but to all four.
The Grimms noted that the evolution of the tale was from a strongly marked, even ugly, but highly expressive form of its earlier stages, to that which possessed external beauty of mold.
"Children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy," -- Chesterton
For more detailed reading, visit: http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/sft/sft07.htm
Gray, R 2009, 'Fairy tales have ancient origin', The Telegraph.
Kready, LF 2008, The History of Fairy Tales, A Study of Fairy Tales.
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