FactsAboutFairyTales
The term ‘fairy tale’ or ‘conte de fée’ was coined by French writer Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy in the late 17th century …but the opening words ‘Once upon a time’ has been dated back to Chaucer in the 14th century.
The Aarne Thompson Classification System lists the possible plots for fairy tales in a possible 2399 categories. “The man marries the princess” is 850-869: while “The woman marries the prince” is 870-879. Category 2044 is “Pulling Up the Turnip”. Category 1452 is "Choosing a Bride by How She Cuts Cheese".
Originally, Grimm’s Fairy Tales (published in 1812) were not meant for children. They didn’t even have illustrations. Initially aimed at adults, the early editions of Nursery and Household Tales contained remarkably dark elements. In its original version, for example, Rapunzel gets pregnant by the prince after a casual fling. In Cinderella, the stepsisters cut off their toes and heels to try to fit into the slipper, and there was no fairy godmother: instead her ballgown is supplied by small hazel tree watered with Cinderella’s tears. Snow White’s mother is forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she drops dead. Little Red Riding Hood has the wolf devouring the heroine and her grandmother. The huntsman rescues them by disembowelling the wolf and then sews rocks into its belly. These sort of scenes (and many others) were eventually revised once the stories became popular among children.
Snow White’s dwarfs had no names until Disney came along. Among the names he rejected were Awful, Baldy, Dirty, Dumpy, Shifty and Scruffy. The full list of rejected dwarf names: Silly, Sappy, Scrappy, Snappy, Snoopy, Goopy, Gloomy, Gaspy, Gatsby, Gabby, Blabby, Flabby, Crabby, Cranky, Lazy, Dizzy, Dippy, Dumpy, Snurfles, Dirty, Deafy, Daffy, Doleful, Woeful, Wistful, Soulful, Helpful, Awful, Graceful, Tearful, Tubby, Weepy, Wheezy Sneezy-Wheezy, Sniffy, Puffy, Stuffy, Strutty, Shorty, Shifty, Slutty, Thrifty, Nifty, Neurtsy, Hotsy, Hungry, Hickey, Deafy, Hoppy, Jumpy, Jaunty, Jazzy, Chesty, Busy, Burpy, Baldy, Biggy-Wiggy, Biggo-Ego
Cinderella: The earliest dateable version of the Cinderella story appears in a Chinese book written about 850-860AD (where Cinderella's slipper is made of gold, not glass). The earliest European version was published in Italy in 1634, and in 1697 Perrault introduced 'Cinderella, Or The Tale Of The Little Glass Slipper'. There are 500 variants of Cinderella in Europe alone. In Japanese versions of Cinderella, she's helped by a talking carp (goldfish), not a fairy godmother. In Scottish versions, it's a cow (who speaks in her dead mother's voice).
The original Sleeping Beauty tale: in Giambattista Basile’s bracingly titled 1634 collection, Cunto de li cunti (that’s the Tale of Tales in Neapolitan, obviously), the eponymous girl gets a piece of flax under her fingernail which sends her to sleep. A king stumbles upon her and finds her so irresistible he ravishes her, despite her deathlike slumber. Nine months later she gives birth to twins – while still asleep – and only wakes up when one of these, while searching for a nipple, sucks on her finger and removes the flax.
Goldilocks is a recent addition to the story of The Three Bears. Earlier versions of the story usually featured an old hag, a woman with silver hair, instead of the precocious golden haired child we know so well today.
The Disney Castle And The Fairy Tale King: Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (southern Germany) is the castle on which Walt Disney based his castles at Disney World. The owner, King Ludwig II of Bavaria was born in 1845, He ate alone, but requested his table be set for four, because he invited imaginary guests to dinner. Once he had his favorite horse dine with him! He also put tape on a servant's head so his brains would not fall out, His Cabinet had him declared insane. He was arrested at Neuschwanstein Castle and died mysteriously a few days later while taking a walk with his doctor. Both men were found drowned in a shallow lake nearby. The official theory is that Ludwig strangled the doctor and then drowned himself, but to this day no one knows for sure. The Bavarian people loved Ludwig dearly (and do to this day), referring to him as their "fairy tale king." The government officials were decidedly less fond of him, calling him "mad King Ludwig.” His bed is stunning - it has so much carved woodworking that it took 17 woodworkers 4 1/2 years to make it! There is an artificial cave built into the castle between the living room and the study. Over 6000 people visit Neuschwanstein each day.