Thanks to all of my fellow LM_NETters who responded so quickly to my question
about the difference between folk tales and fairy tales. Here are the
responses:
<<"Once upon a time," "in a land far, far away," and "they all lived happily
ever after" are phrases commonly heard in fairy tales. A fairy tale is a
traditional story that contains magical events.
http://sunnyheights.warren.k12.in.us/school/genres/Fairytales/ftintro.htm
Afolk tale is a traditional story that is pure fiction and has no
particular location in either time or space. A folk tale presents different
means by which human beings cope with the world in which theyllve. Folk
tales concern people or animals who speak and act like people. Also related
to folk tales are tall tales, myths, legends, fables, folk songs, pourquoi
tales, and beast tales.
http://sunnyheights.warren.k12.in.us/school/genres/Folktales/ftsintro.htm>>
<<I was taught that folk tales/folklore is the broad term and
fairy tales are a form of folk tales. According to Beth Weir in
Introducing Children to Folk Tales, there are three broad types of
folk tales: myths, legends, and stories for entertainment. She states
that stories for entertainment may have fairy-like creatures or an
element of enchanment and thus may be commonly called fairy tales.>>
<<In folk tales the animals speak and take on the personalities / and
character traits of humans. In fairy tales mystical things may happen
but they may be loosely in the realm of the 'almost if not quite
'possible'. Could that be a definition that helps??>>
<<A folk tale is the broad topic under which fairy tales, fables, etc. fall.>>
<<A folktale is a story--that gives you very strong characters, plot and
theme. Folktales usually tell a story about a personality trait, like
foolishness.
A fairytale is a story with strong characters--usually good vs evil and magic
can happen in the story.
Folklore is the umbrella under which folktales, fairytales, legends, tall
tales and fables usually are put.>>
<<A folk tale is a story handed down through oral tradition. A fairy tale can
be a folk tale as well, but not all fairy tales were developed orally, i.e.
Han Christian Anderson's books. A fairy tale generally has some kind of
creature(s) in it that are
not human, like giants, fairies, ogres, etc. At least this is my
understanding.>>
<<A folk tale is a traditional story told with the purpose of entertainment
(generally). A folk tale is not considered to be true by anyone, but is
relatively realistic. eg The princess and the pea.
A fairy tale is a subset of folktales, and contains a magical element, eg
Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel.
In comparison a myth has religious/cultural significance, and is believed by
the people of that religion/culture, to be true. eg the story of creation,
in any culture, is a myth.
And legends are based on truth, but greatly exaggerated. eg Robin Hood,
King Arthur, etc.
This is one of the most useful things I learned in my 7 years worth of
children's literature diploma studies.>>
<<For definitions of any literary term, the best source is a copy of A
Handbook to Literature by Thrall, Hibbard, and Holman. Thrall's name may
not be on the newer editions, nor may Hibbard's. My copy is from 1960 and
was originally copyrighted in 1936. The 1960 version was revised and
enlarged by Holman alone.
A fairy tale is defined as relating to mysterious pranks and adventures of
supernatural spirits who manifested themselves in the form of diminutive
human beings. A folk tale is included in the definition of folklore and
maybe retold by an author writing for a highly cultivated audience and later
in a changed form again be taken over by the folk. It is too complicated in
its entirety to quote here.>>
<<Folk tales usually have common "people" as the main
character or heroes. Fairy tales have magic and/or
the main characters are kings or princesses etc.>>
<< A folk tale is a story from the oral tradition and may be a fairy tale or
not. A fairy tale has certain elements, such as wishes, princes/princesses,
etc., and may be either a folk tale such as Cinderella, since we really
don't know who first "told" the story just who "wrote it down" or a
"literary fairy tale" such as those written by Hans Christian Andersen (he
made them up).>>
<<Folk tales are usually exaggerated tales of the exploits of people who could
be real...or in some cases actually were. They are full of hyperbole but
not magic. Fairy tales usually have elements of magic or mythical characters
in them...fairies, witches, ogres, giants, magicians, dragons...in addition
to their ordinary characters.>>
-------------------------------------------
Stephanie L. Fiedler, M.L.S.
Media Coordinator
Swift Creek Elementary School
5601 Tryon Road
Raleigh, NC 27606
919.233.4327 / fax 919.233.4344 /sfiedler@wcpss.net
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/sfiedler
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