Worksheet 6
Fairy Tales and their evolution
- Fairy tales evolved from folk tales. Explore into the difference between the two.
I think that folk tales were stories that people were telling each other – they were passing the stories from one generation to another and are based on something real, on the other hand I suppose that fairy tales are fully made up and contain magic.
- Think about the following questions:
What values does each story betray and promote?
What is the target audience of each story? What does it reveal about their life?
What is the moral (if any)?
- In about 150 words, summarize your thinking in a consistent paragraph/s below.
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (Ronald Dahl, 1982) – I love that one. Not only because it is a poem but because it is funny and shows that women can help themselves and not necessarily need a hunter to save them. I suppose that this one like pupils lower secondary and higher.
The Story of grandmother (Charles Perrault, 1695) – this one I did like at all, maybe only the end of the story. I did not understand if it is humour or it is just twisted. It is raw. I suppose that it promotes wisdom of the little girl who outsmarts the wolf and the girl is not much an innocent little girl. The target group is here adults.
Little Red Cap (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, 1812) – this story is the closest to the fairy tale I know from my childhood. Nevertheless, there are more details and the little red and granny is depicted here as naive and trustful. I suppose that the story could read a bit older child.
- Do you think fairy tales contain archetypes which are timeless and universal , and uphold traditions and values which should be conserved, or(and) do you think fairy tales should be constantly re-examined and challenged, and if necessary, revised?
I believe that fairy tales should share some universal values like good wins over evil. Every child should be told fairy tales and every parent should remember any from their childhood. However, times are changing, and fairy tale might be challenged according to what is appealing for children right now.
- Think about or google a modern adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood (or another fairy tale) that you find interesting (story or movie), and explain why.
The first adaptation that comes to my mind is Svěráks’ Tři bratři. My little nieces loves it, we sing the songs from it all the time. It is catchy and funny.
Dobrý den, ptáčkové,
dobrý den lese.
Ráno je takové
překrásné, že se
zpívat chce hlasitě
lidem i kosům.
Pavouci na sítě
navlékli rosu.
Dobrý den, panenko.
Dobrý den, panenko,
jakpak ti říkají?
Les je tu hluboký.
Les je tu hluboký.
Zůstávej při kraji.
Zůstávej při kraji.
Že jsem takhle zbarvená,
říkají mi červená.
Karkulka červená,
že jsem takhle zbarvená.
Dobrý den, Karkulko,
hezky ti říkají.
Les je tu hluboký.
Les je tu hluboký.
Zůstávej při kraji.
Zůstávej při kraji.
The Little Girl and the Wolf (1939)
by James Thurber (1894-1961)
One afternoon a big wolf waited in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did come along and she was carrying a basket of food. "Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?" asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf asked her where her grandmother lived and the little girl told him and he disappeared into the wood.
When the little girl opened the door of her grandmother's house she saw that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She had approached no nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she saw that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in a nightcap a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin Coolidge. So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead.
(Moral: It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.)