2. FAIRY TALES
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3. The Elements of a Fairy Tale
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
What is a fairy tale?
What makes it different from other traditional stories?
What are the special characteristics found in fairy tales?
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4. Fairy Tales
A fairy tale is a type of short story that has been passed down by oral tradition over many centuries.
Fairy tales come from folklore and were told to children to teach them and entertain them.
Most fairy tales came from Europe.
Fairy tales have certain elements or characteristics that make them unique.
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5. Special Opening and Ending Phrases
Fairy tales usually start with
“Once upon a time…”
And end with
“They lived happily ever after.”
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6. Good Characters Against Evil Characters
There is a good character with exceptional qualities that must struggle against an evil character
Honesty or cleverness is rewarded
Foolishness and evil intentions are punished
Fairy tales were told to TEACH CHILDREN the difference between right and wrong
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7. Royalty
Stories are often about royal characters or a character who marries into royalty
A castle or royal palace is usually present
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8. Magic Magic is usually present in a fairy tale.
Characters may have been placed under a magic spell.
Characters are sometimes helped by magical creatures.
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9. Fantasy Characters Fairies may or may not be present.
Characters may be magical or legendary creatures, such as unicorns, dragons, goblins, or griffins.
Other fantasy characters may include trolls, elves, giants, dwarves, gnomes, ogres, witches, and wizards.
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10. Problem and a solution Characters may be put to a test
A problem will arise, but will be solved by extraordinary cleverness or by the help of a magical creature

11. Beauty
A woman’s beauty, whether rich or poor, royalty or not, will bring about good fortune
Beauty will also bring out jealousy in other characters

12. 3’s and 7’s Things often happen in sets of “threes” or “seven”
There may be three wishes or three attempts at something. There may be only 3 days to complete a task.
There may be seven brothers or seven keys.
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13. Some Examples of Fairy Tales
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Hansel and Gretel
The Frog Prince
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Rapunzel
Rumplestiltskin
The Princess and the Pea
The Little Mermaid
Snow White
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14. Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was famous for collecting and writing fairy tales. He was born in Denmark in Examples of his stories are “The Little Mermaid”, “Thumbelina,” “The Ugly Duckling,” and “The Red Shoes.” In Copenhagen, there is a statue of the little mermaid, sitting on a rock on the beach at the harbor. It was built in memory of the writer.
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15. The Brothers Grimm
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were brothers, born in Germany in 1785 and They are famous because they collected together many old fairy tales from different parts of Germany and wrote them down for people to read. Many of the tales they wrote down had scary or “grim” elements. Their collection includes “Hansel and Gretel,” “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” and “The Frog Prince”.
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16. Review What is a fairy tale? Why did people tell fairy tales?
What are some of the elements of fairy tales?
What are a few examples of fairy tales?
Who was famous for collecting and writing down old fairy tales?
Now read some fairy tales and look for these elements that make them special.
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17. Key
A fairy tale is a story that has been passed down from generation to generation. It has certain special qualities.
People, mostly in European countries, told fairy tales to entertain as well as teach their children.
Elements of a fairy tale include:
royalty, good vs. evil, magic, the numbers 3 and 7, many beginning
with “Once upon a time…” and ending with “Happily ever after.”
Some examples would be Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel…
Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm
After you have read a fairy tale, see if you can find the elements discussed in number 3. Share with a partner.
Teacher can give students the printable worksheet for recording fairy tale elements in their story.
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18. The End
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19. Elements of a Fairy Tale Chart
Name __________________________________ Date __________________
Elements of a Fairy Tale Chart
Directions: Read a fairy tale. Write an example from the text of any of the special elements you find in the chart below.
Title of Fairy Tale __________________________________
Special Opening/Ending?
Good vs. Evil
Characters?
Royalty?
Magic?
Difficult test/ problem?
Beauty?
3’s and 7’s ?
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20. Thank you and happy teaching! Deborah Hayes Aka HappyEdugator
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Deborah Hayes
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