Definition of Fairy Tale

In the literature child the gender of the story is especially valued. There are children's stories of all kinds: classic and traditional, fables, legends and adapted mythical stories or fairy tales.

Main features

The stories that are told are of a fantastic type and in them they appear imaginary beings who share adventures with human characters.

The natural and supernatural dimension intermingle. In this sense, there are characters who change their appearance, others that live forever, natural elements with feelings and endless magical aspects.

In the stories there is a permanent tension between the forces of good and evil, but finally the stories end with a happy ending.

In universal culture

These stories are part of the cultural heritage of humanity. With them the little ones feed their fantasy world, since in children the thought magical. However, beyond children's stories, in fairy tales we find other elements that adults are also interested in: the desire for freedom, the search for happiness and the need to dream awake.

The image of fairies, the origin of the term and its relationship with popular tradition

Traditionally, these female beings have wings, a small size and a singular beauty, an image that comes from British literature of the 19th century. However, in traditional legends, fairies did not feature wings and were not always beautiful. Its male version is the elf, but in some stories the fairies can be both male and female.

Etymologically, fairy comes from Latin, specifically from fatum-fata, a term that refers to destiny. In this sense, fairies act as if they control the destiny of human beings.

Like many other elements of our culture, fairies are characters that come from mythological stories, legends and tradition popular oral.

The expression "live a fairy tale"

There are people who flee from their mundane reality and through imagination create their own fantasy world. In language colloquial they are said to live in a fairy tale. Is expression has a connotation negative, because with it it is implied that fantasies are not advisable as the engine of human existence.

Photos: Fotolia - Tatiana_K / Tetiana Nikonorova