Folk and Fairy Tales

The difference between animal brides and animal grooms is made obvious in the Japanese tale of “Urashima the Fisherman” and the Scandinavian fairytale “The Swan Maiden.” There are two types of stories about relationships between humans and beasts – The Man on a Quest for His Lost Wife and The Search for the Lost Husband . In the stories about a woman with an animal husband, she is usually faced with a terrifying beast or otherwise disgusting animal who then later has his curse broken and becomes a handsome prince. (This does not apply to the story “The Tiger’s Bride,” in which the beautiful woman is transformed into a beast and becomes more like her husband.) In the stories with animal brides, however, the woman does not usually remain a human. In most of these stories, the woman becomes human because of her love for a man. They spend time together, usually getting married, but then one day the woman, either through her becoming her animal form once again or through a folly of her h...

Comic Published: 8/2/1998, Writer: Scott Gray, Artist: Kyle Baker Link To Website In this 1998 social cartoon, writer Scott Gray and artist Kyle Baker discuss the different versions of the famous fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. In this comic based on the hit 90’s television show, “Rugrats” Tommy’s grandparents, Minka and Boris, try to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but both remember very different details of the story. This is a perfect example of how the same story can exist in many different cultures with the same basic storyline with different details. Stories such as “The Tale of the Tiger Woman” and “T sélané and the Marim o” have the same basic story line as the western versions of LRRH (ex. Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” or the Brothers Grimm’s “Little Red Cap”) but different villains. Just like how the grandparent’s in this comic cannot decide whether the villain was a wolf or a goat, there are also different types of trickster characters in each resp...

               A folk or fairy tale is a tale either told by the people and passed down by oral tradition or written down by an author, but always depicts a story that is understood to be fictional.   This is unlike myths or in some cases legends, which are believed to be true by some or all people. For example, many do not believe in the Loch Ness Monster, but some people believe the lore to be true. Same with Greek gods and goddesses as well as other local legends and myths. Fairy tales, however, are known to be false. Many fairy tales share similar motifs, and usually can be connected to similar tales throughout the globe. Folk tales are stories that were originally only oral and have much simpler ideas and messages, as well as many different endings or details depending on where, when, and by who the story is being told. Fairy tales often have more concrete, detailed story lines and characters, a...

Hi, everyone! I'm Jenna and I'm a sophomore, English and Communication double major.  This semester I really wanted to take the last class I needed for my McDaniel Plan. I’ve been taking classes in my major for a while and for some reason the one class I had left was an International Non-Western class. I also wanted to start working on my Honors electives, so I don’t have to worry about them later. When I heard that this class was both an honors elective and an International Non-Western credit I thought the class would be perfect. Besides just the requirements, the topic of the class sounded super interesting and as an English major, something that I would find interesting. I love to read and tell stories. Though I grew up learning both Grimm’s fairy tales as well as their Disney counterparts, I have never really learned about other fairy tales around the world. My goal for this class it to gain a better appreciation of the different types of fairy tales around the world and ...