A fairy tale is an integral part of childhood. It is unlikely that there will be a man who, being a little, did not listen to many different stories. Having matured, he retells them to his children, who understand them in their own way, drawing in the imagination the images of acting characters and experiencing the emotions that the fairy tale conveys.
What is a fairy tale? What are fairy tales? We will try to answer these questions further.
Definition
According to the scientific definition in literature, a fairy tale is "an epic literary genre, a story of any magical or adventurous events, which has a clear structure: the beginning, middle and ending." From any fairy tale, the reader must learn some lesson, morality. Depending on the type, the fairy tale performs other functions. There are many classifications of the genre.
The main types of fairy tales
What are fairy tales? Each of us will agree that fairy tales about animals should be singled out in a separate form. The second type is fairy tales. And finally, there are so-called everyday tales. All species have their own characteristics, which become understandable by comparative analysis. Let's try to understand in more detail each of them.
What are animal tales?
The existence of such stories is quite justified, because animals are creatures that live with us in close proximity. It is this fact that influenced the fact that folk art uses images of animals, and the most diverse: both wild and domestic. At the same time, one should pay attention to the fact that the animals found in fairy tales are presented not as typical animals, but as special animals endowed with human features. They live, communicate and behave like real people. Such artistic techniques allow you to make the image understandable and interesting, filling it with a certain meaning.
In turn, fairy tales about animals can also be divided into fairy tales with the participation of wild or domestic animals, objects or objects of inanimate nature. Often literary scholars, talking about what genres of fairy tales are, classify them into magical, cumulative and satirical. Also included in this classification is the fable genre. Tales of animals can be divided into works for children and adults. Often in a fairy tale there is a person who can play a dominant or secondary role.
Usually children get to know fairy tales about animals at the age of three to six years. They are most understandable to young readers, since they meet with constant characters: a sly fox, a cowardly hare, a gray wolf, a smart cat, and so on. As a rule, the main feature of each animal is its characteristic feature.
What are the builds of animal tales? The answer is very different. Cumulative tales, for example, are selected according to the principle of plot communication, where the same characters meet, just in different circumstances. Often the heroes of fairy tales have names in a diminutive form (Fox-Sister, Bunny-Runaway, Frog-Quack and so on).
The second view is a fairy tale.
What are the literary tales of magic? The main characteristic of this species is the magical, fantastic world in which the main characters live and act. The laws of this world are different from the usual ones; everything is different in it than it really is, which attracts young readers and makes this type of fairy tale, undoubtedly, the most beloved among children. The magical surroundings and plot allow the author to show all his imagination and use as many appropriate artistic techniques as possible, in order to create a work specifically for a children's audience. It's no secret that children's imagination is unlimited, and satisfying it is very, very difficult.
In most cases, this type of fairy tale has a typical plot, certain heroes and a happy ending. What are fairy tales about magic? These can be stories about heroes and fantastic creatures, tales of unusual objects and various trials that are overcome thanks to magic. As a rule, in the final, the characters marry and live happily ever after.
Note that the heroes of fairy tales embody many positive qualities. Among the main topics of this literary genre are the struggle of good and evil, the struggle for love, truth and other ideals. There must be a negative hero who will be defeated in the final. The structure of the tale is ordinary - the beginning, the main part and the ending.
Household Tales
Such stories narrate the events of ordinary life, highlighting various social problems and human characters. In them, the author makes fun of negative human qualities. Such tales are social and satirical, with elements of a fairy tale and many others. Here, the negative qualities of the rich and conceited people are ridiculed, while the representatives of the people embody the positive features. Household tales show that the main thing is not money and strength, but kindness, honesty and intelligence. Literary scholars claim - and this is a fact - that they were written at a time when people were experiencing social crises, sought to change the structure of society. Among the popular artistic techniques, satire, humor, and laughter stand out here.
What types of fairy tales are there?
In addition to the above classification, fairy tales are also divided into copyright and folk. Already from the names it’s clear that the author’s are fairy tales written by a particular famous storyteller, and folk ones are those that do not have one author. Folk tales are passed from mouth to mouth from generation to generation, and the original author is not known to anyone . Consider each of the types separately.
Folk tales
Folk tales are rightfully considered a powerful source of historical facts, information about the life and social structure of a certain people. Each of the peoples in its history has come up with a huge number of instructive stories for adults and children, passing on its experience and wisdom to future generations.
Folk tales reflect human relations and a change in moral principles, show that basic values remain unchanged, teach to draw a clear line between good and evil, joy and grief, love and hate, truth and falsehood.
A feature of folk tales is that in a simple and easy to read text hides the deepest social meaning. In addition, they retain the richness of the folk language. What folk tales are there? They can be both magical and domestic. Many folk tales narrate about animals.
Often the question arises of when the first Russian folk tale was invented. This will surely remain a mystery, and one can only speculate. It is believed that the first "heroes" of fairy tales were natural phenomena - the Sun, Moon, Earth and more. Later they began to obey man, and fairy tales included images of people and animals. There is an assumption that all Russian folk stories have a real foundation. In other words, some event was retold in the form of a fairy tale, changed over the centuries and reached us in the form to which we are accustomed. What are Russian folk tales, figured out. It's time to talk about fairy tales, the authors of which are well known to readers.
Author's tales
Usually, an author's work is a subjective processing of a folk plot, however, new stories are also quite common. Characteristic features of the author's fairy tale are psychologism, sublime speech, vivid characters, and the use of fairy-tale cliches.
Another feature of this genre is that it can be read at different levels. So, the same story is perceived differently by representatives of different age groups. Charles Perrault’s children's tales seem like an innocent tale to a child, while an adult will find serious problems and morality in them. Often, books aimed initially at a young reader are interpreted by adults in their own way, as well as fantastic stories for adults that children like.
Who are the authors of fairy tales? Surely everyone heard about “The Tales of My Mother Goose” by Charles Perrault, the tales of the Italian Gozzi, the works of the German writer
Wilhelm Gauf, the Grimm brothers and the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. We must not forget about the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin! Their stories are loved by children and adults around the world. Entire tales grow on these tales. At the same time, all copyright works are interesting from the point of view of literary criticism, all of them fall under a certain classification, and have their own artistic features and copyright techniques. Films and cartoons are made according to the most famous and beloved tales.
Conclusion
So, we figured out what fairy tales are. Whatever the fairy tale - author's, folk, social, magical or narrative of animals - it will certainly teach the reader something. The most interesting thing is that it does not matter who reads the story. Both adults and children will definitely learn something useful from it. The fairy tale of everyone will make you think, convey the wisdom of the people (or the author) and leave an indelible good impression in the minds of readers. The effect is not at all exaggerated. There are even so-called therapeutic tales that can re-educate and wean from a variety of bad habits!